Not all Human Brochures left with best impressions - The Canberra Times

Cycling in Canberra. Photo: Australian Capital Tourism

With the ACT government planning to revisit its million-dollar Human Brochure campaign, some former participants are questioning its lasting impact.

The past weekend marked one year since the first Human Brochure event, organised by Australian Capital Tourism to promote Canberra as a holiday destination using social media. Five-hundred prominent social media users were flown to Canberra last October and this February to see what the city had to offer, at a cost of about $1 million.

It was hailed at the time as a success and tourism officials believe it helped increase visitors in the June quarter of this year by more than 150,000, compared with last year.

Australian Capital Tourism deputy director Jonathan Kobus said the February campaign had exposed 4.2 million people to a positive impression of Canberra and was potentially worth revisiting next year.

''We are looking at some options for 2014 to help maintain momentum,'' he said. ''We don't want the Human Brochure to just be something we did.''

But some former ''humans'' said that despite being grateful for the experience, they are unlikely to recommend Canberra to their friends and family.

''Would I go back to Canberra for a holiday, versus Melbourne or Sydney? No, not really,'' Brisbane marketing company director Cameron Reilly said. ''It was lovely and it was nice, but there was nothing they showed me that made me want to do it again.''

Mr Reilly said the tour did not do enough to highlight all the unique elements of Canberra. ''I'd be trying

to highlight the things that Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane don't have. That was kind of the impression I was left with: Canberra has shit too. Not, 'wow, I really have to tell people to go to Canberra.'''

Triple R content co-ordinator in Sydney Jack Crane said he did not think the campaign made enough of a splash online. "I think it may have made a big impact for two days and then been swept away by the next big thing,'' he said. ''Essentially I think it's going to be washed out by all the social media.''

Social media consultant Beatrix Coles said although she enjoyed many parts of her experience in Canberra, they were mostly events that happened off the itinerary. ''I felt like I didn't have a lot of free time to actually stumble across things or discover things by accident,'' she said. ''I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I don't know that I really experienced Canberra.''

But Mr Kobus said he was proud of the program that his team put together. ''We thought the industry over-delivered to show the best that Canberra has to offer,'' he said. ''The data that we received out of the campaign showed that either 93 per cent of people communicated positively or [were] neutral about the location. There was going to be a small percentage of people who didn't enjoy their time, but that's the great thing about using social media as an advocacy platform - it encourages people to be honest.''