The Best Job in the World (advertising) facts for kids
In 2009, Tourism Queensland launched an amazing campaign. They wanted someone to be the "Caretaker of the Islands" on the Great Barrier Reef. This was called The Best Job In The World. The job involved living on Hamilton Island for six months. It was a way to encourage people worldwide to visit the beautiful Great Barrier Reef.
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Awesome Job Perks
This job came with some fantastic benefits! The person chosen would get a great salary. They would also live for free in a super fancy villa worth millions of dollars. Plus, all their travel to and around the islands was paid for. To apply, people had to send in a short video online. These videos were public for everyone to see. The job duties were mostly about sharing the experience. This included making web videos, writing a blog, and keeping photo diaries. The website where people applied got so many visitors and video uploads that it crashed just two days after it launched!
Huge Public Interest
People stayed interested in this job for many months. The campaign created a lot of excitement. Some clever applicants even made their own blogs. They also started Facebook groups to get more attention for themselves. This helped spread the word even more. Tourism Queensland spent about US$1 million on the campaign. But it generated a huge amount of global publicity. In just one month, it created about US$70 million worth of attention!
Who Applied?
Over 35,000 people applied for this amazing job. These applications came from more than 200 different countries! The organizers carefully narrowed down the huge number of applicants. They chose 16 finalists. One of these finalists was even picked by an online vote.
The finalists came from many places. These included Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland. Others were from the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, India, China, Japan, France, and South Korea. Ten of the finalists were male. Their ages ranged from 20 to 39 years old. The final interviews happened on the island starting May 3, 2009.
The winner was Ben Southall, who was 34 years old. He was a charity fundraiser from the United Kingdom. Ben was announced as the new caretaker of the island on May 6, 2009.
Global Attention
By the end of the campaign, it had created over $200 million in global publicity. This was a huge success for Tourism Queensland. An advertising agency called CumminsNitro [1] won three top awards for the campaign. These awards were given at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. The campaign was seen as very successful around the world. BBC Television even made a one-hour documentary about the final parts of the campaign. The film was shown on July 2, 2009, and had very high viewing figures.
The Winner's Adventures
The winner, Ben Southall, was from the United Kingdom. During his last week in the "paradise job," he was stung by an Irukandji jellyfish. These jellyfish can be dangerous, but Ben made a full recovery.
After his six months as caretaker ended, Ben Southall became an Ambassador for Queensland Tourism. He even moved to Queensland permanently. Since then, Ben has become known for his extreme adventures. In 2011, he kayaked 1600 km along the Great Barrier Reef. He has also run many marathons across Australia. In April 2013, he set a world record. He climbed the tallest mountain in each Australian state (8 mountains) in just 8 days! This amazing trip was called the "Aussie 8 expedition." You can follow his adventures on his website [2].
Before the "Best Job" campaign, Ben had already done incredible things. In 2008, he traveled all the way around Africa in a Land Rover. He covered 65,000 km! During that year, he also climbed the five highest mountains in Africa. He ran five marathons too. He raised $50,000 (Australian dollars) for charity during these adventures.
In November 2012, Ben married Sophee McPhee. Their wedding took place back on Hamilton Island. This was the same beautiful island where he lived as the Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
Awards for the Campaign
In 2010, the advertising campaign for "The Best Job In The World" won two very important D&AD Black Pencil Awards. These awards recognize outstanding creativity in design and advertising.
