Travel Websites Build Brand Awareness with Awesome Jobs Campaigns

The ideal job involves traveling around the world for free. And it’s one that’s not as rare as it once was — as long as you’re willing to jump through hoops and do a bit of Tweeting.

The “world’s best jobs” are being offered by tourism boards, travel websites, and tour agencies who are looking for candidates to take photos, make videos, and update their social media accounts — something most travelers already do for free.

The latest of such postings comes from Jauntaroo, a travel company that recommends destinations based on users’ budgets, trip dates, and travel styles.

Jauntaroo is hiring a Chief World Explorer who will be paid $100,000 to travel the world for one year while sharing their experiences and creating content for the travel website. To apply, candidates need only upload a 60-second video to the more than 730 videos that have already been posted.

Although some of the candidates’ desired attributes include being “partial to naps and/or massages on pristine beaches,” the job’s responsibilities are very real.

The eventual winner must have strong writing abilities, be able to capture digital photography and video, and have experience with social media. Jauntaroo plans on using the content across all its platforms in a crucial social media push.

The CWE hiring process itself is meant to attract new customers to Jauntaroo, boost brand awareness, and get people on the website. Jauntaroo is a new company that’s been live for just two years so a viral campaign and a qualified winner could have a significant impact on the website’s future.

Queensland Kickstarts a Trend

Jauntaroo’s Chief World Explorer position was inspired by Tourism Queensland and Tourism Australia‘s wildly successful “best jobs in the world” campaigns. Tourism Queensland was the first to offer such a position in 2009 and TA quickly followed with its own version to attract ‘working holiday makers.’

Tourism Australia’s most recent jobs campaign is heralded as a global success. More than 330,000 applications poured in from 196 countries and fans of Tourism Australia’s Working Holiday Maker Facebook page more than tripled to close to half a million.

Tourism Australia’s industry partners also benefitted. STA Travel reported 100 percent year-over-year growth in the U.S. following the campaign and Virgin Australia said it helped promote the breadth of their network, according to TA spokeswoman Kristen Malaby.

Jauntaroo spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones says the team met with Tourism Queensland while architecting the campaign. It hopes the Chief World Explorer campaign has even greater impact since it will include as many as 50 destinations around the world, including Queensland.

Jobs from Around the World

Jauntaroo is one of several companies to see the benefits of offering these one-in-a-lifetime positions.

Taking their pick from this year’s Tourism Australia finalists, Virgin Australia hired a High Flyer and Tourism Tasmania hired a Tassie Devil Wrangler.

UK travel company First Choice launched a separate campaign earlier this year to find a water slide tester to visit water parks for six months.

And before Queensland made it trendy, STA Travel was the first travel company to launch such a campaign. STA has hired a World Traveler Intern every summer since 2007.

How Not To Run a Jobs Campaign

As a note of caution to uncreative companies wanting to launch similar campaigns: Staffing employment agency Adecco was publicly shamed after stealing the name of its jobs contest from travel blog Around the World in 80 Jobs.

After an onslaught of social bashing, Adecco reached an agreement with travel blogger Turner Barr and compensated him $50,000 – the same amount they paid to an advertising firm – and $50,000 to Save Elephant Foundation to demonstrate corporate social responsibility. Adecco also apologized, stopped using the brand name, and dropped its trademark application.

The promotional video for Jauntaroo’s Chief World Explorer is below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1RAfeRBHxE]