The Best Job in the World

Tourism Queensland2009

The Best Job in the World is a 2009 global recruitment campaign (classified ads + website) for Tourism Queensland, created by CumminsNitro, Brisbane.

Island caretaker wanted. The best job in the world.Tourism Queensland

Why it works

A tourism campaign disguised as a job listing. Tiny classified ads in newspapers worldwide advertised a six-month, AU$150,000 post as 'caretaker' of a Great Barrier Reef island — blog weekly, feed the fish — and routed the world to islandreefjob.com, which took four million hits in an hour on day one. 34,684 people from 201 countries applied by video, each application a piece of user-made tourism advertising, and the hiring process generated months of global news (an estimated $80m+ in equivalent media from a ~$1m budget). At Cannes 2009 it won three Grand Prix — PR (the first ever awarded), Direct and Cyber — a record at the time. It is studied as the perfect participation mechanic: the audience didn't watch the ad; they were the ad.

Techniques

  • Participation Disguises tourism promotion as a job listing, so tens of thousands of video applications become tourism advertising made by the public.

Sources · 3

  1. 'Best job in the world' campaign storms Cannes Lions advertising awards The Guardian (2009) · theguardian.com
  2. 'Best job in the world' campaign wins third top award (Cyber Grand Prix) The Guardian (2009) · theguardian.com
  3. Ad campaign for 'the best job in the world' wins at Cannes (34,684 applicants from 201 countries) ABC News (2009) · abcnews.com

Updated

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