Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine (TGGB) CEO Roger Grant said the initiative was a “bold” and “exciting” step forward for the newly-established body in terms of promoting the region.
“When you undertake advertisements you realise that within 30 seconds you don’t have the time to document all those fantastic assets that Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale have. Really what you’re trying to do is to engage with the consumer, in a way that motivates them to want to undertake further actions in terms of visiting.
“Will the ad have cut through? I think it does. Will it relate to the target audience? I believe that it does but at the end of the day you can do all of the testing and hypothesising and I guess we’ll know when it’s out in the marketplace,” he said. “The feedback from everyone, from the marketing gurus within state government to the local operators, everyone thinks that it is a sweet little ad and hopefully it will deliver for us.”
The Borough of Queenscliffe, TGGB and local business jointly funded the campaign. Key tourism players, including Searoad Ferries, Beacon Big 4, The Queenscliff Music Festival and the Blues Train contributed around $14,000. Upwards of 40 smaller business operators also pitched in $6,000. “Industry has really stood up to the plate to make this possible,” Mr Grant said. “We would all love the million campaign funded by government and we’ll continue to pursue that but until we secure those funds it’s great that industry has put its shoulder to the wheel along with Council and ourselves.”