Tourism Victoria lets the world steer live tourists through Melbourne — Spikes GP x2

Melbourne's appeal lies in small experiences that need on-the-ground exploration rather than one iconic landmark, so Tourism Victoria wanted a way for potential visitors to feel the city before they travelled. Working with Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Tool of North America, it built a world-first 'Remote Control Tourist' experience as part of its 'Jigsaw' and 'Play Melbourne' platform.

Put cameras on real explorers and let the world steer them live through Melbourne on web and social — a try-before-you-visit city guide of experiences, not landmarks.

Four real 'Remote Control Tourists', two live at a time, roamed Melbourne's CBD and suburbs from 9 to 13 October 2013 with streaming cameras and bikes. Anyone online could tell them where to go and what to do through the campaign website, Facebook and Twitter, and the requests were carried out live as the footage streamed worldwide.

The production company's case page reports 150 million people from 158 countries 'visited Melbourne' in the five days, and the work took the Branded Content & Entertainment and Direct Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2014. It also won IAB Australia's Creative Showcase, AWARD Best in Show and a string of Cannes Cyber Lions, with B&T noting Tourism Victoria's CEO called it a world first for a tourism destination.

Tourism Victoria's challenge was that Melbourne has no single landmark to put on a poster; its appeal is a collection of smaller experiences best discovered on the ground. So instead of showing the city, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Tool of North America let the world drive people through it.

Four real 'Remote Control Tourists' — two live at any time — spent five days from 9 to 13 October 2013 roaming Melbourne's CBD and suburbs with live-streaming cameras and bikes. Viewers told them where to go and what to do through the campaign website, Facebook and Twitter, and watched the requests carried out in real time.

The campaign, reported by B&T as a A$3.6 million virtual tourist experience, drew global participation: the production case page reports 150 million people from 158 countries joining over the five days. It became the most visible piece of Tourism Victoria's long-running 'Jigsaw' and 'Play Melbourne' platform and won the Branded Content & Entertainment and Direct Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2014.

Awards followed through 2014 — AWARD Best in Show, five Cannes Cyber Lions, a London International Awards Gold, SXSW and IAB Creative Showcase honors — and the idea moved into a second phase that hid six tennis balls inside the footage as a treasure hunt for the Australian Open.

Making the audience the controller turned passive viewers into co-creators who cared what happened next.

Because the explorers were real and live, the content could not be staged, which made the whole thing credible.

The format itself was the news: a tourism board letting strangers steer its citizens was a world-first story worth covering.

Directing a person to try a café, climb the MCG or get lost in a laneway demonstrated the city's experiences better than any film could.

When a destination's appeal is experiential, sell the experience itself: letting audiences drive real people live gives them a stake in the story and a reason to visit for real.

After the five live days, Tourism Victoria published highlights and moved the campaign into a second phase promoting the Australian Open, hiding six tennis balls in the recorded videos and images for viewers to find and win a trip. Remote Control Tourist won the IAB Australia Creative Showcase, AWARD Best in Show and the Branded Content & Entertainment and Direct Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2014, and production partner Tool lists five Cannes Cyber Lions, a London International Awards Gold, SXSW and other 2014 honors on its case page.