Education New Zealand has released a new campaign to raise the country’s profile as a great study destination through an online competition where international students may enter for the chance to have a friend or family member flown over for a 10-day study adventure.
The multi-agency campaign was worked on by Touchcast, Clemenger BBDO and OMD.
Education New Zealand lead communications Heidi Stedman says each year more than 90,000 international students study in New Zealand “…making a major contribution to New Zealand’s $2.85 billion international education industry”.
She says students can visit studyin.nz to enter, and also invite their friends to register their interest in visiting New Zealand.
The entry form includes submitting basic information, like contact details and confirming their international student status. Entrants have an increased chance of winning if they add extra information about themselves like their area of study and what they love about New Zealand.
Education New Zealand general manager marketing and channel development Hannah Lee-Darboe says “When you’re far away from home, sometimes all you want to be able to do is show your friends just what studying and living in New Zealand is like – to have them right there beside you for a while.”
She says countries the world over connect through communities and networks, “This campaign activates these channels and puts New Zealand on the radar of the friends and families of our international students.”
The campaign builds on the recently-announced partnership with the global networking organisation Kea.
“International education fosters global connections. We’re connecting New Zealand to the world through education, from studying through to graduation and beyond,” says Lee-Darboe.
Entries are open until midnight 24 May (NZT), and the competition is open to international tertiary-level students in New Zealand. Five pairs will be shortlisted, with the winning pair selected and their itinerary built by audience vote. The study adventure will take place in July, subject to visa approval.
Education New Zealand’s last effort was a five-part video series documenting the daily lives of five international students currently studying around the country, and was designed to get other potential students interested in commencing their studies here.
And before that, in February last year Education New Zealand recruited a couple of Brazilian bloggers to attract South American students. The organisation arranged for Otago Polytechnic to host the bloggers, Caio Komatsu and Luana Mazotti (the founders of the blogs Fail Wars and Puro Veneno) for several weeks. The pair’s blogs combined had an audience of approximately five million people, StopPress reported earlier.
New Zealand’s international education industry attracts more than 97,000 international students a year, generating $2.6 billion for the New Zealand economy and supporting 28,000 jobs. And this places a significant amount of pressure on Education New Zealand to ensure that numbers stay high.
