The client

The Nelson Regional Development Agency (NRDA) leads the charge on economic development and destination marketing for Nelson Tasman,  a sunny slice of New Zealand known for national parks, cycle trails, and a food scene that punches well above its weight.

The NRDA team wanted to go beyond the warm fuzzies and find out if their new storytelling was actually sparking action. Were the campaign videos just nice to look at, or were they giving people a nudge to pack their bags?

The challenge

NRDA had just launched a new series of high-quality tourism videos under their “Feel the Warmth of Nelson Tasman” campaign. The hero film showcased Abel Tasman National Park in all its golden glory and had already racked up hundreds of thousands of YouTube views.

But views alone don’t equal visits.

The team needed to answer the real questions:

• Did the video actually increase intent to visit?
• Was it shifting hard-to-move groups, like people who hadn’t visited in over a year?
• Which channels were cutting through best - YouTube, Facebook, or TVNZ OnDemand?
• And crucially, was the late-season spend worth it?
  

In short: they needed to know the videos were pulling their weight.

The approach

NRDA partnered with Stickybeak as a design partner to pioneer a dedicated video effectiveness test, the first of its kind on the Stickybeak platform.

As a design partner, NRDA got early access to Stickybeak’s prototype video testing feature. That meant they could test their actual creative with real people and get insights fast to get feedback to guide the next steps of their campaign. 

Here’s the set up:

• The asset:  A 30 sec Abel Tasman hero video.
• The target audience: New Zealand-based travellers, some who’d been recently, and some who hadn’t visited the region in 12+ months.
• The testing objectives:
  
  • Pre/post shift in likelihood to visit
  • Breakdown by visit history
  • Channel recall: Where people remembered seeing the ad

The result

The video did its job, and then some. The campaign didn’t just look good. It worked, especially with the audience segments that mattered most.

Among lapsed and first-time visitors, far fewer people said they were “not at all likely” to take action after watching the video. Proof that emotional storytelling isn’t just for brand love. It can actually shift behaviour, even with audiences who don’t know you (yet).

The test also made it crystal clear which channels were pulling their weight:

• YouTube topped the charts for recall
• Facebook came in second
• TVNZ OnDemand rounded out the top three

With that insight, the NRDA team had real data to guide their next move. Where to spend, which formats to double down on, and how to get the most out of every media dollar.

Whether you’re testing a full-length brand video or a scroll-stopping social cutdown, Stickybeak makes it fast and easy to see what’s resonating with real consumers, not internal guesses.

Be like Nelson Regional Development Agency. Test early, learn fast, and move forward with confidence.

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