Marketing Opportunities & Recommendations

The Wonder of Gondwana – A Journey into Ancient Australia is a concept that needs to be brought to life in a remarkable way. It is about infusing the story of Gondwanaland by connecting - in a meaningful and compelling way - the experiences across our landscape; from ancient caves to places of deep cultural significance and rivers of gold that nurtured a new nation.

As outlined in our introduction, the concept is underpinned by the philosophy that together, the story and its experience offer is greater than the sum of the individual experiences alone. As a result, the marketing opportunities and recommendations reinforce the role that the ‘bigger picture’ plays in improving the appeal of the individual experiences that contribute to the Wonder of Gondwana.

However, the quality of the individual experiences becomes even more important in this context. That is, each experience, museum, site or gallery should be visitor-centric and world-class to assist in maintaining the appeal of their own product while contributing to the positive perception of the other experiences that make up the Wonder of Gondwana.

As a result, as part of the Framework for Success, we have incorporated best practice and important trends that influence the appeal of products and experiences from a customer perspective. This includes those products and experiences that are intended to inspire learning and encourage people, from young to not-so-young, to find out more.

Connect each experience to the ‘bigger story’ – the story of Gondwanaland

Ensure the quality of individual experiences by adopting a visitor-centric approach and implementing best practice.

There are a number of priorities that frame the future of marketing the Wonder of Gondwana – A Journey into Ancient Australia:

Creating remarkable content that links individual experiences to the broader story. In today’s world (see Global Trends as well as the section on Creating Remarkable Content), content needs to be developed for multi-channel distribution, including through third parties such as Destination NSW. In addition, it should utilise short and inspiring video, which is the most successful format for driving conversion of interest to booking a visit.
Enhancing opportunities for personalisation and integrating User Generated Content (UGC). This may involve creating opportunities for engagement of the audience at various stages in the customer journey, including forums, workshops or masterclasses for those who are more involved in a specific issue or topic through to collecting, curating and sharing UCG about individual experiences.
Implementing a campaign based on the broader story of Gondwanaland that connects and celebrates the personality and point of difference of each individual experience. This concept plan highlights a few examples of the creative concept that delivers on this priority (see Creative Concepts). Taking this campaign to market will rely on strong collaboration, great content that inspires curiosity and intrigue and a simple call to action for the target markets (such as a campaign website that links the consumer directly to the experience offer and booking options). An important aspect will be to reinforce the Wonder of Gondwana – A Journey into Ancient Australia messaging through content and interpretation in a sophisticated yet simple way to avoid overwhelming the consumer or visitor.
Infusing the overall concept into core tourism strategies or campaigns, such as those focused on drive tourism and touring routes. This initiative should reinforce the experiential nature of the Wonder of Gondwana, including profiling opportunities for visitors to enjoy a truly sensory, experiential journey into Ancient Australia.

Create a content strategy to enable the enhancement of experiential content for existing and new touring routes, including to promote the Wonder of Gondwana, Night Skies and Aboriginal cultural tourism. This strategy should guide the development of new, high-quality content for multichannel distribution, including short video, images and copy in line with the technical guidelines provided by Destination NSW. It should leverage the experience themes and be developed to provide multiple options that support DNSW’s drive tourism program, covering short breaks through to longer, driving holiday experiences.
Engaging the local community and loyal customers to assist promote the Wonder of Gondwana. It is essential that those who are best placed to drive word of mouth are engaged and actively involved in sharing the stories beyond their destination, especially through inviting their friends and relatives to visit or join them to explore the ultimate landscape gallery or outdoor exhibition. This has the added benefit of strengthening a sense of pride in our community as well as encouraging more people to discover the experiences on their doorstep.
Strengthening partnerships and collaboration across the landscape and beyond boundaries. This is best achieved in a practical way through events or other activations that connect partners to the Wonders of Gondwana. Working closely with both public institutions, such as the Australian Museum (for example, See it in the Museum, Experience it in the Outback) as well as private sector organisations such as MOVE, who are creating and curating world-class exhibitions across various sites. Partnerships and collaboration will also assist in more direct targeting of niche or special interest markets.