Asia-Pacific Power List 2021: Brodie Reid, Tourism New Zealand

Brodie Reid

Director of marketing
Tourism New Zealand
New Zealand
New member 

In a period of time when destination brands badly needed to compete for space on the wishlists of pandemic-confined travelers, Tourism New Zealand, under the leadership of marketing director Brodie Reid, topped them all. In fact, it's not fair to say that Tourism New Zealand excelled only among its competitive peers; few brands of any type managed to use charm and ingenuity to make as much of an impression during the pandemic.

At the center of the brand's success was a simple greeting from the land that sees each new day first. The 'Good morning, world' campaign, featuring a good-natured hello from a different person in a different spot in the country every day for a year, made a big impression on Instagram and with awards judges. More importantly, it helped the brand notch "remarkable" brand-performance lifts that are sure to pay off when tourism resumes. The campaign boosted New Zealand’s image in all markets, and especially in Australia, where its appeal grew 66%, smashing a three-year target, according to Tourism NZ. Meanwhile, consideration increased by between three and nine percentage points across all markets, and Tourism New Zealand calculates the campaign's ROI at $9.16 for every dollar spent.

The campaign was recognised at Spikes, where it won a Grand Prix among several other awards, as well as D&AD, The One Show and The Webbies. It also won New Zealand’s first ever Global Effie. In addition, at Campaign Asia-Pacific's 2020 Agency of the Year awards for Australia and New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand won Marketer of the Year, Brand of the Year and, along with Special Group New Zealand, the gold for Agency Marketer Partnership of the Year.

Nor was 'Good morning, world', the only notable campaign to come out of Reid's team during the year. Reid also signed off on 'Play NZ', an ambitious and entertaining campaign led by Tourism New Zealand's Australia team, which packaged the country's many charms into gaming tropes.

Starting in May 2020, Reid and her team also took on a new government mandate to increase domestic tourism. A campaign called 'Do something new, New Zealand', which is still in its relatively early stages, has already delivered ROI of $23.69 per dollar spent, and the country expects to see an incremental domestic tourism increase of $2.72 billion by year's end, Reid reports.

Reid has been in her role since 2019, when she was promoted based on her "extraordinary leadership" and "inclusive working style" during two years as global manager of brand and content. During that period she played significant roles in the development and delivery of the 'Tiaki – Care for New Zealand' initiative and the delightful '#getNZonthemap' campaign (featuring Jacinta Ardern herself, as well as Ed Sheeran and Peter Jackson). 

Prior to Tourism New Zealand, Reid was group business director at Colenso BBDO. There she led the creation of that storied agency's most awarded campaign at Cannes—'Brewtroleum' for DB Export— which won eight gold Lions, a Titanium Lion and a Grand Prix, as well as another highly awarded campaign, 2016's 'Amnesty Unblocker'. While at Colenso, Reid was also named to Campaign Asia-Pacific's 2017 Women to Watch list. Prior to that, she spent time at Saatchi & Saatchi in Auckland, and before that multiple agencies in London.