It has been heralded as the best PR stunt ever. Yes, we’re talking about the competition to win the ‘ job’ of caretaker of Hamilton Island, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, which was won this week by Brit Ben Southall.
The public relations campaign has already picked up an industry award in Australia and (if you can calculate such things when it gets like this) has an enviable ROI: it reported cost Tourism Queensland Aus$1.7 million and earned an estimated Aus$120 million in free publicity.
The simplicity of the campaign, along with the execution, has to be admired and it’ll be interesting to see if anyone attempts to copycat its style (though it already pays homage to TV ‘reality’ shows like The Apprentice). I’m expecting to see a spoof from the tourism department of a less glamorous location, offering minimum wage to look after a craggy wet rock.
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