Exclusive “Where the bloody hell are you” TravelMole interview with Australian tourism minister Fran Bailey at ATE 2006
TravelMole: When the “Where the Bloody Hell Are You Campaign” was launched, the reaction from the UK was pretty strong – did you think that was going to happen?
Minister Bailey: I was very surprised that Britain of all countries reacted that way, but the reality was that everyone in Britain was on side and they love the campaign.
It was only the Advertising Standards people that objected, but we got great coverage.
What really shocked me was that the BACC was really shocked that a Minister of the Crown got on a plane with Lara Bingle and flew over 20 hours to speak with them and sort them out!
But, it did show the Brits how serious the issues were and how serious we were about resolving them.
I was not going to let a A$180 million campaign suffer as a result and I told them that this is not a 10-min wonder, but a campaign which we will stick for three years and we have been proven right with the tremendous response we are now enjoying.
Of course, we have very close cultural ties and affinities with the UK and as you know Australia is the top destination choice for UK travellers wishing to travel long haul.
This campaign is critical in converting from intention to actually travelling and of course we look forward to welcoming many more of our friends from the UK.
Interview by John Alwyn-Jones at ATE 2006
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