MILDURA’S new celebrity ambassador has defended the Tropical North Victoria tourism campaign’s use of the word tropical.
The slogan hit a nerve with some locals given the region’s dry climate and geographic distance from the tropics.
“The tropical tag is a blatant lie,” one reader wrote on the Sunraysia Daily Facebook page.
Shane Jacobson said the backlash came as a surprise.
“Tropical North Queensland is the slogan it’s obviously ripping off, so it literally is poking the tourism bear,” Jacobson said.
“When you’re trying to get attention in media, if you said come to sunny Mildura, there’s some nice wine and some nice food – every single town anywhere in Australia that has a warm climate is saying the same thing.
“You’ve got to say something a bit different and get their attention, you’ve got to let off some fireworks, and so that’s what we did.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, tropical is one of six major climate classes in Australia using the Koppen scheme, one of the ways climates can be categorised.
Mildura sits in the grassland classification, Noosa is considered subtropical and Cairns is considered tropical.
Jacobson dismissed critiques that branding Mildura as tropical could be considered misleading.
“The truth is we have better weather than tropical, because we have the dry heat without the humidity – so we’re actually better than we’re saying,” Jacobson said.
“The only difference between tropical and sunny is humidity.
“I haven’t met a person in my life that has said I just love the sweaty humidity.
“So if what we’ve done is undersold how much better the weather is, my bad.”
He said the campaign reaction exceeded expectations, as discussions about Mildura’s tropical credentials on Monday flooded the Herald Sun, 3AW, Channel 7’s Sunrise, ABC Statewide Mornings, and Melbourne evening news.
The campaign launch video was also viewed more than 110,000 times within 24 hours across Facebook and Instagram.
“This has a real edge to it … it has garnered so much attention, so from a marketing point of view it’s doing its job incredibly well,” Jacobson said.
“It’s just to get it out there (so that) Mildura is a little bit closer to the front of people’s mind when they’re thinking of going somewhere.
“If it’s high impact at the start, it’s half done its job. If the word tropical is the thing that makes it high impact, then the word tropical has done its job beautifully.”
The campaign featured the mayors of Mildura, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast trading light-hearted barbs about their respective tourism offerings.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles had a segment directly after Jacobson’s on Sunrise.
Mr Miles dismissively quipped “that is literally the first time anyone has ever suggested going to Mildura” and “I think Melbourne folk are choosing Noosa over Mildura any day”.
Jacobson described the comment as friendly fire, and counted it as a win.
“Did he say Mildura in the interview? To half a million people? Done, ding, dooka-dooka, that’s the noise you want,” Jacobson said.
The ultimate success of the campaign will be determined by visitation numbers, but Mildura’s new ambassador was excited to return to the region as often as he could.
“Already I’m planning another holiday up here with the family,” Jacobson said.
“We’re going to do a riverboat cruise and spend some time on the river.
“I want to attach my face to it. I say no to a lot of campaigns, so the fact that I’m excited about this, it does confuse me that some people might not be as excited about the region as I am.
“I’d be surprised if everyone didn’t get on board pretty soon and realise actually this is a great thing.”
