“A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad.” — Richard Branson How does the idea of living rent-free on a tropical island earning a six-figure salary sound? In 2009, Tourism Queensland faced a difficult challenge. How to persuade travellers to visit the Great Barrier Reef during the midst of a global economic depression in which tens of millions of people had lost their jobs. So how did they do it? Instead of traditional advertising, Tourism Queensland posted international classified ads looking for an ‘Island Caretaker’. The gig? A six-month role (based on Hamilton Island) looking after the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. It came with a salary of $150,000 AUD (just over $100,000 USD at the time), included free accommodation in a luxury oceanfront villa and all travel expenses covered. The job description included feeding the fish, cleaning the pool, and collecting the post. The real responsibility was to explore the many islands of the Great Barrier Reef and create weekly blog posts, video updates, and social media content to promote the region. Unsurprisingly, social media went bananas, spreading news of the alluring prize. On day one, the application website crashed after receiving 4 million hits per hour. In total, more than 34,000 people from nearly 200 countries applied. In May 2009, after a highly publicised final interview process on the islands, Ben Southall, a 34-year-old British charity events organiser, was crowned the winner. Southall spent his six months fielding over 450 media interviews (including an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show), posting dozens of blog posts, and capturing thousands of photos and videos. The result? For Tourism Queensland’s $1.2 million USD investment, the ‘Best Job in the World’ campaign generated an estimated $200 million to $400 million AUD in global publicity value. The lesson? Creativity is a form of leverage. By using an eyebrow-raising PR hook, Tourism Queensland generated massive, organic global publicity on a relatively small budget. The campaign essentially pioneered the concept of leveraging user-generated content and influencer marketing before influencers were a thing. What are some other similarly creative PR stunts? P.S. Here’s a case study of the campaign if video is more your thing. 😉 If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love our Marketing Strategy, Creative Thinking and Advertising Masters courses.