In 2013, the global media began to point to smartphone overuse or misuse as a growing social problem.

But whilst many seemed to acknowledge the problem, no one was doing anything to solve it. So Australia’s Sunshine Coast stepped up to the plate, and in the process, generated a story that raised awareness of the Sunshine Coast in almost every corner of the planet.

To increase awareness of the Sunshine Coast as a place which enables visitors to “make the most of the moment”, we created the Sunshine Coast’s Smartphone Code of Conduct.

Developed in conjunction with “The School of Life’s” Dr Tom Chatfield, the code consists of seven simple behaviours designed to make holiday makers focus less on their smartphone and more on their holiday.

To genuinely start changing behaviour, we needed to integrate the code into the visitor experience, so we built a coalition of local businesses, hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions. They displayed the code and introduced phone-free ‘Unplugged Zones’ in their experiences to encourage visitors to put down their phone and enjoy their holiday.

Without any budget for paid media, PR was the sole mass awareness driver for the campaign. We broke the story in early general news, and soon a torrent of local and global media coverage followed.

We generated 1.3 billion global PR impressions across five continents - that’s 1.299 Billion over target, resulting in a 50:1 ROI. Visitor numbers also rose by 8.7%.

Objectives:

- Generate mass awareness of the Sunshine Coast as a place to Make the Most of the Moment.

- Secure positive media coverage and increase exposure for the Sunshine Coast.

- Achieve 1 million PR impressions.

The audience is defined as ‘connectors’ - people who use their holidays to reconnect - with themselves, their friends and families and the world around them.

Awareness

• 1.3 billion global PR impressions across five continents.

• 1.299 Billion over target.

Knowledge/consideration

• Dominated the news media agenda with all major news media covering the story.

• 100% message penetration with all media coverage mentioning the Sunshine Coast.

• 99.8% of coverage was positive.

• One month post launch, research showed a 9% increase in intention to travel to the Sunshine Coast.

Action

• 2013 saw an 8.7% increase in visitors to the Sunshine Coast.

Return on Investment

• The campaign yielded an ROI OF 50:1.

We worked with ‘The School of Life’s’ technology expert, Dr Tom Chatfield to develop the Sunshine Coast’s Smartphone Code of Conduct.

The code offers seven behaviours encouraging people to alter ingrained smartphone dependency through small, incremental changes.

We integrated the code into the visitor experience by building a coalition of local tourist operators. They displayed the code across a multitude of touch points, and many introduced smartphone free zones. Mooloolaba’s “Underwater World” even trained a seal to take a smartphone from the audience and drop it in a bucket.

To ensure widespread reach, we broke the story in Australian TV early general news. The next day, all national and state Australian print news picked it up, followed by all major online news, bloggers and radio. John Laws – a notoriously cynical Australian radio personality even endorsed the campaign. In the days that followed, the story got picked up across five continents.

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is the perfect antidote to modern “always-on” life - a region that allows visitors to enjoy simple natural pleasures: long days at the beach, bushwalks in the hinterland, healthy meals with friends and family.

We had previously positioned the destination with the line “Make the Most of the Moment”; Tourism and Events Queensland now wanted to build on this brand idea and generate mass awareness of the Sunshine Coast as a place that enables visitors to do just that.

We identified a growing social problem that was well reported globally - and a serious barrier to being in the moment - smartphone overuse.

Whilst many were acknowledging the problem, no one was doing anything to solve it. We reasoned that if we could be the world’s first tourist destination to take concrete steps to encourage people to focus less on their smartphone and more on their holiday, we would earn the media’s interest.