Tourism Australia is getting creative with its campaigns by partnering up with Air New Zealand to go far beyond any standard print or digital marketing.
The companies have worked together this month (March 2016) by opening a pop-up gallery in Vancouver and showing visitors Australian holiday experiences, reports Business Vancouver.
What made the pop-up exhibition on March 18th and 19th so different however, was that the visitors chose their pick of seven different virtual reality headsets to give a real-life experience of what a holiday in Australia might be like.
There were up to 17 different choices of activities that the visitors to the gallery could have looked at, and the event was promoted on three fronts, by the Makeshift Spaces venue in Vancouver and of course, by both Tourism Australia and Air New Zealand.
Kristen Malaby, marketing and communications manager in the America for Tourism Australia, said: "We filmed around the country, including the Gold Coast, where you can feel like what it's like to surf and then soar over the city and see where people are shopping and eating."
One of the experiences that Ms Malaby picked out as her favourite was the virtual reality paddle boarding in Sydney that visitors could then follow up by going sailing in the harbour.
Air New Zealand chose to partner with Tourism Australia on this campaign to promote the fact that its airline serves Australian airports, as well as those in its native country.
Chris Allison, manager of sales and market development in Canada for Air New Zealand, added that the company's customers can travel through Auckland to as many as eight different destinations in Australia. Seven of these were even featured as part of the virtual reality experience at the gallery showcase.
To give a real sense of Australia, the event was peppered with Aussie food and beverages, including shrimp ceviche, flat white coffee and wine from some of Australia's vineyards.
As there was a hashtag created for the events, #AussieByAirNZ, it's expected that further events like this will take place, although none have been announced as yet.
