Ben Southall as island caretaker: Hit or miss?
August 8, 2009 by Caitlin
Filed under Travel Trends & Issues
British guy Ben Southall started the so-called “best job in the world” for Tourism Queensland about a month ago. How is he doing so far?
Are you reading Ben’s blog or following him on Twitter? If not, why not? If so, what do you think so far? Please let me know in the comments.
In some ways it doesn’t matter any more – the campaign has already done its job for Tourism Queensland. I said in my application video that the campaign would attract worldwide attention in the lead up to announcing a winner but interest would naturally die away once they did – unless they found someone who could really make a go of the blogging. I thought it would take someone pretty special to build a following once they were actually on the island but there was a great opportunity for Tourism Queensland if they found the right person.
The question is whether they found the right person – and also whether Tourism Queensland understands the opportunity well enough to support that person in the right way.
Personally I am disappointed. Ben and his girlfriend Bre seem nice and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. It is tempting to write a Charlie Brooker-style post full of sarcastic humour merely for the purpose of generating page traffic and comments. But I won’t. It’s easy to be a knocker but I think that would be a distortion of the truth (nothing is that black and white) and it would also be cruel given that there is a real person at the other end who is likely to read this post.
That said, I do want to give some constructive criticism for both Ben and Tourism Queensland and generate some discussion. Since Ben is being paid $150,000 (not sure if that’s pro rata for six months or total compensation but it’s still a lot), living rent-free in a luxury villa and no doubt having a fabulous time, I’m sure he is tough enough to handle it!
None of this is motivated by sour grapes – it’s true that I was an applicant but I was never actually in contention as a shortlisted candidate. In truth, I’m having a pretty great time with my recent move to San Francisco, so things have worked out well for me.
The candidate
There were some awesome candidates among the 35,000 or so people who applied. When Tourism Queensland announced the top 50, I pulled together my top 11 as a fun exercise. Ben didn’t make my list, nor was he one of the other seven I highlighted as particularly appealing. That’s fine – different things appeal to different people.
I was engaged enough in the campaign that I still wanted to give Ben a chance. After all, I’d only seen a 60-second video, while Tourism Queensland had done far more extensive testing and interviews. Maybe they’d seen more in him than I had.
I have to admit that I am still uninspired. What appeals to me in a blogger is when I can relate to someone but I also gain a fresh perspective on life by reading about their experiences. Ben seems like a nice guy but he is a bit too ‘Everyman’ and I’m just not sure he has that magic X-factor that would make a complete stranger want to read his stuff. (Sorry, Ben!)
Quality & Quantity
Blogging is not about producing polished, lyrical writing or slick photographs – it’s a much more personal and informal style by its very nature. But if you are going to capture an audience beyond your mum and close friends there has to be something about it that lifts it above the ordinary. Ben’s stuff doesn’t – it’s great subject matter but it’s rendered deathly dull by poor writing. In his first blog entry he actually wrote about “a view which can only be experienced as a description from me just won’t do it justice”. Well, I dunno Ben, but you could try.
Since then he’s written a few rambling blog entries of the “we did this and then we did this and then we did this” variety and done some video entries that pretty much follow the same template. I would really like a little more story telling – narrative doesn’t have to be chronological.
I also would like more self-editing. I really wanted to check out the video of Lizard Island – my husband and I considered going there for our honeymoon but we opted for Heron and Wilson Islands instead. But it was a whopping nine minutes long and I just couldn’t get through the whole thing. Surely I am not alone in preferring online video to be short and sharp?
Ben has come under criticism for his volume of blogging (links to news articles branding him as “lazy”). I actually don’t think that’s fair. Firstly, Tourism Queensland has been keeping him super-busy, sending him around to dozens of different islands so he’s facing a time issue. That’s Tourism Queensland’s fault, not his, and to some extent their hands are tied since they are spending public money and all the islands are going to want to have their day in the sun. I’m not concerned with the quantity of posts but with the quality (as I’ve outlined above). I don’t think demand is so voracious that we need posts every day or even multiple times a day; I just want the posts we get to be good.
I don’t want to imply that Ben is doing everything wrong. I think he is trying his best – but I’m not sure that his best is good enough. To be fair, the initial hype was so huge that it would be difficult for anyone to live up to. I just think the whole blogging side to the campaign had a lot of potential and it’s not being fully realised. I’m not sure he’s truly cut out for the blogging side of the job.
Maybe Ben can take some of this on board and turn it around? I’m a little doubtful as time is already ticking away on the six-month tenure but it’s worth it for him to try. I wonder whether he is losing or gaining readers so far?
Engagement
One thing that Ben is doing right is that he is replying to comments, which is a good way to build community on a blog. He is also tweeting as @bensouthall and when he is at his home base of Hamilton Island or somewhere else with internet/mobile reception, he also seems to be replying to @replies on Twitter, which is great. Recently he also took over the @queensland account for a question and answer session – another good idea.
