How Host/Havas Unearthed the Real Happiness at the Heart of Fiji

Fiji has been synonymous with happiness for a long time now. It’s been 12 years since the island nation’s first destination marketing campaign, which launched the association. It encouraged travellers to find happiness for themselves in Fiji’s tropical paradise. Now, Havas is building on that same long-lived campaign, with a bold reinvention.

Rather than speaking of happiness in terms of something travellers find in Fiji, the campaign offers happiness as something the Fijian people have in abundance, and are willing to share. 

This recentering comes with a host of practical choices made at every stage of conceptualising a production. 

The new logo fuses modern type with traditional Fijian masi, and was designed in collaboration with third-generation Fjjian masi artist Wati Maraiwai Talavutu.

Music was recorded in Fijian homes by local musicians, many of whom were chronicled by National Geographic photographers.

And the advertisement features voiceover in the three primary languages of the country (iTaukei, Fiji Hindi and English).

All these decisions add up to a campaign which feels more grounded, more authentic, and more immediate than any of its contemporaries. We spoke to Host/Havas ECD Jon Austin and Tourism Fiji chief marketing officer, Emma Campbell, to find out more.

LBB>  What was the initial brief you asked of Havas?

Emma> We knew our brand needed some fresh eyes and a visual refresh.  The previous brand had been in place, with just a minor refresh, for 12 years.  It was starting to look dated…  We could also see consumer behaviour was shifting post-pandemic to favour more authentic experiences.  Fiji had done an amazing job in pulling through the pandemic – even with no tourists – happiness still existed in many ways even though people were having it tough.  Fiji proved it’s so much more than just friendly faces – it's resilient and entrepreneurial, and the spirit of community shines so bright when it’s most needed.  So we wanted to review the brand through that lens and create something that would keep us moving forward in a progressive way. 

LBB> This work emphasises Fijian perspectives, similarly to Havas’ past piece ‘Ol’au Palau’ for the Palau Legacy Project. Why the commitment to this kind of authenticity?

Jon> At Host/Havas, we’re committed to giving audiences what they actually want. And increasingly, what people want is authenticity. Last year, our research division Havas Labs published a study called 'What Aussies Want’. It took a deep dive into the tenuous relationship between audiences and ads, and explored what people actually want from their advertising and the brands behind them. We apply the principles from that study to all of our work to ensure we’re giving audiences what they actually want.

In the case of both ‘Ol’au Palau’ and ‘Where happiness comes naturally’, what people wanted was authenticity. Research revealed that people would travel further and pay more to experience greater cultural authenticity in their destination. With Ol’au Palau, we made positive behaviour the key to that authentic experience. With Tourism Fiji, we enticed people not with the glossy front of the postcard, but with the far more interesting and personal back of the postcard. 

LBB> Could you tell us more about the Fijian relationship to happiness, and why that's formed such a central part of your brand positioning?

Emma> Fiji was voted the Happiest country in the world in 2017, in a global survey by WIN/Gallup International Association. From being here for four years, I can understand why. The natural environment really helps – all the beautiful sunshine and fresh air are great for emotional well-being.  

Community is a key pillar of Fijian culture – I get offered some of someone’s lunch at work every single day.  Sharing is done freely and without the expectation of anything in return. The warm bula spirit that you experience from locals while you are holidaying here isn’t just put on for tourists. It’s genuine and natural – and even in the areas with no tourists, everyone still greets you with a Bula!  Personally, when I’m overseas, I find myself saying Bula to strangers, wherever I am.

LBB> Tell us about the shoot. This must have been an incredibly involved production.

Jon> The shoot was actually comprised of two very different and very complex stages: the film shoot (which we ran with Kyra Bartley and Finch), and the stills shoot (which we ran with Matthieu Paley and Chee Productions). The biggest challenge we faced was navigating the ambitions for the campaign and the reality of shooting in Fiji.

When you think of Fiji, you sort of just picture an all-encompassing tropical paradise. But in actuality, the 333 islands of Fiji are both spectacular and spectacularly different. There are lush rainforest islands and bustling commerce islands. There are islands with villages you can shoot in, and islands where manta rays swim. There are spots where the water is flawless and clear and others with waterfalls you can climb. And they’re all spread out over a relatively vast area. 

A fundamental objective of this campaign was to go beyond the usual postcard visuals and reveal sides of Fiji that audiences hadn’t encountered. That meant trying to organise and re-organise our narrow shoot window to provide as much coverage as possible. From the get-go, the brilliant Emma Campbell (Tourism Fiji CMO) said to us, the people of Fiji can make the impossible possible. And she wasn’t kidding. The entire Tourism Fiji team, all their local connections, our on-ground facilitators at Welcome Fiji, along with the entire Finch crew leaned in to help provide workarounds and solutions, from getting mates to provide last-minute boats to seeing if we could travel overnight on passing cruise ships. 

Meanwhile, seeing Matthieu in action gave a real sense into his National Geographic background. He would improvise and find lighting solutions on the fly. He would approach people with the warmth and ease of an old mate. He spoke Hindi, which helped enormously. He never stopped shooting.

And while all that hustle was happening, there was a completely different gear where we just kinda drifted about listening to kids and communities sing. We sat down and recorded local voice overs in some of the most incredible settings, and we went for swims in crystal-clear water between takes. It was definitely my favourite shoot for so many reasons.

LBB>  Can you share any insights about the campaign's effectiveness so far?

Jon> The new brand has only been in market for a short time, but it’s already proving very effective. There’s been a significant increase in brand awareness and website traffic (21.3% increase in website traffic and a 22.7% increase in new users).

LBB> How does this campaign tie into Host/Havas's overall vision for itself and creativity?

Jon> Great question. At Host/Havas, we want to redefine what an advertising agency is capable of. It’s one of those Brené Brown-level mantras that sounds a bit silly when you say it out loud, but we stand by it.

It might be gamifying eco-tourism for Palau. It might be creating a recruitment campaign for the AFP that becomes Australia’s second-most popular national podcast.

With Tourism Fiji, it’s about creating new levels of authenticity for destination marketing, which makes audiences lean in and makes locals so proud that even the Deputy Prime Minister wants to share it on social media.

I’m super proud of the entire team and our fantastic partners at Tourism Fiji for redefining destination marketing in such a beautiful, effective way.

LBB> What are the next steps for Tourism Fiji as travel continues to come back to being the norm?

Emma> We’ve got so much going on!  It’s an exciting time.  The new platform is so strong, so the next 12 months will be about really landing that in the mind of consumers.  Continuing to push the beautiful assets that we’ve created; driving traffic to our website; and encouraging people to sign up to our database to hear from us regularly.  We’re really looking to build a relationship with our potential and past visitors and continuously keep Fiji top of mind.  

We are working through a complete website user experience review at the moment with the Havas team which will help us create a roadmap of changes moving forward.  This will be an ongoing process.  We are also looking at how we align with other brands that share similar values.  We’ve got a great partnership that’s just gone live with Rip Curl, and we’d love to look at more of these high-profile partnerships so we can tap into new audiences and tell diverse stories about our amazing destination.