An Air New Zealand safety video in which the Bay of Islands takes a starring role has been watched about 4 million times on board the airline’s fleet and is approaching 10 million views online.
And, according to the figures from the Bay of Islands Marketing Group, in total the « Summer of Safety » video has reached a staggering 540,000,000 people in the past year. That figure includes people who read newspapers which ran stories about it.
Some 173 articles were published about the Northland-made safety video, which starred supermodel Rachel Hunter, singer Ladyhawke, Shortland Street actor Jayden Daniels, Olympic pole vaulter Eliza McCartney and Joe Naufahu from Game of Thrones alongside a large cast of Northlanders.
Marketing Group chairman Charles Parker, of Fullers GreatSights, said the video’s reach exceeded his expectations and he had no doubt it had contributed to a busy tourist season in the Bay.
« Many things go in to a good summer, but we definitely believe this was one of the contributing factors … Everyone who’s coming to New Zealand and hasn’t made up their mind where to go will see that video and have the Bay of Islands at front and centre of their minds, » Mr Parker said.
The total number of people reached was so high because it included the readership of some major newspapers around the world which had run stories about the video.
Originally the safety video was to have been shown on board aircraft until the end of April but Mr Parker understood that had been extended to the end of May.
Within the first month the clip had been watched 7,384,000 times on Facebook, YouTube and other social media.
Businesses in the Bay of Islands Marketing Group contributed a substantial but undisclosed sum towards making the video. The Far North District Council contributed $50,000.
In the past year other stories about the Bay of Islands reached 420,000 people through social media, 1.7 million people through broadcast and online media, and 2.9 million people through print.