I think he could probably harness Twitter a little more to increase the level of interaction. He currently has 3,098 followers but is only following 62 in return. C’mon Ben – it’s not that hard to find some interesting people to follow and engage in conversation! Oh and don’t forget to let people know when you’ll be out of range for a few days. I know someone who complained because they sent Ben an @reply but never got a response – it was only from reading Ben’s blog that I realised this might have coincided with his trip to Wilson Island, which has no internet or mobile phone reception.
Relevance
As a travel writer, I have a problem with press trips and freebies because your experience is often so very different to that of ordinary tourists. Firstly, the hotels and tour operators often treat you better. Secondly, if you are not paying your way, you don’t have a gut feel for whether something represents good value. If you are being treated, then it seems churlish to complain about things that are not quite right. It takes a professional to distance themselves from all that and see how other people are treated and put themselves in the shoes of the ordinary tourist.
By contrast, the reason travel blogs are so great is that by and large, it’s real people talking about real experiences. (Though this, sadly, is changing as PR companies cotton on to the marketing potential of blogs).
In a way, in Ben’s case we have the worst of both worlds. Ben is being treated to a VIP experience on the islands but he doesn’t have the professional experience to distance himself from it. Clearly as an employee of Tourism Queensland, he can’t be expected to write about anything negative. Even if Tourism Queensland would allow it, I don’t think that would be a fair use of public money that is meant to be used to promote the region as a tourist destination.
However, I do think there could be more effort made to include activities and accommodation that are in the price range of a wider group of people. The resort at Lizard Island would probably appeal to honeymooners looking for a special holiday of a lifetime, but what about an average family wanting to take their kids snorkelling on the reef? I know for a fact that there are plenty of places in Queensland who cater for that family but I wonder if Ben will go to them and if he does, whether he’d be able to see it for what it is. This is partly down to Tourism Queensland with the itinerary planning and partly down to Ben and whether he is able to step outside his bubble.
To attract an audience, people need to be able to relate to Ben and the experiences he’s having. If he’s enjoying the best of everything all the time, that won’t happen.
Diversity
As I’ve written before, I still think Tourism Queensland missed a trick in that their top 50 was not very diverse – it was ethnically diverse since it was a global campaign but not diverse in other ways such as age and demographic.
Their final choice is not exactly the poster child for diversity – Ben is a white guy from Britain in his mid thirties. This is fine – there was just one job and I’m not suggesting that we should start discriminating against white men. As long as Clare from Taiwan and Anjaan from India had an even chance then I don’t have a problem with that.
However, Tourism Queensland went on to coordinate an online tourism campaign showcasing adventure travel in far north Queensland using two of the short-listed candidates. They chose James Hill, an Aussie guy living in London, and Greg Reynen, an American guy living in Singapore. Both white males of some indeterminate age in their twenties or thirties. Both, I’m sure lovely people (James had a great video and was actually one of my favourites in the top 50)… but that’s beside the point.
This is a marketing campaign. Doesn’t Tourism Queensland want to target the international audience? Don’t they want to target women? Adventure travel is not just for men – I’m sure Anny Chih, a Canadian woman with Chinese heritage from Vancouver, would have been up for it.
Campaign success and next year
As I said before, the campaign is already a huge success. The forecast is for international visitor numbers to Queensland to remain steady at 2.2 million in 2009, the same as last year, according to the July report of Tourism Queensland’s Tourism Forecasts. In a recession year this is a great result, especially since Australia over all is expected to see a drop in international visitors from 5.6 million to 5.4 million.
Meanwhile, although tourism numbers for Australia are down overall, there is some evidence of an increase in visitors from countries that had someone as a finalist in the Best Job in the World contest. The April visitor numbers for Australia show the number of visitors from the UK was up 8% in April 2009 compared with April 2008. There was also a 107% increase in visitors from Taiwan – possibly because of the fact that there was a Taiwanese finalist who won the popular vote by a long shot.
All of this was before Ben even started in the job. The question is now whether the campaign will build on that momentum or die a slow death. I believe Tourism Queensland had the opportunity to achieve the former but it’s more likely to be the latter. That’s not to say anything terrible about Ben – I think nine out of ten people could not do any better in the island caretaker position. It’s that elusive tenth candidate that Tourism Queensland needed.
I could be wrong but I get the sense that Tourism Queensland is tightly controlling Ben’s itinerary, not just with the island hopping but also with a lot of scheduled radio interviews and TV appearances. I can see why they would jump at the chance for the media exposure but I wonder if they realise they could be missing a bigger opportunity. If they run this campaign again, I think they need to really make sure they choose someone with the right talent and personality to build an online following – and they need to give them the time and breathing space to do it.
If they try to run this contest again, I don’t think lightening will strike twice. The first time it was novel, the next time it is going to be old news.
You are correct that the value in the contest was in the contest itself, not the winner. It didn’t matter who won or if they bothered to write a blog. The media exposure was about the idea of getting paid to live on an island.
If they want some sort of media exposure in the future, they could do a reality show (web based) or something where they are creating content in Queensland and showcasing Queensland.
They could also just target big name bloggers. Not travel bloggers per se, just anyone with a large online following. iJustine, Dooce, or YouTube celebs could get them some eyeballs for little more than the cost of the ticket and some meals.
