Today branded content within the Australian travel industry is largely one dimensional and traditional. A few paid media television travel shows and location reports lagging behind the fast paced, changing world of modern tourism. In an urban environment it’s all about discovering what’s new. Giving people the clues to find and take ownership – whether it’s a café, shop or event. In Melbourne especially, the cultural environment is evolving on a weekly basis. Keeping up with it can be daunting.

Indeed the web has changed the way people book and search for vacations, but an audience generated, social media led travel experience is something that hasn’t happened until now.

By harnessing the power of social media and combining it with live-streaming video technology, the RCTs became the users’ eyes and ears in Melbourne. Potential visitors simply had to tweet or message via a specially designed website, making the campaign automatically social.

The campaign was run on a custom-built platform that facilitated both viewing and controlling of the RCTs. Live social requests were moderated, responded to and fed to the website, and then delivered to the RCTs on the ground.

Over 5 days, our Remote Control Tourists received nearly 9,000 requests with 4,000 cities participating worldwide.

Global press coverage reached 150 million people, generating $3.7 million in earned media.

The campaign was also picked up by online publications and was the most shared article of the day on Mashable.

Through social media we generated over 49 million earned impressions with sentiment towards campaign at 96% positive.

We created over 80hrs of video footage of Melbourne, took over 2,000 Instagram photos, checked into 321 hidden cultural treasures and travelled 109km. The data created a first of its kind, crowdsourced interactive guide of Melbourne.