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Tourist destinations around the world are no strangers to marketing, but many could take a lesson from Australia’s Tourism Queensland, which recently kicked off a very clever viral promotion. Specifically, the group launched an international recruiting contest to fill what it calls The Best Job in the World—a highly paid, 6-month position living the high life while focusing global interest on the Great Barrier Reef Islands. Featuring live-in accommodations in a luxurious, 3-bedroom house on Hamilton Island and a salary package of AUD 150,000 plus airfare, the Island Caretaker position will involve responsibilities including exploring the surrounding islands and reporting back to Tourism Queensland—and the world—via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates. Applicants can be from anywhere in the world, as long as they submit a 60-second video application by 22 February. Tourism Queensland will then create a short list of 50 candidates who will submit a personal profile, and in May 11 candidates—10 chosen by Tourism Queensland and one Wild Card candidate selected by the global audience—will be invited to the islands for an interview. The position begins 1 July 2009. The idea for the contest was conceived by Melbourne Brisbane ad agency CumminsNitro in partnership with Tourism Queensland, and it began with strategically placed, small space employment ads in eight languages. Since then the website has endured traffic as high as 2,000 connections per second along with extensive global media coverage. In the first 24 hours 200,000 unique visitors came to the site, which has already received close to 500 applications. Which will surely do for the region what no mass market ad ever could. One to learn from!