<p>Ben Southall, Queensland tourism ambassador and winner of the Best Job in the World, shared some of the lessons he had learned about marketing and promotion in a lecture to students at UQ Business School.</p>
<p>The former charity events organizer spoke about the success of the tourism campaign, which saw him chosen from 34,684 contestants from 200 countries to win the coveted caretaker position at Hamilton Island. The competition style campaign, described as “the world’s greatest PR stunt”, achieved more than $410 million in worldwide publicity for Queensland Tourism.</p>
<p>Over his six-month tenure Ben visited almost 100 Queensland destinations, fielded more than 450 media interviews, posted over 60 blogs of 75,000 words, 2000 photos and 47 video diaries. He also tweeted more 1000 times. He has since been reappointed as a tourism ambassador and continues to sell Queensland.</p>
<p>Dr Liz Ferrier, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at UQ Business School, said: “We would like to thank Ben for his fascinating insight into the campaign to promote Queensland. The Best Job in the World is widely regarded as the most successful tourism campaign ever.</p>
<p>“Organisations increasingly need to find innovative ways to engage with their customers. The Queensland Tourism campaign was exemplary in the way it invited creative participation with its target market and combined social networking with traditional media to capture the public’s imagination and draw them into the campaign.”</p>
