Ipswich City Council’s tourism department won two Effie Awards last Friday at a gala ceremony held in Sydney.
A silver in the Travel, Leisure and Media category for the Humans Wanted campaign and a silver in the Best Smaller State Campaign also for Humans Wanted.
Held annually the Effie Awards globally is recognised as the pre-eminent award in the marketing industry. They recognise the year’s most effective advertising and marketing communications campaigns.
The Human Wanted campaign, launched in March last year, resulted in 57 locations including parks, conservation estates and tourism related businesses around the Ipswich region added to Google Street View – the most comprehensive mapping of a city in the Asia Pacific region.
Ipswich City Council Tourism Development Manager Alistair Tavares said the awards cemented the rationale behind undertaking the project – with the economic impacts of the campaign far reaching.
“I’m pleased with this result and the outcome of the project, now anyone can log onto Google Street View and see exactly what Ipswich has to offer from world class hiking to trendy breweries and great water parks,” he said.
Josh ‘The Bear’ Kerr was the human who carried the Google Street View Trekker (that weighs around 18 kilograms), walking three million steps over 90 days to capture 360 degree views of Ipswich’s most beautiful scenery every two and a half seconds with 15 camera lenses.
He was chosen from more than 200 applicants and managed to hike up Flinders Peak, the tallest in the South East Queensland region, taller than the Glasshouse Mountains to bring some stunning views to Google Maps.
Cross-collaboration between Ipswich City Council teams and industry to get the job done, was key to the success of the project.
Some of the locations trekked included, 88 Limestone St. Purga Nature Reserve, Ipswich Nature Centre, Ivory’s Rock, White Rock and Robelle Domain, to name a few.