Alternatively, they could drop the $150,000 and just offer a team of bloggers from all over the world a free room and board and have everyone target their home countries. This is probably the most cost efficient way to target under served markets, especially in Asia.
In the end, the QLD Tourist Board should be credited for one of the most innovative marketing gimmicks in internet history. If they are smart, they will try something different if they want to do something like this again.
Gary Arndt´s last blog ..Daily Travel Photo – Caesarea, Israel
Some great ideas there, Gary! I like the idea of a team of bloggers – I can’t help thinking the reality show is a bit passé and they have done that a bit this time around anyway. Thanks for your comment. – Caitlin
Firstly, I should state that I did NOT apply to this campaign. I was actually one of the journalists who was flown out to Hamilton Island the day before the campaign was announced to cover it when the news broke. That said, I feel like I know more about the campaign than most, as I got the chance to meet with all the TQ brains behind it, before it became a global sensation.
However.
While Ben sounds like a great guy, I thought they were in the market for someone who was an experienced writer and proficient in multimedia. From what I can gauge, he is neither. Sure, he has the enthusiasm, and that’s important, of course, but his writing is so bland and rambling that I get bored after the first few sentences. Quite frankly, he writes with the vocabulary of a third grader, describing everything as “awesome,” “amazing” and “incredible.” It’s repetitive and mundane.
Simply put, this was not the type of candidate I envisioned TQ selecting, and I think there were so many other more deserving applicants who would have excelled when given the task. Personally, Anny from Vancouver was my top choice of the shortlisted, and I think she would have created a much better, more engaging product than Ben has. (But that’s just my opinion, and again, no offense to Ben.)
Camels & Chocolate´s last blog ..Photo Friday: Self-Indulgent Family Portraits
Yes, that’s pretty much my thoughts in a nut shell… I pulled my punches a little in the post. (I have tweaked it a little since – trying to judge the fine line between saying what I think and not being a bitch). Sadly, he’s just not great at writing … or photography or video either. Sigh. – Caitlin. PS Oh yeah and Anny was great – she was in my top 11!
Good article,
full of fair and interesting criticism.
I must confess that I had not, in fact been following Ben’s blog at all.
Though I will be checking it more frequently from now on.
Unfortunately all the links in your top ten list are broken, they all lead to Ben’s blog now, The Wayback machine could do fix that: http://www.archive.org/index.php
but it is probably more trouble than its worth.
Peace
KimLiatach´s last blog ..61. Werewolf
Yes, I noticed that. It looks like TQ pulled all the videos from the site. I think they still exist on YouTube (mine is there) so if I had a spare hour I might be able to hunt them down and recode the links. In the mean time, if anyone is curious about anyone individually I would try searching on YouTube. – Caitlin.
Hey Caitlin!
Though I never caught Ben on my radar during the first Best Job cut, from all the little bits I’ve caught from both applicants and media alike, he was definitely one of the best choices for Tourism Queensland. I do think it’s a bit unfair that people are branding him as “lazy.” I don’t think he’s been lazy at all. If you look at his itinerary and consider the fact that sometimes Bre isn’t there and when they meet up again she probably wants to do some touristy stuff too, and then also consider how long it takes to cut a good video or write an engaging blog post, Ben’s got quite a bit on his plate.
That being said though, I do find myself putting in effort to catch up on his blogs and videos. It’d be great if Tourism Queensland could hire someone to film and edit Ben’s videos for him. Perhaps they should hire James Hill permanently to do the vids. Everyone knows he’s got the talent and his awesome personality is just icing on the cake! *hint hint TQ, hint hint*
Anny Chih´s last blog ..The Tim Tam Tasting Challenge
Thanks for your comment. I agree – I don’t think he’s being lazy at all. He’s got a really full schedule and I actually don’t think the blog audience wants to consume vast amounts of stuff from one destination anyway. I do think he has a quality problem though – he needs to work harder to engage an audience’s attention. – Caitlin.
Hi Caitlin!
Ben was in Brisbane on Friday for his first month’s “performance review”. Didn’t get much of a run in the paper, but story here:
http://news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25897752-3102,00.html
The main news to come out of that is the announcement that Ben will soon have some “helpers”. There were no details, but something’s in the works. I guess because the load is too much for him?
When questioned again about whether he was producing enough content online, their fallback was the specific job stipulation – one blog post per week. I think that’s a bit weak, but I don’t think it’s Ben’s fault that he’s not posting more often.
He’s a nice guy (Hi Ben!), but I think the large part of the issue is time management. He seems to have such a hectic schedule that he really doesn’t have time to be ‘creative’ and produce more compelling content.
I also started suggesting a few iPhone apps, but TQ didn’t give him a 3GS so he can’t do video with it.
It was right in the middle of the Twitter DDoS attack, so unfortunately I couldn’t get questions from Twitter to ask him at the time.
Dave´s last blog ..Back from the dead
Interesting that they are consider giving him “helpers”. I’m not sure I agree with that approach – it kind of takes away from the amateur/personal aspect of blogging. (If they wanted professional content, they should have just hired a professional). I think it would be better to change the expectations of what he should be doing with his time – free up his itinerary and ask him to write different stuff. He could either write posts on thematic topics rather than a day-by-day diary, or he could write the diary but make it much more personal. – Caitlin.
