The Best Job in the World: How Tourism Queensland Turned a Job Ad Into a Global Campaign

In January 2009, a job ad appeared in newspapers around the world. The role was “island caretaker” on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. The duties included swimming, snorkelling, exploring the islands and reporting on it all through a blog. The contract was for six months. The salary was A$150,000.

Tourism Queensland called it “the best job in the world.” Tens of thousands of people agreed and applied.

The Context

Queensland’s islands were well known, but in 2009 the global financial crisis was hitting travel. Tourism Queensland needed to raise the profile of the Great Barrier Reef islands with international travellers, but it did not have the budget for large global advertising campaigns.

The organisation and its agency, CumminsNitro in Brisbane, looked for an idea that would generate news coverage rather than rely on paid media. They needed something that journalists would want to write about and that people would want to share.

The Campaign

The idea was to advertise a real job. Tourism Queensland placed small classified-style ads in newspapers around the world and supported them with online banners and a website. The ads looked like ordinary job listings but described a dream role.

To apply, candidates had to make a 60-second video explaining why they were right for the job and upload it to the campaign website. The videos were public, so applicants shared them with friends and family, and each one became a small advertisement for the islands.

The process was designed as a story. Applicants were shortlisted, then 16 finalists were flown to Queensland for a final interview. The winner, announced in May 2009, was Ben Southall from the UK. He spent six months living on Hamilton Island and blogging, filming and posting about his experiences.

The campaign was designed to spread through the applicants themselves. Many people who applied promoted their videos to friends, family and local media, asking for votes and support. Local newspapers and TV stations in many countries ran stories about residents who had applied, which gave the campaign coverage in places Tourism Queensland could never have reached with paid media. Each story featured the Great Barrier Reef.

The website became a destination. Visitors watched applicants’ videos, read about the job and explored information about the islands. The volume of traffic was so high that the site struggled at times after launch, which itself became part of the news story.

The winner’s six months on the job were also part of the campaign. Ben Southall blogged, posted videos and took part in media interviews while exploring Queensland’s islands. He swam with turtles, visited resorts and even had a jellyfish sting that made headlines. His experiences gave the campaign a second phase of content and kept Queensland in the news long after the application process ended.

Why It Worked

It was real. The job was genuine, with real pay and a real contract. That made it a news story, not a marketing stunt, and journalists covered it as such.

It was simple. “The best job in the world” is a headline that explains itself. People understood the idea immediately and wanted to talk about it.

Applicants became promoters. Every video application showed someone dreaming about the Great Barrier Reef. Applicants shared their videos to win votes and support, spreading the campaign further.

It had a narrative. The shortlist, finalists and winner gave the media reasons to come back to the story over several months.

The timing was perfect. In a recession, people were anxious about work. A dream job was a powerful escape and a positive story that media outlets were glad to run.

The Results

About 34,000 people from almost every country in the world applied by video. The campaign website received millions of visits.

Tourism Queensland estimated that the global publicity generated by the campaign was worth well over A$100 million, against a campaign budget of under A$2 million. The campaign was covered by major broadcasters and newspapers around the world.

At Cannes Lions 2009, the Best Job in the World won three Grand Prix, one of the most successful results for a tourism campaign.

The campaign also showed the power of an idea that is easy to repeat. Journalists could explain it in a single sentence, and people could tell friends about it without needing to see an ad. That simplicity was a big reason it travelled so far on a small budget.

Tourism Australia built on the idea in 2013 with “Best Jobs in the World,” offering six jobs across different states, from an “outback adventurer” in the Northern Territory to a “taste master” in Western Australia. Many other tourism boards and brands launched their own “dream job” campaigns in the years that followed, though few matched the impact of the original.

The Lesson for Today’s Marketers

Earned media comes from stories, not from ads. If you want the media to cover your campaign, give them something newsworthy. A real offer with a simple hook is often more powerful than a large media budget.

Participation spreads a message. By asking people to apply by video, Tourism Queensland turned its audience into its distribution. Every applicant brought their own network with them.

Finally, think in chapters. The campaign kept returning to the news because it had a structure: launch, applications, finalists, winner, the job itself. A campaign with a narrative lasts longer than a single moment.