Tourism Australia’s ‘New’ Campaign Looks Awfully Familiar…

March 20, 2025

Well, This Is Awkward

You know that moment when you see something and think, hang on… haven’t I seen this before? That’s exactly how we felt when Tourism Australia unveiled their latest big-budget campaign, “Experience Australia.”

At first, we thought we were imagining it. But then we played our Taste Down South video alongside theirs, and, well… let’s just say the resemblance is uncanny.

Same music? Check.
Same voiceover cadence and timing? Check.
Same style of sweeping landscape shots? Check.
Same country? Yeah, but we thought the point was to be unique about it.

We’re flattered. Really. But we’re also wondering: how did an independent, satirical South Australian campaign end up looking like the rough draft for a taxpayer-funded, worldwide tourism push?

Oh, and here’s another fun fact: Experience Australia was released almost exactly four years after Taste Down South—down to the same week. The timing alone raises eyebrows.

A Low-Budget Joke vs. A $12 Million Production

Here’s the thing—Taste Down South was made by a small team of satirists with a sense of humour, some cameras, and an idea. We flew to Adelaide, shot our own footage, and supplemented it with stock imagery.

Tourism Australia, on the other hand, had a $12 million budget through their National Experience Content Initiative (NECI)—the largest content initiative in the agency’s history. Their new campaign, Experience Australia, was unveiled in front of 1,000 industry leaders and media at the Destination Australia 2025 conference in Sydney. This wasn’t some casual tourism push; it was a major, government-backed international launch.

Tourism Minister Don Farrell stood on stage and declared the campaign would “showcase the best destination in the world.”

Meanwhile, over here in the indie corner, we were just doing our thing—driving thousands of new tourists to Australia without a single dollar of taxpayer funding. And apparently, also creating the blueprint for Tourism Australia’s latest offering.

And this isn’t even the first time we’ve had a hand in promoting Australia’s tourism scene. We’re also the team behind “CU in the NT”, another viral campaign that—despite its cheeky branding—genuinely drove awareness and visitors to the Northern Territory. Funny how two independent campaigns from the same creators have contributed to Australian tourism, yet we’re still the ones being overlooked.

Just A Coincidence?

Now, we’re not saying anyone deliberately “borrowed” ideas. The music is from a royalty-free library, meaning anyone can license it. But what are the odds that two separate productions—one independent, one government-backed—would land on the same soundtrack, same voiceover delivery, and same overall vibe?

Look, inspiration is one thing. But when you layer music, voiceover, and editing choices that are eerily close, you have to wonder: how does this happen?

And it gets better—Experience Australia is heavily using NECI footage, an initiative that was supposed to provide fresh, engaging content for the nation’s tourism industry. Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison even boasted about how this campaign would finally showcase the massive catalogue of content they collected.

Great, but here’s a thought—maybe they could’ve showcased something original instead?

The Power of a Big Budget

The biggest irony? Taste Down South was a joke. A satirical campaign poking fun at tourism marketing tropes. And yet, it worked—it caught people’s attention, got shared, and made folks talk about South Australia.

Tourism Australia’s Experience Australia campaign? Not a joke. Massive team, massive funding, massive reach. And yet, it looks like a slicker, safer remix of something we did for fun.

When a government-backed campaign, funded by taxpayers, ends up feeling like a polished rework of an indie project, it raises some fair questions:

Was our video that good, or was theirs just uninspired?
Are small creators actually leading the way in tourism marketing?
hould we be getting a ‘consulting fee’ from Tourism Australia? (We’re joking… kind of.)

Doing Tourism Australia’s Job For Free

Here’s the real kicker: Taste Down South & CU in the NT have actually brought real tourists to Australia.

Without any funding, sponsorships, or glossy conference unveilings, we created a viral campaign that sent thousands of potential visitors searching for flights to Australia. We made people laugh, we got people interested, and we made a splash in a way that clearly worked so well, it accidentally became a template for the official government version.

And yet, despite doing what a taxpayer-funded agency is supposed to do—get people interested in Australia—we’ve been completely snubbed. No credit. No acknowledgement. Nothing.

Imagine doing someone’s job for free, doing it better than them, and then watching them take your homework and hand it in as their final project.

So… What Now?

To be clear, we’re not mad. Just… bewildered.

We’d love to hear from Tourism Australia on how this all came about. Was it an accident? A case of creative minds thinking alike? Or did someone on their team take some very detailed notes while watching Taste Down South?

We’ll let the audience decide. Watch the comparison video above and tell us what you think.

At the end of the day, we’re all for promoting the beauty of Australia—we just prefer to do it with a bit of originality.