Tourism New Zealand has launched its latest marketing initiative ‘Stories Beat Stuff’.

Asking the question, ‘what would you trade for the story of a lifetime?’, the initiative is based on the idea that life experiences surpass material possessions for young people.

“Using interactive media the initiative will encourage youth to find out more about the New Zealand experience and to tell us what they would give up to acquire the story of a lifetime.

“Stories are the things that mean most to you later in life, and New Zealand provides a life changing experience,” said Tourism New Zealand general manager marketing communications, Justin Watson.

“A strategic focus of all our marketing activity is the prioritization of key markets and sectors for growth.

“We are targeting the key youth market because of the substantial growth opportunities they present. They have the potential to stay longer, spend more and are more likely to return to New Zealand later in life.

“What we offer as a Country is ideally suited to the youth traveller,” he added.

The campaign is being rolled out globally over the next year and will use youth-friendly digital and social media via newzealand.com, Facebook and YouTube.

“The stories shared essentially become the content of the campaign and build on the experiences that we show on the site and use to advertise the initiative to get youth travellers to sign-up and enter the competition.

“This enables us to engage with the youth market in a way that really resonates with them,” added Watson.

Key to the development of both this initiative, and the overall youth strategy, has been establishing relationships with key partners in each market such as STA in the UK.

“We have also partnered with Air New Zealand and a number of New Zealand operators to provide the experiences of a lifetime, and are also working with in-market sellers to provide related products so people can also buy the experiences we are showcasing to them,” continued Watson.

Entrants must post a short video or take a picture of the ‘stuff’ they are willing to trade to enter.

The winning entries will be asked to give these items to charity.

More information here.