Australian pop icon Kylie Minogue has reportedly been paid $935,000 for her appearance in the now redundant Tourism Australia ad, Matesong.
The campaign launched over the Christmas holiday period in the United Kingdom but was paused due to Australia's bushfire crisis.
Details of Minogue's contract were revealed over the weekend, with News alleging the pop star pocketed nearly $1 million in "talent fees".
The contract was due to end in June 2020.
A spokesperson from Tourism Australia told AdNews the campaign remains on-hold while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact international travel.
"Out of respect to the families and communities impacted by the devastating bushfires, Tourism Australia made the decision to pause campaign activity shortly after its launch," the spokesperson says.
"As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and subsequent international travel bans, campaign activity is still on-hold. Decisions on the future use of the Matesong campaign will be made in due course as the future of international travel becomes clearer.
"The original three-minute Matesong TV ad, played before the Queen’s Christmas message in the UK and shorted versions of the ad thereafter were watched over 30 million times, helping to generate over 33,000 pieces of news content worth $50 million in equivalent advertising value.
"These results demonstrate that the Matesong campaign hit the right note, generated significant conversation in the UK market about Australia that can be built on once international tourism marketing resumes.
"Before being contracted, Tourism Australia conducted extensive market research in the UK to determine the resonance of 11 high profile Australians. Kylie ranked first for awareness of her personality and her work, and also number one as the best representation of the Australian character and way of life.
"Her fee included eight days of filming in Australia, 15 posts across her social media channels to her seven million followers and over a dozen media interviews."
The UK was one of the first markets to be targeted in Tourism Australia's new platform Philausophy.
The platform, created in conjunction with its agencies M&C Saatchi, Digitas and UM, was part of a $38 million investment to be rolled out in 15 key tourism markets over the next three years to attract more visitors to Australia.
Since then, the tourism body has had to pivot its strategy in the wake of Australia's devastating bushfire season and the subsequent global COVID-19 pandemic.
Initially, it received a $76 million marketing bushfire recovery package at the time with $20 million to be spent on domestic marketing leading to the launch of Holiday Here This Year encouraging Australians to holiday locally.
Over the last few weeks as the world remains in lockdown and travel restrictions are still imposed in Australia, it has launched a new campaign With Love From Aus inspired by the Matesong campaign.
The ad combines webcam shots of people staying connected with images of Australian landscapes and native animals like the quokka, koala and "roos running a muck".
The campaign also involved a curated live program of virtual travel experiences to inspire Australians to dream about their next domestic holiday.
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