Wednesday, May 6, 2009

British fundraiser wins "best job in the world"

By Belinda Goldsmith
CANBERRA, May 6 - British charity fundraiser Ben Southall won the "best job in the world" on Wednesday -- caretaker of an Australia tropical island -- after an innovative marketing campaign that highlighted the power of social media.
Southall, 34, was picked from 16 final contestants in a highly publicised contest by Tourism Queensland which attracted 34,684 video entries from almost 200 countries and surpassed all expectations in promoting tourism in the Australian state.
The job description? Explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews.
Also, if you feel like it, feed the fish, collect the mail and clean the pool -- and collect a wage of A$150,000
While the job itself attracted global attention so did the campaign by the government body Tourism Queensland as it highlighted how companies can tap the power of online social media such as YouTube and Facebook, for marketing.
"This is probably the first time that a campaign has achieved this sort of reach with so little advertising spend other than a few strategically place job ads around the world," said Australian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes, editor of media and marketing website Mumbrella.
"This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube. The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising."
The "Best Job in the World" campaign began in January with Tourism Queensland launching a tourism advertising campaign centered around the lure of "the best job in the world."
Within days the campaign went viral as applicants from all over the world sent in 60-second video applications and news of the contest spread on social networking sites such as Facebook and the video sharing site YouTube.

Review
Firstly I would like to agree that the power of the social media is beyond our imagination. Within a short period of time, it does the help to publicise this search in finding the most suitable caretaker for the island throughout the world. Another good example would be the recent event of a woman singing in Britain’s got talent show. From someone whom no one have heard of has now rocketed to fame after a phenomenal performance.

The next point I would like to point out is the phrase ‘ The best job in the world’. I would like to know what exactly the definition of ‘best’ is in this case. Although the job do may sound attractive and easy, just because you get to enjoy and get money! However, feel that the word ‘best’ is a too extreme word to use. For someone who just loves to enjoy and explore and island, definitely it would be the best job to him/her but to someone who doesn’t like doing those stuff, may just feel that it is torture. Just like your best friend may not be another’s best friend.

Another point is that they claimed that ‘The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don't need to spend huge on advertising’. I felt that this project has reached to so many people , partly is also because of the salary they are giving, which is not a small sum. Thus, although they did not spend much on advertising, but they are spending the money on another component of the job, which is the salary. So I think that they should actually change their claim to ‘ The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking about and have a high pay for incentive, you don’t need to spend huge on advertising!

3 comments:

  1. In your first paragraph, you stated that "you agree that the power of social media is beyond our imagination." I feel that this statement is inappropriate as the article never claimed or concluded the "power of social media being being beyond our imagination." The article simply described how the media has helped advertise their campaign. No conclusion, claim or stand was made in the article. Also, examples should be made more specific if possible.

    I do understand why you question the campain's title of including the word 'best.' However, it is afterall just a title. Advertisements today always make use of exagerations such as this for the appeal it presents. I feel that significant attention is not needed towards it.

    In your last paragraph, you presented an alternative 'lesson to be learnt.' In my opinion however, there is nothing wrong with the original one. Interesting ideas would easily attract the attention of many. It is the idea of a high incentive involved and not the incentive which actually draws in the attention of people around the world.

    ralph

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  2. i agree that the power of social media is indeed beyond our imagination as it can brings wonders to companies but, it will only stand if you can state examples down to show us why social media is beyond our imagination as the article did not state it and you need to prove your stand. so for example you can say, information or campaigns can be spread fast and efficiently like this advert to look for a caretaker for example. something like that would be supportive enough.

    For the word best, it is best to define it and i agree that one man's meat is another's poison. so its best to state what does best means.

    it is also true that if you have an interesting idea that can get the crowds attention, there is really no need to pay huge sum of money on advertising or salary. in this case, the person needs to be paid a large sum as he wont be working throughout this whole period, so the salary is sort of a compensation. so there is no need to chamge the lesson learn

    lippy

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  3. I feel that your example- Britain got talent on Susan Boyle is a good example to illustrate the power of social media is indeed beyong our imagination. As stated from the article on how social media has been very effective, "This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube." Supported from your example that Susan Boyle has became well known after people viewed the uploaded video from Youtube and from other media sources. She has thus gained popularity and raised her future chances of becoming successful.

    I disagree that you have to define the word 'best' used in the campaign title. Often, advertisements have to appeal to consumers and which will then attract consumers to notice it. One example is that during a sale, advertisements will usually post up 'cheap' but it does not mean that the item will be relatively cheap. The sole purpose is to draw the consumers.

    And you did not link to Singapore context.

    sher

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