Australia has put Crocodile Dundee at the centre of a lavish ad campaign to attract US tourists. Trevor Marshallsea explores why Australia is betting so heavily on a 1980s character - and associations - in 2018.
An unoriginal perpetuation of tired old clichés? Or a stroke of marketing genius?
The response to Australia's revival of tourism advertisements centred on Crocodile Dundee would heavily suggest the latter.
Australia turned back the clock three decades for its new campaign, which peaked with a multi-million dollar advert during American football's Super Bowl on Monday.
The ad, part of a A$36m (£20m; $28m), three-year drive aimed at wooing US tourists, followed a series of teasing clips purporting to be trailers for a remake of Australia's highest-grossing movie.
When the minute-long ad itself aired however, just before half-time in the Super Bowl, it was revealed to be a commercial encouraging visitors to Australia.
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The expense of airing the ad, starring American Danny McBride and Australian Chris Hemsworth, has not been made public, but US reports said a 30-second Super Bowl slot this year cost on average more than $5m.
This left some Australians recoiling at the slug to the taxpayer through government body Tourism Australia, which hopes to boost revenues from American tourists to A$6bn annually by 2020, from a current A$3.7bn.
Others reported a cultural cringe. The ad - showing kangaroos, beaches, the Sydney Opera House and harbour bridge - revived memories of Paul Hogan's successful 1980s commercials inviting Americans to visit so he could "slip another shrimp on the barbie".
The new campaign also portrays more outback characters in the Mick Dundee mould, whereas 89% of Australians live in cities.
Chris Hemsworth 'open to' Crocodile Dundee revamp
Why does it work?
The reception from marketing experts, though, was overwhelmingly a thumbs-up. Tourism Australia was commended for an innovative strategy, with appeal across generations and multi-national reach.
"Australia's tourism ads recently have moved away from the clichés too much, and those campaigns have disappeared up their own backsides," Dee Madigan, creative director of Sydney advertising firm Campaign Edge, told the BBC.
"People actually come to Australia for the opera house, for Uluru. You can't see them anywhere else.
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Image caption
Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride in a poster released by Tourism Australia
"And yes, the characters in the campaign are over-the-top caricatures, but that's okay. When you've got a short amount of time in an ad you use shortcuts - landmarks, caricatures - you don't have a long time to engage people."
Ms Madigan said recent Australian campaigns had failed because they had overcomplicated tourism and "tried to intellectualise it too much"
source: www.bbc.com
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