Reach in-market travellers heading to Australia. The free, irreverent companion guide that's earned their attention before they board the plane.
The Auscyclopedia is a practical, irreverent companion guide for non-Australians navigating their first encounter with the country and its people. It covers the slang (including the famously colourful ones), the etiquette (don't skip your shout at the pub), the cultural traps ("yeah, nah" means no), and the everyday-life translations (a "jumper" is a sweater) that genuinely matter when you arrive.
It exists because every other resource in this category is either a dusty $20 paperback that nobody actually reads on the plane, a free app stuffed with 600 slang words and zero context, or a Lonely Planet phrasebook that's accurate but missing the point. The Auscyclopedia has voice, depth, and the kind of irreverent honesty that travellers actually share with their friends.
It will be free for users. The audience is reached on two surfaces: a fully searchable website at auscyclopedia.app (live now, capturing organic search traffic for queries like "yeah nah meaning" and "what is a schooner"), and a companion mobile app for iOS and Android with audio pronunciation, push notifications, and offline use. The entire experience is funded by partners who want to reach a high-intent, high-spend, hard-to-find audience: people actively planning or currently on a trip to Australia.
This kit lays out who that audience is, the inventory available, the partnership tiers, and how we'd work together. We're selecting a small number of anchor partners for the launch cohort.
Inbound travellers to Australia are one of the most under-served, over-valuable audiences in tourism marketing. They're committed (visa, flights, leave booked), wealthy (median international visitor spend exceeds AUD $5,500 per trip), and forming brand opinions about Australian businesses for the first time.
The hard part has always been reaching them before they arrive — when they're researching, deciding, and most receptive. Generic travel publishers (Lonely Planet, Booking.com) treat them as undifferentiated tourists. Tourism Australia reaches them at the destination level, not the operator level. Meta and Google ads reach everyone, with predictable economics.
The Auscyclopedia reaches them at the moment they're explicitly trying to understand Australia. They open the app on the flight over. They pull it out at the bar when they don't know what a "schooner" is. They read the etiquette section before their first BBQ invite. The intent is so explicit that ad relevance does most of the work.
The Auscyclopedia launches with a conservative content-first strategy: build the audience through organic discovery (Reddit, TikTok, travel blogs, App Store search), then layer paid acquisition once the funnel is dialled in. Here are three credible audience trajectories — partners should choose the band that matches their risk appetite.
| Conservative Year 1, organic only |
Moderate Year 2, with marketing |
Aspirational Year 3, established |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile app monthly active users | 5,000 | 25,000 | 100,000+ |
| Web monthly unique visitors | 30,000 | 150,000 | 750,000+ |
| Combined monthly reach | ~35,000 | ~175,000 | ~850,000+ |
| App sessions per user / month | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Web pages per visit | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Total monthly impressions (combined) | 175,000 | 1,200,000 | 6,800,000+ |
| % pre-trip / in-trip mix | 60% / 40% | 55% / 45% | 50% / 50% |
| Sponsor capacity (concurrent) | 1-2 anchors | 4-6 active | 8-12 active |
| Channel | Conservative | Moderate | Aspirational |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programmatic display (app) | $3,600 | $45,000 | $350,000 |
| Programmatic display (web) | $540 | $3,600 | $22,500 |
| Affiliate revenue (combined) | $2,400 | $18,000 | $96,000 |
| Direct-sold sponsorships (combined) | $6,000 | $80,000 | $320,000 |
| Total annual range (AUD) | ~$12.5K | ~$147K | ~$789K |
Projections based on industry-standard CPMs for travel-niche mobile apps ($3-7 RPM range), a 4-6% affiliate commission rate on bookings, and direct sponsorship pricing benchmarked against comparable specialty travel publishers. Actuals will vary.
Six types of ad inventory, ranging from passive programmatic to deeply integrated brand partnerships. Most partners run a mix of two or three.
Standard 320x50 / 300x250 banners running across dictionary, translator and cheat sheet sections. Programmatic-fillable but available for direct buy at premium.
