The Australian Government has finally caught up with the rest of the world and is paying Gen Z influencers to sample the land down under. But how much dosh is it spinning to make this happen?
Tourism Australia, the government organisation responsible for bringing tourist dollars into our economy, reportedly spent a total of $90,000 hosting three influencers for a month.
Not gonna lie, that’s cheap as chips.
The influencers were Chris Olsen, an American who has 13.9 million followers across all platforms, Maddie Grace Jepson (1.7 million), and trainspotter Francis Bourgeois (5.3 million).
The trio received a split of the cash covering flights, accom and activities according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Since arriving for the TikTok awards earlier in the month (a separate venture), the three influencers have published varying amounts of content.
24-year-old Jepson has gone on an absolute tear dishing out TikToks showing Sydney’s majestic bin chickens and the Gold Coast’s Rainbow Bay.
These two videos of Jepson in Australia (the influencer has uploaded many others) have a combined view count of just under 700,000 on TikTok alone.
Olsen made his paid holiday seem super unplanned, telling followers he was “going wherever this filter lands on”.
That particular TikTok currently sits at just over 22 million views. A whopping big number.
He then not-so-spontaneously hopped on a seaplane in Sydney but did make sure to show off the scenery while on board.
Due to the variation in upload quantity between the influencers, it doesn’t appear there was an agreement drawn up between Tourism Australia and the three influencers to put out a certain number of posts.
Judging purely by cumulative view count, this was $90,000 well spent.
The content’s authenticity was high, and the production value was moderate/low. My Gen Z brain felt at home watching it.
One thing’s for sure though, this campaign has been miles better than the disastrous 2006 effort titled, “Where the bloody hell are you?”.
Remember?
The one that former PM Scott Morrison oversaw?
That cost $180 million?
Yeah, that one.
