The Lucid Agency will lead the marketing communications and media relations of the Italian National Tourist Board (INTB) to help drive awareness of Italy as a travel destination in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
The agency has also retained Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) PR account for a third year running following the organisation’s annual competitive tender for the account, as well as winning other project tenders that will see Lucid expand its service offering for JNTO to include media and trade marketing activity in Australia and New Zealand.
James Cooley, Lucid director and co-founder, said of the news: “Italy and Japan are both incredible countries to visit, and we couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to represent both their tourism boards and help inspire people to travel to these amazing destinations. As two of the most culturally diverse and historically enriched foodie paradises on the planet, we can’t wait to tell some of the many great stories about Japan and Italy.”
“At Lucid, we see the huge opportunity to get people to explore deeper in both Italy and Japan, and our goal is to uncover some of the countries’ hidden gems and open people’s eyes to lesser-known locations they may not have heard of.
“A key part of our role representing these two national tourism boards will be to help Aussie and Kiwi travellers travel responsibly in each destination, spreading their tourism dollars further and fairly and ensuring the cultural and natural environments of these two fascinating countries is sustainably maintained,” he added.
Emanuele Attanasio, INTB’s Australia and New Zealand country manager, said: “Italy is well and truly back open for travellers and we needed a strategic and creative partner to help us diversify the messages about what Italy can be as a travel destination – as well as highlighting major events including the Cortina2026 Winter Olympics. Lucid has a deep understanding of travel marketing and offered a compelling proposal, and we’re very much looking forward to working with them.”
Expanding its services for JNTO, The Lucid Agency will be developing a new brand campaign which will highlight how to ‘experience Japan your way’ – no matter what your motivation is for travel – aiming to shift common perceptions of Japan as merely a destination for neon lights and ski holidays. The campaign will run across digital and social.
Yoko Tanaka, JNTO’s executive director of the Sydney office, added: “Lucid has been with us throughout Japan’s border closure and reopening and their creative media strategies, insights and ideas continue to add much value to JNTO’s objectives. The creative positioning in their campaign proposal aligns perfectly with JNTO’s charter to move travellers beyond well-worn paths in Japan, and we look forward to seeing their campaign ideas come to life.”
The growing Sydney-based agency also represents several other tourism and travel clients including ANZ’s biggest tiny house accommodation provider, Tiny Away, and has also been engaged by the Philippines Department of Tourism, Destination Coromandel, and Tourism Australia on project activities.