Credit: Visit Sunshine Coast
Visit Sunshine Coast is launching a nationwide search for Australia’s first ‘Chief Star Counter’ in a campaign via IVY PR, part of BCM Group.
IVY PR was re-engaged by Visit Sunshine Coast to create a campaign for the hinterland designation that could extend beyond Queensland and engage all Australian consumers.
The campaign invites Australians aged seven and above to apply for the volunteer role in one sentence - sharing why they would make the best Chief Star Counter.
The winner will be relocated to the Sunshine Coast for a two-night stay in the hinterland, along with a private stargazing session with an astronomer, valued at more than $4,000.
IVY PR co-founder and managing director, Emma Bedsor, said the activation was designed to feel warm, playful and proudly Sunshine Coast, while still respecting the credibility and environmental significance of the Dark Sky Reserve designation.
"Our brief was to take a significant milestone - Queensland's first International Dark Sky Reserve - and build a simple earned-first activation that felt like it belonged to the destination, not just the announcement,” said Bedsor.
"Rather than lead with the designation itself, we built something that invites people of all ages in, and turns a scientific achievement into a travel moment - repositioning the Sunshine Coast Hinterland as somewhere worth visiting after dark."
The ‘Chief Star Counter’ competition closes on June 30.
“The hinterland Dark Sky Reserve designation is a genuine milestone for the Sunshine Coast - 10 years in the making and a testament to the extraordinary commitment of our community,” said Visit Sunshine Coast head of marketing, Kelly Ryan.
“We knew we needed to celebrate it in a way that matched that significance, but also wanted to invite the rest of Australia into the story.
“The ‘Chief Star Counter’ campaign does exactly that - it takes something that could easily have stayed within the tourism industry and turns it into a moment the whole country can engage with.”
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