Premiered in London on Wednesday evening (19 October), the campaign centres around a short film, G’day, helmed by The Greatest Showman director, Michael Gracey.

The global campaign, Tourism Australia’s first since 2016, marks the next phase of its There’s Nothing Like Australia brand platform and introduces Ruby’s unlikely friendship with Louie, a toy unicorn voiced by actor Will Arnett, as the pair take “an incredible adventure around Australia”.

Ruby will appear across a range of new campaign assets via TV, print, social and digital, including 3D billboards, throughout 15 of Tourism Australia’s key markets.

Tourism Australia said the film would “prominently” feature Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, with multiple indigenous Australian languages shared with audiences. It will also include a new cover of pop band Men At Work’s Down Under, produced in collaboration with the band’s singer Colin Hay.

Phillipa Harrison, Tourism Australia managing director, described Come and Say G’day as “unashamedly and unmistakably Australian”, adding she was hoping the campaign would stand out “highly competitive international tourism market” after a "challenging time around the world".

Speaking at the London launch event, Sally Cope, Tourism Australia’s regional general manager for the UK and Northern Europe, said 720,000 Brits had visited Australia in 2019 and the destination had seen a “surge of demand” from the UK market since borders reopened in February. 

Cope said the initial surge had been fulled by British travellers visiting their Australian-based relatives, adding how leisure travel and demand for holiday was now growing with "people booking longer and spending more". 

UK air capacity is currently 63% of pre-Covid levels, she said, adding: "there’s lots of room to grow". 

Cope described how Tourism Australia was "investing big" with Come and Say G’day and wanted to give the UK travel industry "confidence" in the destination, with a toolkit of assets created for trade partners to utilise around the campaign.

Asked if the Ruby character could appear in future Tourism Australia promotions, Cope said she believed the character had "longevity", having tested well with audience in key markets. 

"If she’s as loved as we think she will be, then there will be more iterations of her. I have a dream that she’ll meet Paddington Bear one day," Cope added.