QUEENSLAND, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tourism Queensland today revealed Sparkloft Media from Portland, Oregon, are one of the Final 20 companies in its global Million Dollar Memo campaign, which will see one company’s staff share in AUD$1 million in Queensland incentive travel experiences.
Shana Pereira, International Director Americas, said each of the Final 20 companies received a call today congratulating them on making the shortlist and inviting them to Queensland to take part in the final selection event in August.
At the end of this event one of the final 20 companies will walk away with AUD$1 million worth of Queensland incentive travel experiences for their staff.
“Sparkloft Media were delighted at being chosen as one of the Final 20 companies in this world wide competition,” Ms Pereira said.
Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes said that the organisation could not have hoped for a more diverse range of companies in the Final 20, from their country of origin, the industries that they work in and the size of their businesses, from multinationals to small firms.
“We have companies from 11 countries, with thousands of staff to less than 10, operating in industries as diverse as architecture to insurance.”
Mr Hayes said the Final 20 included three chosen by popular vote which were ASUS Design Centre (Taiwan), XinMedia (Taiwan), Yahoo! Taiwan (Taiwan) and 17 chosen by Tourism Queensland, including ADR Group of Companies (Indonesia), Base Architecture (Queensland, Australia), Bejing Huayuan Int'l Travel (China), Boomerang Reisen GmbH (Germany), COM2US Corp (Korea), Datamatics (India), De'Longhi (New South Wales, Australia), Hong Leong Assurange Berhad (Malaysia), Lend Lease (Queensland, Australia), Mary Kay Cosmetics (Victoria, Australia), Peoplebank (New South Wales, Australia), Procter & Gamble (Taiwan), Reading Room (United Kingdom), Samsung Card (Korea), Sparkloft Media (United States), Vero Insurance NZ Ltd (New Zealand), Wood Group Integrity Management (Western Australia, Australia).
“The selected companies have shown us in their submissions, that they have what it takes to make the Final 20 of Tourism Queensland’s Million Dollar Memo campaign.
“Many companies have undertaken an impressive amount of creative promotional activity to support their entries, which means that the Million Dollar Memo message that Queensland is one of the world’s leading incentive travel destinations has been promoted all over the world,” he said.
“These promotional activities have in effect been fantastic mini-campaigns for Queensland and the overall aim to promote Queensland as a leading incentive travel destination is certainly being achieved.
“We estimate the campaign message has reached an audience of around five million people, including the entrants’ personal contacts, business networks, customers and suppliers.
“To date we’ve had 779,000 visits to milliondollarmemo.com and 2.7 million page views www.milliondollarmemo.com and the campaign has generated over $12 million worth of publicity for Queensland around the world, thus far with much more to come.”
Mr Hayes said campaign information had been distributed via numerous channels including company websites, intranets, facebook pages, twitter feeds, email signatures, direct mails to customer and supplier databases, on hold messages, cinemas ads, outdoor billboards, online banner ads, and other activities.
“The entrants have also created specific Million Dollar Memo web pages and YouTube videos to support their entries, all of which has spread the Queensland message across the globe.
“Now we’re looking to see what the Final 20 can do to further promote Queensland, in the lead-up to the amazing final event.”
Mr Hayes said further international interest in the campaign would be generated when representatives of the Final 20 shortlisted companies travelled to Queensland to compete in an Incentive Challenge Event to be held from August 24, 2011.
“The final stage of the campaign is a prime opportunity for us to showcase key Queensland incentive experiences, destinations and products to a world wide audience.
“The eight day Incentive Challenge Event will involve the 20 finalists travelling to amazing locations on the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, the Whitsundays and Tropical North Queensland.
“We envisage that the finalists will be accompanied by a domestic and international media contingent who will cover the event and broadcast images of our amazing Queensland destinations and incentive experiences around the world.”
Mr Hayes said the finalists would enjoy some of Queensland’s best incentive experiences.
These would include sampling the luxury lifestyle at Gold Coast’s Palazzo Versace, being VIP guests at a glamorous dinner hosted by official campaign partner Virgin Australia and enjoying the natural bushland setting of the renowned Hyatt Regency Coolum.
The finalists will also visit Hamilton, Daydream and Hayman Islands, participate in a special challenge courtesy of campaign partner Etihad Airways and enjoy absolute five star luxury at the Sea Temple Resort and Spa in Port Douglas.
International finalists will fly to Australia courtesy of V Australia, Pacific Blue and Etihad Airways and will fly domestically with Virgin Australia.
After a busy eight days of touring Queensland, the winner will be announced on Wednesday 31st August, in Port Douglas in Tropical North Queensland.
For more information and to view the Final 20 Shortlist entries go to www.milliondollarmemo.com
Information
about Queensland incentive experiences can be found at www.queenslandincentives.com
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