I too thought it would take someone pretty special to keep people interested after the initial worldwide praise of the Queensland tourism campaign. There’s no doubt that from a PR perspective it was a huge success.
Ben seems a nice enough guy, but I’ve yet to be inspired enough to think actually, that place looks amazing and I want to go there. Yes, I’ve seen all the nice greeny-blue ocean photos, and white golden sands but I am sure there’s more to the place than that.
Interaction is a MASSIVE thing in social media and blogging and I think he does not interact well with people online. You ask him questions on Twitter, and you never get a response. I realise though that he must receive a lot of questions, but I do not see him interacting with anyone.
I want to see more videos, photos, not of Ben under sand on the beach, but of the places he is visiting. Yes, I am disappointed in what I have seen so far, but after the massive build up I always thought it was going to be an anti-climax.
Darren Cronian´s last blog ..Passport data security for e-Borders programme
More interaction would be great but he is not always on Twitter because of logistics – often he is busy or exploring islands that don’t have mobile or internet access. He was on Twitter yesterday and responded to me. – Caitlin.
I agree with a lot of what has been said.
Ben is obviously their guinea pig (albeit a very willing one) and after the furore of the campaign it was going to be difficult for anyone, no matter how experienced, to maintain the level of hype surrounding the project.
Queensland Tourism spent money on marketing peeps and had access to the TV networks. Even the best reael writer in the world would have trouble making everyday island life sound interesting to others:
“Got up, fed the fish, saw a humpback from a hundred yards.”
I like Ben but as he’s a ‘Pom’ he Aussie media will be all too quick to batter him.
Andy
Andy Geoghegan´s last blog ..Weekly Photo: Melbourne 2006
I think it would be a hard ask for someone to maintain the level of hype generated by the campaign. However, a good blogger would have been able to build an online following and substantially grow the audience actually reading the blog from July to December. I don’t think that’s going to happen. – Caitlin.
Hello!
It’s pretty plain that the lion’s share of PR was to come from the competition itself, and not necessarily anything that followed. I come at this from a slightly different (and less helpful) perspective than the rest of you because, without wanting to sound churlish, I don’t care.
I’ve never been interested in travelling to Queensland, and this stunt hasn’t changed that. I’ve also only looked at the Island Caretaker blog once, 2 minutes ago, as a result of reading this post.
Please shoot me down, but I’m not sure Ben should be a professional writer. Despite what the original job ad might have said (I haven’t read it), it plays to the ‘dream job for ordinary man’ fantasy aspect which wouldn’t have been possible if a journo won.
As it is, the interested public get to observe an ordinary guy living out his dream, and documenting it as an ordinary guy (if there is such a thing) would.
Keith Emmerson´s last blog ..Richard Herring is a racist
I actually agree with you that they made the right call not to pick a journalist. (Even though, as a professional journalist, I’m sure I could do a better job!). I think it would have been a let-down as the job was perceived as being open to anyone (although the ad did actually ask for ‘relevant experience’ whatever that means – anything from media experience to SCUBA qualifications, I suppose!). That doesn’t mean they can’t pick someone good. Professionals do not have a monopoly on quality There are plenty of people building substantial followings for their own blogs who would not regard themselves as professional. There are also tons of talented amateur writers / photographers / videographers out there and I think the job should have gone to one of those – Ben’s application showed enthusiasm and a taste for adventure, but not a lot more. – Caitlin.
Hi Caitlin
You’ve clearly been devoting a lot more time and energy to following Ben’s blog than I have as I’ve been well aware of the campaign, but have not been following since.
As you say, the Queensland tourism board have got some massive publicity from the contest and I think the blog is certainly providing a great advert for the destination. Ben looks the part of a surfer and beach bum with his blond hair too.
The blog is easy reading and chatty style – like the videos although as you say after 3 mins I tend to press the snooze button. I can’t say I’d particularly be following Ben as a personality, but if I was seriously thinking of visiting Queensland as a destination I’d have a good dig around in his articles.
The thing that struck me was the element of corporate promotion involved. I think Ben must be exhausted by the whirlwind tour of camera crews, interviews & everything else that’s being laid on for him. At this rate I doubt if he’ll have time to write anything in depth or insightful – as we know it all takes much longer than you think writing, loading photos, editing videos and he seems to barely have time to chill on the sunlounger.
I thought the job of caretaker would be more of a castaway, getting in tune with himself and communing with nature, but it’s more a promotion for the admittedly wonderful boutique hotels.
Can’t blame the tourism board though – they get an online tourist brochure thinly disguised as a personal blog.
Heather Cowper´s last blog ..I’ve been to the Night Glow at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta – Video
Ah, well Hamilton Island is actually pretty built up and they always said the job would involve exploring the other islands so I knew it wouldn’t be a real “castaway experience”. It’s not so much that I’ve been following the blog consistently but I did make an effort to do some research before I wrote the post. I’m amazed that you find the blog “easy reading” – I find it a real struggle! – Caitlin.
