Our friends at Tourism Victoria have taken dead aim at Canadians' traditionally puritan sensibilities with a new tourism campaign promising, in part, that you'll find "Your Perfect Orgasm" in the city previously reknowned for its Victorian (umm, err, the Queen, not the city) architecture and quiet neighbourhoods.  The ad in question (a print execution that was part of a larger campaign) targeted the growing niche of culinary tourism and the "orgasm" in question was food-induced.



I'll leave it to the viewer to decide whether the ad campaign is compelling, but what's in danger of being lost in the ensuing bun-toss is that a brave and small group of right-minded folks decided to go out on a bit of a limb and try something different.  To focus on the experience of enjoying incredible cuisine as opposed to the fact that their city, like any other place larger than a crossroads, has places to eat.  While the execution may be viewed as half-baked by some, the idea and the effort should be applauded.

There are a number of lessons for destination marketers here, including the challenge of reconciling residents' self-perceptions with the often more superficial desires of prospective visitors (more on that in Borat, Dundee and Crosbie: Why You Should Never Advertise at Home), why tourism marketers need to be trained in crisis communications, why some consumer "insights" are better left unspoken, etc.

But what I find really interesting here is the potential for other tourism organizations to slide even further down the slippery slope of "edginess" in the hopes of creating "buzz" in the wake of Australia's 'Where the bloody hell are you?' campaign.  As marketing budgets stretch to the breaking point and competition increases, the demands from the industry to "break through" and "create talk-value" may lead some to pursue controversy for the sake of controversy.  If Australia can get that kind of "unpaid media" using only a mild curse, imagine your potential ROI with a well-endowed donkey!

But for the most part, that style of advertising does about as much to differentiate your brand as a fart joke in a SuperBowl ad.  It gets your attention for a minute and then you forget it.  At best, you might remember the fart, but you have no idea who sponsored it, because it had no meaningful (or, to be more accurate, differentiating) link to the brand.

It's harder than ever to get the attention of consumers.  But the answer isn't to become ever more aggressive and abrasive as we interrupt their daily lives -- it's to become more relevant and become an integral part of their daily lives.  Figure out when and where the consumer is in a mindset that complements your brand position and engage them in a conversation.  Think of it as the difference between Paris Hilton and the Paris Hilton.  They both attract crowds but for very different reasons.








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