Published: 30 December 2022
Image: Daniel H. Simon
Western Australia will be showcased on a global stage in Times Square, New York City, as part of New Year’s Eve festivities watched by up to one billion people around the world.
As part of the United States launch of Tourism WA’s new global tourism brand, ‘Walking On A Dream,’ dynamic animations have gone live at four three-dimensional (3D) billboards in and around Times Square.
Running from 26 December 2022 to 1 January 2023, each 3D animation features the iconic floating whale shark from Ningaloo Reef, highlighted in Tourism WA’s Walking On A Dream brand films. A fifth, smaller site in the 42nd Street subway station also features a 2D animation of Walking On A Dream imagery from the Margaret River Region.
New Year’s Eve in Times Square is an iconic global spectacle, with the event estimated to attract around a billion viewers worldwide, with more than 275 broadcasters airing the festivities in more than 200 countries at the 2022 event.
Nearly nine million people will be exposed to all the ‘Walking On A Dream’ animations in person throughout the advertising period, with vastly increased foot traffic expected in the area over the holiday season.
The high-impact advertising campaign is supported by the WA Government as part of the $15 million launch of Walking On A Dream, which was funded through the WA Government's $195 million Reconnect WA package.
Tourism WA Managing Director Carolyn Turnbull said the United States is an important visitor market for Western Australia and the Times Square placements will elevate Western Australia as a world-class destination in a crowded travel marketplace.
“These high-impact 3D animations will present a dreamlike experience at one of the biggest parties in the world, and let a massive global audience get a taste of the wondrous experiences Western Australia has to offer,” Ms Turnbull said.
“Before the pandemic, the United States was Western Australia’s sixth largest international market by number of visitors and visitor spend, with more than 57,000 visitors spending an estimated $105 million in our state.
“The United States remains Western Australia’s sixth largest international market, with nearly 8,000 US arrivals into WA since March 2022 – which is 41 per cent of pre-COVID levels, and which we want to grow even further in 2023.”
As part of the US launch of Walking On A Dream, Tourism WA also partnered with New York-based Australian coffee franchise Bluestone Lane on 27 December to distribute complimentary Walking On A Dream-branded flat whites to New Yorkers at their 11 Times Square stores. Coffee sleeves directed customers to a dedicated landing page for holidaymakers on westernaustralia.com.
Walking On A Dream advertising will also be published by US luxury travel magazine Travel & Leisure, reaching nearly 9.5 million readers across their December/January and February print editions, and with more than 2.2 million impressions across the outlet’s online channels and its affiliates' digital platforms. The Walking On A Dream brand films were also shown to over 1.4 million New Yorkers through geo-targeted posts via Tourism WA’s social media channels.
The US launch of the new global tourism brand follows Walking on A Dream officially going live in Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore earlier this year.
For more information on the ‘Walking On A Dream’ campaign, visit bit.ly/3PSVD8E.