Hi Caitlin,
I agree with several points you made. For one thing, their choice of finalists showed that they were mostly interested in superficial factors like appearance than professional skills.
It would have wise for them to pick a smart woman for a number of reasons. Since I’ve started my own blog, I’ve noticed that most of the people using Web 2.0 (blogs, twitter, Facebook) are women. I believe that women are inherently better than men at the social networking skills that social media embraces. I started using Facebook about a year before my wife and daughter. But they eclipsed my number of friends (100) in just a few weeks.
There have also been a number of studies suggesting that women who are part of a married couple make the majority purchasing decisions. Even single women purchase more stuff than most men do. (Women purchase about 70 percent of all books (according to Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail.”)
In the U.S. more women than men are attending college and graduate school.
You make another interesting point about the poor quality of his blog posts.
This seems a bit counter-intuitive, but I think that it’s actually harder to write compelling travel articles while you’re visiting the destination you’re writing about.
To me, the most interesting travel writing highlights one aspect of an interesting place and connects it with a larger issue. This often requires varied life experiences and time for reflection.
I’ve seldom seen an interesting blog etc. in which someone merely recounts their experiences. “I went to the beach and I saw a big turtle.” It’s an amateur’s approach. Unfortunately, Queensland Tourism has gotten just what it bargained for.
Interesting points about women and social media – I don’t like to generalise about why but I do interact with more women in Web 2.0 than men. And the marketing research does indeed say that women make the majority of purchasing decisions. – Caitlin. PS Hey! Is that comment about the “big turtle” style of post a thinly veiled jibe at me and my posts about big turtles?!! ;-P
From @darmerk on Twitter: I think TQ underestimated the value of an engaging writing style. Maybe the caretaker could outsource with that nice paycheck
I think the blog is awful. I think it would have been much stronger had they reached out to people or organizations and promoted the blog more to keep the momentum going.
I think you pretty much said it all.
Nomadic Matt´s last blog ..The Weekly Photo: Ayutthaya
Yes, I agree. Blogging is never a one-way street – unlike old media, you do need to reach out to other people and organisations and collaborate and cross-promote. – Caitlin.
The big question for me before I can really judge Ben’s performance is how many fingers are going into the pie? He works for Tourism Queensland – he’s not out there as an independent blogger. How much are they dictating or even perhaps editing what he puts out there? Have they given him strict guidelines about what he can and can’t write about? I’d also like to see more authentic, experiential storytelling but maybe that’s not what the boss man wants. I think that’s something we all have to consider.
Kayt Sukel´s last blog ..A Relaxing Weekend in Washington, DC
That’s a good point, Kayt. I’m sure there are guidelines in place and he is probably obliged to be positive. I can’t imagine that they are editing his work for style though, just based on the evidence! – Caitlin.
Maybe not for style…but it can be hard to write provocatively (or even well) when you don’t get to choose your own content!
Kayt Sukel´s last blog ..A Relaxing Weekend in Washington, DC
Nice analysis Caitlin
It seems like TQ have missed an opportunity to hold on to the significant interest generated in the concept and job selection process. I agree that next time, if there is a next time, they’ll need to do things differently to have an impact.
The Global Traveller´s last blog ..Tax refund for flights from the Netherlands
I’m not surprised there was an increase in visitor numbers from UK in April 2009 over April 2008. This year Easter was in April and last year it was in March. It is quite common to time long distance vacation to coincide with public holidays. I’m more familiar with New Zealand visitor data, which sees this pattern.
The increase in Taiwanese visitors is too big to be explained by the Easter effect. Taking a look at the time series data the number of monthly visitors from Taiwan fluctuates wildly with some months very high months (eg April 2009, July 2007) and some very low months (eg April 2008). I’m not sure what is causing these variations.
Part of the changes may be due to how many flights EVA has in a given month. They don’t fly to Australia daily, and I’d expect the number of flights per week has varied over time.
The Global Traveller´s last blog ..Tax refund for flights from the Netherlands
That’s a really good point about Easter – I hadn’t taken that into account. Visits did not increase uniformly from all countries though – it did seem to me that the increases were bigger from countries that were most highly involved in the campaign (such as the UK and Taiwan). The statistical analysis would have to be deeper and draw on more data sources to really test this hypothesis though. All the same, if Tourism Queensland meets its annual projections for 2009, I think that would be a good outcome. – Caitlin.
Caitlin,
I think you’ve made some astute observations here. I could see a lot of this coming during the interview process on Hamilton Island.
Back during the Top 50 phase, somebody on the Ning forum predicted that the Island Caretaker’s life would be micro-managed to the hilt by TQ. I doubted it at the time, but I didn’t doubt it after the interview. In my opinion, there were far too many ceremonial, ambassador-type duties planned, and not nearly enough independent island exploring.
You nailed it with this quote: “Ben is being treated to a VIP experience on the islands but he doesn’t have the professional experience to distance himself from it.” TQ’s itinerary and influence seems to be turning Ben into an industry insider, when the entire appeal of this campaign was based on the idea that the Island Caretaker would be an outsider. He may not even realize it’s happening — it’s hard to recognize these things when you’re at the centre.
