Maybe it’s just because it’s the antithesis of my life right now, but I caught myself daydreaming about the desirability of an intensely viral PR campaign from a few years back: Queensland Tourism’s Best Job in the World campaign.
Essentially, this tiny island offered $100k to someone to “housesit” the island and blog about for six months (going snorkelling and diving in the Great Barrier Reef, relaxing and telling people how amazing the island is). They took out real newspaper classified ads all over the world and made it look like a serious job push.
It worked. For a $1 million investment, the campaign earned Queensland Tourism more than $200 million of in-kind media, as well as 34,000 applications from more than 200 countries (including a very elaborate one from me).
A testament to the fact that though something may already be inherently desirable, there are always spins to make it more so.
