Australia’s Top 5 Social Media Campaigns

Last year was a big year for social media in Australia. Here’s my top 5 for the best social media campaigns in Australia in 2009.

1. Tourism Queensland: Best Job in the World

Creator: Cummins Nitro (later acquired by Sapient)

This campaign achieved global acclaim winning two awards at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. The campaign, which offered the job as caretaker of Hamilton Island in Queensland’s pristine Great Barrier Reef, was created on a total budget of just $1.7 million yet generated more than $150 million worth of exposure. Managing director of Cummins Nitro Brisbane, Michael Branagh (@michaelbranagh) said that “globally it is estimated that more than three billion people have been exposed to [the Tourism Queensland campaign].” The job was won by UK resident Ben Southall (@bensouthall) who survived a deadly box jellyfish sting late last month (probably not the best PR for Queensland).

2. Australian Defence Force: Defence Force Game

Creator: Visual Jazz

This free military game by leading digital agency Visual Jazz is nothing short of brilliant.  The game has attracted over 1.1 million players- with one-third of all played being the target audience of Australians aged between 15 and 35.  The game has also resulted in approximately 6,000 job enquiries to the Australian Defence Force. Not bad! Click here to play the Defence Force game.

3. Amnesty International Australia: China Internet Censorship

Creators: Care Network, Bendalls Group, dgmAustralia

Amnesty International’s China Internet Censorship campaign was another big social media marketing success story.  Amnesty set out to engage online communities and spark a debate on internet censorship in China. Using Facebook, driving traffic to their campaign website and promoting the Online Day of Protest, Amnesty’s campaign achieved great exposure- and several sizeable donations. Newcastle based ad agency Sticky Media (@mediahunter) has a great analysis of the Amnesty social media campagn here.

4. V Australia: 4320:LA

Creator: Droga5 Sydney

Virgin Australia’s fun Twitter campaign also attracted a lot of attention in 2009.  Sydney-based agency Droga5 challenged users to tweet for 4320 minutes (three days) at a rate of one tweet per minute on V Australia’s new three day LA holiday packages. Users were asked to tweet why they should win the three day package tour.  Click here to check out the competition website.

5. Powerhouse Museum

Creator: Seb Chan at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

Seb Chan’s integrated social media campaign for the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is without a doubt one of the best campaigns of the year.  Using a clever combination of Facebook and Flickr to promote the museums up-and-coming exhibitions, the Powerhouse has attracted a loyal group of followers eager to use these social networking outlets to find out more information and stay informed.  Seb’s blog is also worth a read.