If I were running things, I would have told the Island Caretaker this: “Go explore the islands and blog about it. Tell us what you want to do and we’ll make sure you don’t have to pay for it. If you get stuck for ideas, let us know and we’ll give you some suggestions. If we feel you’re neglecting certain areas or leaving certain topics undercovered, we’ll give you some strong suggestions.” And leave it at that.
The hour-long session on Twitter was an odd idea. The Island Caretaker should have an ongoing conversation with all his followers (and follow them back), fielding questions whenever they come up. When you’re planning a trip, what could be better than the opportunity to ask specific questions of somebody who’s been there — any time you want? Scheduled times are for television and radio, not social media.
As for the criticism that Ben has been blogging too much about his itinerary, I agree — but that’s where Twitter can come in handy. It’s the appropriate medium for keeping people updated on your comings and goings, telling them what you’ll be up to tomorrow, or mentioning that you’re working on a speech for the trade show. Save the blog for telling stories about the delights average tourists will discover on the islands.
Thanks for the comment. You’ve made some excellent points – I wonder if Tourism Queensland is listening?! In general a lot of companies/organisations think they want to play in the social media space but when push comes to shove, they can’t quite cope with the loss of control that it entails. Being hands off and letting the conversation happen is essential in Web 2.0 but it’s a hard lesson for executives to learn. It’s a shame because social media has such huge potential, as the first half of this campaign demonstrates. – Caitlin.
The only people who have criticised his blog are the Aussie press and you, an Aussie blogger. The rest of the world really doesn’t care. OK, a few other media outlets have picked up on the Aussie stories, but it’s not big news.
By picking a Brit to win, Queensland Tourism knew they would get criticism form the Aussie media. Imagine the US running a similar competition and it being won by a Russian!
But by giving it to a Brit they were playing on the BBC’s involvement and duly the BBC aired an hour-long documentary at 9pm on BBC1 that got 3.4 million viewers. I doubt Ben’s blog will get 3.4 million unique visitors.
So from Queensland Tourism’s point of view it’s job done and the blog is completely irrelevant. It was never about the blog. It was about recruiting the applicant that would get them the most publicity. They did this and they did it well. I’m sure the flak they’re getting from the Aussies is a small price to pay.
Simon´s last blog ..The best holiday competitions
Thanks for the comment. I don’t think the fact that I am Australian is actually relevant – it’s been a long time since I lived there (five years in London and now California). I was actually prompted to write the post because of comments made by (non-Aussie) tweeters about how they were finding it dull. Really, I don’t think Ben’s nationality is relevant to how readers are judging the experience – sure, it helped with the BBC doco and that might have been part of the reasoning for Tourism Queensland, but Aussies don’t hate Brits as much as you seem to think (we reserve our rivalry for the sporting field and it’s entirely friendly!). There were one or two critical articles in the Australian and subsequently the British press about his output but from what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t exactly say it was “big news” even in Australia – I’m following it more closely than most because of my initial involvement in the campaign. You are right that Tourism Queensland did the first part of the campaign – maximising publicity during the recruitment process – extremely well. I just think there was potential to actually make something out of the second stage as well and they have failed to do this. They have still accomplished their campaign objectives regardless of this fact. – Caitlin.
Caitlin, I’m not saying your comments are based on the fact that you’re an Aussie, and I think your piece was pretty much spot-on.
I just found it slightly amusing that a lot of the comments about the blog in the Aussie press came straight after the Aussies lost a test match against England. I just wonder whether it was just a nice opportunity for a bit of playful Pom-bashing?
I think Ben was chosen because if he wasn’t the BBC would have shunted the documentary to the graveyard slot. That’s just my opinion, and I am sure QT would deny it. All I am suggesting is that where the blog is concerned, the best candidate didn’t win. But as for getting as much publicity for QT as possible, sure the best candidate won.
His blog is dull, and personally I don’t have any great affection for the guy, but I don’t think it can be easy writing to satisfy both QT and the public at large. He could be Dickens/Kerouac/Steinbeck/Theroux rolled into one and he would still be criticised.
But ask yourself this…. If the candidate from Thailand had won, would anyone have criticised the blog? I’m not so sure. QT would have been commended for picking a culturally diverse candidate, but would they have got that prime time BBC1 slot?
Simon´s last blog ..The best holiday competitions
Fair enough. I didn’t even know we’d lost a test match (rare though that is!). I’m blissfully free of cricket here in California! I don’t honestly think that has anything to do with coverage in the Australian media – I suspect they had always tagged it as a follow-up story after the candidate, whoever she or he may be, started in the job. I agree with you about the BBC doco except that there were literally thousands of applicants from Britain, so Ben wasn’t the only option. I also don’t know how early on in the process they started the discussions with the BBC. I think if we’d chosen a candidate with English as a foreign language, people would have been more forgiving of the micro-quality of writing – but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have wanted macro-level storytelling (ie. structure not grammar) and an engaging personality on camera. Also, the candidates really varied – Clare from Taiwan was great but there was a candidate from mainland China who was very so-so and I never would have watched Julia from Russia in a million years. – Caitlin.
