Americans want to come and live in Australia. They want to take all the best jobs. So do the Brits, the Italians, the French, Koreans, and, er Australians.
In fact 330,000 people are vying for six of the 'best jobs in the world' being offered by Tourism Australia. That's going to leave 329,994 disappointed applicants but six "very, very happy people getting a life-changing opportunity to work and play in our great country," according to Tourism Australia MD Andrew McEvoy.
Applications are now closed and the tourism board will now spend the next three months picking winners. While interest has been highest from the US, the UK and the rest listed above in descending order, applications have been received from people across 196 countries.
The most sought-after job has been NSW's Chief Funster (20.2 per cent), closely followed by South Australia's Wildlife Caretaker (19.9 per cent), Queensland's Park Ranger (17.5 per cent), Western Australia's Taste Master (14.7 per cent), Northern Territory's Outback Adventurer (14.3 per cent) and Victoria's Lifestyle Photographer (13.4 per cent).
Some 40,000 people have uploaded video entries:
Taste Master (Western Australia): Katie Brown from Grafton (NSW), Australia
Chief Funster (New South Wales): Josh Garcia, USA
Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory): Thomas Hesketh, UK
Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia): Elisa Detrez , France
Park Ranger (Queensland): Hjoerdis Pahl, Germany
Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria): Bobo Sixu Zhao, China
Tourism Australia said the campaign was already "planting seeds" in the minds of young people, enticing them to come to Australia on working holiday visas. Some 300,000 new fans had liked the working holiday Facebook page since the campaign launched. Around 430,000 people are now seeking more information about a working holiday, said McEvoy.
Over 100,000 of those that expressed interest in the jobs have also requested further information about holidaying in Australia. Good news for TA's commercial partners such as Virgin and STA Travel, noted McEvoy. The latter said its UK web traffic had spiked 45% and sales increased 17% due to the campaign.
He said the campaign had also spread to another 3 million people thanks to the efforts of local and international youth tourism partners using their own distribution channels.
The list of applicants will be whittled down to 150 in two weeks time. The six, lucky, lucky bastards winners will be announced in June.
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