Native dictionary or translator entries with subtle sponsor attribution. E.g. "Vegemite" entry sponsored by Bega, "Schooner" sponsored by a brewery.
"Pub Etiquette presented by [Brewery]." A sponsor's brand is woven into a thematic section, with prominent acknowledgement.
A new "Communication Scenario" written in collaboration with a partner — e.g. "Booking your Great Barrier Reef tour, with [Operator]."
"Find a hotel in Sydney" / "Book a Barossa wine tour" CTAs in contextually-relevant sections. Performance-paid via standard affiliate networks.
Geo- or trip-stage-targeted push messages. Limited inventory: maximum two sponsor pushes per user per month to preserve trust.
Geographic targeting by user trip intent (state, region, city). Trip-stage targeting (pre-trip planning, in-flight, on-arrival, in-trip, post-trip). Source-market targeting (US, UK, EU, Asia). Section/context targeting (food, accommodation, transport, etc).
Four tiers, structured to match different partner sizes and goals. Anchor partners receive editorial collaboration and category exclusivity. All tiers include performance reporting and quarterly business reviews.
All packages can be tailored. Annual commitments receive a 15% discount. Anchor and Custom-tier partners receive first refusal on category exclusivity for renewal periods.
Three illustrative examples of how sponsorship appears inside the app. All sponsored content is clearly marked, never deceptive, and editorial integrity is preserved at every tier.
The Auscyclopedia is a natural fit for any business serving inbound travellers. We're prioritising launch-cohort partners across these categories:
Tourism Australia, state and regional boards. National to municipal. Anchor positioning, geographic content collaboration.
Hotel chains targeting international guests, boutique hotels in tourist regions, hostel networks (YHA, Base), holiday park operators.
Reef cruises, Outback tours, walking and food tours, wine region operators, Indigenous cultural tours, adventure activities.
Sydney BridgeClimb, Phillip Island Penguin Parade, Sea World, Taronga Zoo, Uluru tour operators, museum networks.
Craft breweries with cellar doors (Coopers, Stone & Wood, Little Creatures, 4 Pines), wineries, distilleries, food tour operators.
Campervan rentals (JUCY, Apollo, Britz), car hire, intercity rail and bus, regional aviation, ride-sharing.
eSIM/SIM providers (Optus, Telstra, Airalo), travel insurance (Cover-More, Allianz), currency (Wise, Revolut), ETA services.
Iconic Australian brands, surf and outdoor retailers, beauty and skincare brands targeting visitors, travel-oriented food and gifts.
All sponsored content is labelled. We don't accept partners we wouldn't recommend to our own readers. Category exclusivity is available at Gold and above. We reserve the right to decline partnerships that conflict with our editorial voice or values, including any that disrespect Indigenous communities or push misleading travel claims.
From first conversation to live placement is typically 4-6 weeks. Here's the path we'll walk together.
We learn about your goals, target audience, current marketing mix, and where you'd like to see incremental reach. No pitch — this shapes the proposal.
A tailored partnership document with recommended tier, suggested placements, content concepts, KPIs, and pricing. Negotiable.
Light-touch IO or framework contract. We brief on creative requirements; you provide assets and brand guidelines. We can produce creative collaboratively if needed.
You review final placements before launch. Two rounds of revisions included.
Placements go live. Monthly performance dashboard delivered: impressions, engagement, click-through, attributed bookings (where measurable).
Joint review of outcomes versus goals. Optimisations for the next quarter. Renewal discussion typically opens here.
We're selecting a small number of anchor partners for the launch cohort across each major category. Anchor partners receive editorial collaboration, category exclusivity options, premium placement, and a discounted launch rate.
The right time to start the conversation is now. Anchor positions are first-come.
d.perrin@live.ca
The Auscyclopedia — Free travel companion for non-Australians
Reply with category, target market and rough budget. We'll follow up with a tailored proposal within 5 business days.
— a sincere Australian compliment, used here in its proper context.