After the contest closed, I’ve never stepped foot on TQ’s site and Ben’s blog. Enough said. I think the contest itself WAS the campaign!
Jen Laceda´s last blog ..Terroni, a restaurant with Italian zeitgeist
Interesting. Do you think that the chosen blogger could have altered this outcome in anyway? If they wrote fantastic content and lured you there to look at it by reaching out to other travel bloggers and promoting their stuff and interacting on Twitter, would that still be true? – Caitlin.
You’ve mentioned a classic problem with press trips, but particularly ones that include bloggers and wired writers – not enough time to produce content. Tourism folks are used to jamming the itinerary full and figuring that the recipients of all that travel largesse can write/upload video/upload photos sometime in the future.
The problem is that many writers (myself included) need time to polish even a 200-300 word blog post, to say nothing of much of our video. Even Flickr uploads take time for me because I tag extensively and include links in my photo descriptions, when possible.
You can’t drag us around through a never-ending series of “Wow!” travel moments and then expect decent, timely content every single day. Won’t happen, and it doesn’t mean that we’re lazy, either.
Tourism Queensland needs to give Ben time to develop a voice and an audience, and hauling him all over the place does not allow that.
Sheila Scarborough´s last blog ..Find and work with brain-stretching people
That’s true and if Ben’s itinerary is jam-packed full for six months he definitely won’t have time to write anything worth reading (assuming he’s actually capable, which is a whole other question). But by and large for press trips that last closer to a week, do you think it’s necessary for bloggers and wire writers to report from the road? If you are covering news – or an event such as a festival – then it is, but if you are reporting on what there is to see and do in, say, Costa Rica, then do you really need to be producing content in real time? What’s wrong with writing a blog entry a week later? Just curious – I’ve never gone on a press trip with a blogging hat on, though I’ve reported on conferences with an online breaking news hat so maybe it’s similar. – Caitlin.
@Erik I asked Ben Southall that very question on Twitter the day it was scheduled – why a Q&A on Twitter was scheduled for just an hour. Couldn’t that happen any time? I’m yet to receive a reply.
I agree with you and Erik that social media shouldn’t be scheduled and I don’t think his tweets as @bensouthall ARE scheduled. Taking over the @queensland account was a different thing and probably DID need to be scheduled and limited in time. Interestingly, @queensland has 2,773 more followers than @bensouthall. – Caitlin.
Hey Caitlin,
Wow, I’m late jumping into the party here — for relevant reasons, actually. All this talk about an overbooked itinerary for Ben and here I am scrambling to get half an hour of online time near midnight while traveling.
Personally, I find that I can’t tweet or send FB updates while actually traveling. For me, it removes from the experience of the place, and I do consider myself a writer of ‘place’ rather than a travel writer (although they’re so often the same thing). I need the time to really soak myself and get a feel for the place to say anything about it. As you said, there’s nothing wrong with writing a blog post about a trip, say, a week later, which gives ideas time to gestate. And tweeting at the end of the day, for example, rather than all day long.
You’ve made so many good points in this article. I admit to being another who hasn’t been following Ben’s blog. Frankly, I didn’t think the project itself sounded that interesting. The contest was, and like most people I might have been more interested in the results if the person they chose was someone whose writing and personality really pulled me in (I didn’t apply, by the way). But that wasn’t the case, and the fact is that there are just too many great things around to read to be spending any time at all on something that isn’t great.
I was really interested in your points about blogging. Made me think back to how many times I’ve used words like ‘awesome’ and ‘beautiful’ when I’m, as Sheila might put it, phoning it in! I do put a lot of work into my blogs/columns/essays, but there are plenty of days where my life as a mother/editor/friend/cook/writer/traveler/laundry slave get in the way of giving it all I’ve got. *However,* if someone were paying me that amount of money to promote any place on the planet, I’d be trying to produce the best writing I could.
Which seems to bring it all back to your point that a) they chose the wrong person for the job, and b) they’re giving him so many things to do that he doesn’t have a chance to hone his writing. It’s kind of sad to see an opportunity like this frittered away.
But as I always remind people who think blogging and electronic publishing are going to ruin literature, people said the exact same thing when the printing press was invented. And what happened? The best works stood the test of time. The same will go for blogging, and for any tourism board or other entity who uses it creatively and wisely.
Cheers!
Antonia
Antonia Malchik´s last blog ..Where to eat after hiking, skiing, swimming, rafting, mountain-climbing, and glacier-viewing in Whitefish, Montana
Thanks for your comment, Antonia. I don’t mean to suggest that a blog needs to be a super-polished piece of professional writing to be valid. I don’t spend hours on most of my blog posts – it’s generally a first draft and a quick revision – whereas my professional writing is quite a different story. Maybe it’s ‘phoning it in’ but actually I think it’s fine. But while blog writing can be casual and chatty and use the word “awesome”, something has gone wrong if it actually puts you to sleep! – Caitlin.
