Wollongong gets the gong and the Ferrari!

In a major marketing coup, Wollongong’s spectacular new Sea Cliff Bridge is being featured in a new blockbuster TV commercial for Shell and Ferrari that showcases some of the world’s top destinations.

The $49 million Sea Cliff Bridge on Grand Pacific Drive sits alongside Rome, Monte Carlo, New York, London, Hong Kong and Rio in the two-minute ad, being trumpeted as the greatest car ad ever made.

The heart-racing ad will showcase Grand Pacific Drive on the world stage when it is seen by hundreds of millions of viewers around the world this year. It is expected to be screened in Australia later this year.

Titled ‘Circuit’ and designed to celebrate the 60-year collaboration between Ferrari and Shell, the ad shows a variety of historic Ferrari racing cars blasting through the streets of the world’s best-known cities.

Included is a lengthy ‘money shot’ sequence showing a 1967 Formula 1 Ferrari 312 zooming through the S-curves of a deserted Sea Cliff Bridge near Stanwell Park on Wollongong’s northern beaches.

Shot over a month earlier this year, the ad’s producers convinced authorities in the various locations to close busy roads for the film shoot. And while the ad does not name the bridge, it is certain to prompt viewers around the world to find out where it is.

Already, the popular UK motoring website Top Gear has told intrigued web surfers that the commercial’s “stunning S-shaped sea-bridge that you see about a minute into the ad is Sea Cliff Bridge in Australia, just south of Sydney, adding “We want one.”

Tourism Wollongong General Manager Greg Binskin said the ad was great news for Wollongong, adding, “Grand Pacific Drive and the Bridge is already a favourite location for new car commercials and this latest ad puts us firmly on the world stage amongst millions of car enthusiasts, many of whom will want to include a drive down Grand Pacific Drive to Wollongong in any visit they do to Sydney.”

“To sit alongside icon destinations like New York, Rome, Rio and London is a great buzz for us, because the ad showcases the spectacular nature of Grand Pacific Drive as it runs from Sydney through the Royal National Park and along the beautiful coastline to Wollongong.”

Opened in December 2005 and just 65km south of Sydney’s CBD, the 665m-long Sea Cliff Bridge takes motorists and walkers 41m above the ocean past sheer cliffs that constantly threatened the original coast road with rock slides.

The bridge has already starred in TV ads for the NRL, Honda and Toyota, a Korean drama series, and is featured in a Qantas video screened on inbound flights and car clubs around Australia are also featuring the bridge in their trips.

The development of Grand Pacific Drive and a follow-up marketing campaign have triggered extra visitors to Wollongong and a hotel development boom, with four hotels opening since 2005 and another four under construction.

For more information on the region, visit www.grandpacificdrive.com.au or call Tourism Wollongong toll free 1800 240 737.

The ad can be viewed via www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qT_q8PXFrw

Report by The Mole