Enterprise Dunedin's marketing campaign on a billboard at Embassy Theatre in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Andrew Clark
Are you a burnt-out professional in Auckland, a Wellingtonian tired of spending half your salary on rent, or maybe sick of the crowds in Queenstown?
According to a new tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign run by Enterprise Dunedin, the answer is simple: just move to the Edinburgh of the South.
The campaign takes aim at Auckland, Wellington, and Queenstown "where people will be feeling the squeeze on housing prices and free time", Dunedin City Council's news release says.
It promotes the city as a place where you can "spend more time getting that dog out for walkies (twice a day even) or get home in time to play with the kids before dinner and hit the surf for dessert".
Enterprise Dunedin is spreading the message on backs of buses in CBD routes in those cities and on a digital billboard on the Embassy Theatre in Wellington.
Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods told the Otago Daily Times he saw the humour in the ads.
"Dunedin and Queenstown each have their own unique qualities: Dunedin has a harbour, Queenstown has lakes. Dunedin has wind and rain, Queenstown has sunshine and snow."
University of Canterbury professor of marketing Ekant Veer said compared to how "dull most of New Zealand's cities' campaigns are, it's not too bad".
"It's not really a direct jab at someone else, but it's kind of like an elbow in the ribs to the bigger brother ... Still a little bit cheeky but not super aggressive and I think Kiwis are okay with that sort of thing."
Typically, smaller cities had to try hard to capture attention, Veer said.
But in the past few years, smaller towns and cities had thrived with a population boom in places like Tauranga, he said.
"If anything, I think there definitely has been a sea change in the last maybe five to 10 years in that there are fewer and fewer people wanting to have that boozy lifestyle that Dunedin was once known for and [these campaigns are] kind of repairing that, but it's not just a student town, there's so much cool stuff going on there.
"I kind of think they could've gone a step further, if they're trying to attract Aucklanders, and kind of say every new resident gets a free jumper. They know that the pain point is that 'oh it's so cold', 'yeah, we have jumpers, you'll be fine'."
These campaigns aren't cheap, which may create risk of dissatisfaction from ratepayers, Veer said.
"People go is 'it really worth it? Are we seeing the return on this?'"
Veer believed the slogan would not necessarily push someone to move there but would more likely gauge interest and increase business for the city.
"We have to remember that a lot of these campaigns are there to draw attention, they fact they're talking about it means it's worked, and it's there to really drive more business attention as well," he said.
"There are a few cities that are doing their best to kind of stand out on social media - Wellington City Council was quite famous for this. They kind of softened their approach in the last year or so since their social media team has changed. But Invercargill City Council have really picked that mantle up if anyone out there is on TikTok and goes to Invercargill City Council, you'll see what I mean - it's absolutely chaotic, it makes no sense, I love it as a researcher."