I would also think about reducing Ben’s media obligations. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear about his running from one interview to the next, yet I haven’t seen or heard any of this coverage since he started the job. So if it’s not reaching me, who is it reaching? If it’s mostly Queenslanders and Australians, what’s the point? If TQ’s numbers are right, his blog has a captive audience of 100,000-plus around the world who have already expressed an interest in Queensland travel. A lot of that time would be better invested in the blog.
Hello Caitlin,
You did explain valid and interesting points here which personally, your post provided me a strong evidence why my interest in following Ben’s blog is fading! As you have said, “different things appeal to different people” and TQ found Ben as the right ambassador for GBR, but in my opinion, I thought Anny Chih was the right person for the job. I watched the BBC documentary and it was not really interesting at all, maybe because Ive seen those clips from Youtube and in our Ning community. I was also doubting prior to the announcement that TQ was already eyeing for a Briton to win and BBC is coming up with a documentary. Why BBC not an American or Canadian media/tv stations?
On a final note, I’m wondering if Ben has the time to collect mails and clean the pool having this hectic timetable!
reymos´s last blog ..Newsbits and Updates
Anny Chih seems to have quite a fan base! You’re not the first to say she was your top pick – and she was one of my top picks too. She’s in Australia right now – are you reading her blog? http://annychih.com/ – Caitlin.
“The problem is that many writers (myself included) need time to polish even a 200-300 word blog post, to say nothing of much of our video.”
Yeah, but for $150K this should be second nature for the successful applicant. Hell, for four years I drove cabs for ten hour shifts then came home and spent 2/3 hours uploading content. Mostly for the love of multimedia, other times paid.
Otherwise Ben should have been given a roving commission to create his own itinerary but given the commercial deals by QT it was never going to happen. Hence today’s announcement of a further competition to find four budddies to join Ben, clearly to reduce the workload.
Hey Caitlin! I was trusting in TQ for a while after the contest, trusting in the opinions of the other Top 15 who said that when they met Ben in person they really thought he was perfect for the job. He’s probably perfect for certain aspects of the job. (and I think we’ve discussed before that maybe multiple people would have been best to help each aspect of the job)
I don’t think that the blog is irrelevant. They can consider it so, but why waste such a great marketing opportunity? The contest brought a lot of attention, the blog could KEEP a lot of attention, get Australia in the veins of the readers. Relying only on the contest is sitting on your laurels till they rot.
I think, if that’s what they did, that relying on the one-time BBC doc instead of the continual content of a blog is a misjudgment of value. A lot of people may watch a documentary…..then forget about it. When you really get into a blog, you stick with it.
There are several Top 50/15 candidates that I still follow. Ben’s just not one of them and of course, no offense to him, he seems like a great guy and I’m really happy that he and his girlfriend get to be together now. But it’s true, he’s just too ‘everyman’ – in some ways that’s great. If they picked a host from the Travel Channel there would be backlash. But the everyman that is exciting is the one with that diamond in the rough talent–like Susan Boyle. In many ways she’s ordinary but she’s got a hell of a voice and that combination is what makes people cheer her on.
I’m sure the time issue doesn’t help, but a writer with some basic technique can work around that–find humor, find things that are unique, personal, that can be a story not just a recounting of events. Anjaan could have done it…he’s consistently hilarious in his writing and his blogs on the island had an impressive amount of depth. Anny Chih has a following and didn’t even make Top 15, she could have done it. Juweon became one of my favorite candidates by the end. If they’d give Ben enough time to breathe and learn some of these techniques it would really help. Humor is easier said than done but if you’re only writing one blog a week SURELY something funny has happened during that time and can be shared.
Zellie´s last blog ..Critique Worksheet
I had to go and check as I really thought Anny Chih was in the top 16. Of course you were right – she wasn’t. It’s amazing how much of a following she has attracted – she really is the one that got away for TQ! – Caitlin.
Hey Caitlin
A thought provoking article, firstly TQ pulled off a coup with the concept, of that there is no doubt, the free publicity reach was huge, stretching around the world and getting some serious watercooler conversation time as well as press and blog column inches. So i think Queensland and Australia in general has reaped a big benefit from the concept. Regarding their choice of candidate, Ben is a very likeable down to earth guy, I’ve seen him interviewed a few times and he is clearly not a media pro but does ooze the key characteristics that Queensland want to project, ie relaxed, smiling cool surfer dude type. Of course in this situation there were other people that would have brought a different game to the party and maybe more effective in many areas particularly blogging, but overall the project has been a huge success particularly in Queensland’s main northern hemisphere market, the UK, as pointed out by Simon, when he referred to the success of the BBC documentary getting 3.4 million viewers. Blogging as you know is a serious art, 90% of blogs are appalling. I’ve just come across yours and I am impressed enough to bookmark it, maybe. Ben should have had a ghostwriter, but TQ have yet again pulled off a coup in my opinion.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you on most points – I think it was an overall success, I just think it could have been better. By now aren’t most people bored of the surfer dude stereotype? I don’t agree about the ghostwriter – social media and blogging requires personality and authenticity and I’m sure it would’ve leaked out eventually. By the way, I think the BBC documentary would have been made and watched with any British winner. – Caitlin.