I am thrilled to introduce myself as the new General Manager, Customer Experience for South Bank. It’s a role I step into with genuine excitement and passion for creating unforgettable experiences and fostering meaningful connections.
What excites me most is the chance to collaborate closely with our valued retailers. Having been a business owner myself, I understand the challenges you face, and wish to reinforce that my team is here to provide support to ensure your businesses thrives. Your insights and ideas are invaluable, and I encourage you to share them openly with the team.
As we speak, we are expanding our Customer Experience Team to include specialists in marketing, communications, and event management. We aim to build on the strong foundation in place to take our brand to new heights.
South Bank is one of Brisbane’s most iconic destinations. It’s our goal over the coming twelve months to unlock its potential by delivering experiences that truly resonate with our customers. Events are key to shaping the retail landscape, and I’m particularly excited about exploring how we can use them to create memorable moments for our patrons, both through our own events and partnership opportunities.
I am excited to join you as part of the South Bank Community and look forward to working with you.
Warm regards Rebecca Randazzo
THIS DOCUMENT PROVIDES A SUMMARY OF EATSOUTHBANK’S RETAIL MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THE 2024/25 FINANCIAL YEAR.
The following plan is designed to support and complement South Bank’s overarching Events and Marketing Strategy to drive visitation into the precinct and encourage retail spend across the 2024/25 financial period.
The retail marketing plan this year aims to utilise our existing digital assets with a focus on produced events and event sponsorship to enhance the dining experience at South Bank.
The implementation and creative development of our marketing activities is based on the following four pillars:
• Digital Media
• Awareness and Retail Campaigns
• Precinct Events and Activations
• Retailer Initiatives and Programs
Consider this a quick reference guide to this year’s proposed marketing activities and events.
We look forward to continuing to collaborate with you, acting as a support to your in-house marketing and communications activity.
Our team’s contact details are included should you have any further questions.
The key focus of this retail marketing plan is to increase awareness of South Bank Corporation retailers through a layered marketing approach which:
• Positions South Bank as Brisbane’s premier dining destination and dining destination of choice for Brisbane locals in addition to interstate and international visitors.
• Utilises South Bank’s strengths to develop a series of unique campaigns including owned events and activations designed to provide visitors with a reason to venture into the precinct and dine.
• Re-establishes eatSouthBank as one of Brisbane’s most comprehensive dining portals and leverages its audience to drive precinct visitation.
• Provides locals and visitors with an undeniable reason to choose to dine at South Bank retailers instead of competitors.
• Drives precinct visitation, footfall, and retail spend.
• Drives database acquisition.
• Leverages existing events to capture nearby foot traffic for increased visitation by new audience groups.
• Educates audiences on retailers and their special events, offers and key points of difference to drive patronage daily.
The following key deliverables will provide the foundation of the 2024/25 retail marketing strategy. They have been specifically designed in order to increase awareness and preference for the South Bank dining precinct whilst assisting to improve the financial performance of your business.
To achieve our goals and objectives, we will implement an integrated marketing strategy harnessing earned, paid and owned digital media which all contribute to driving brand awareness and attracting patronage.
We will continue to drive dining through the established eatSouthBank brand digital channels.
Specifically, these include:
• Brand Website
• Social Channels
• Database (e-Newsletters)
These platforms play a major role in promoting all retail marketing campaigns and events, in addition to increasing reach and awareness for individual retailer promotions.
We are committed to enhancing and evolving all of our digital marketing platforms and will be exploring additional technology and applications in order to expand reach and offer a more tailored experience to South Bank diners.
We will also be exploring a range of digital partnerships and opportunities for each campaign and event.
Further to this, the Customer Experience team will be developing and launching a refreshed brand to showcase South Bank as a destination which focuses on the precinct journey as a whole. This is currently scheduled to launch early 2025.
53,400+
The number of people who like the eatSouthBank Facebook page.
571,000+ SESSIONS
The amount of visits our website has had.
265,140 DINING PAGE VIEWS
The number of times a restaurant page has been viewed.
60,000+ SUBSCRIBERS
That would fill Suncorp Stadium... think of what you would have to pay to get a sign in there!
38,200+
The number of people who follow the eatSouthBank Instagram page.
91K+
Followers across all social media platforms
451,000+ USERS
The number of people who interacted with our site.
61,900 OUTBOUND CLICKS
Users who clicked through to a partner’s website (retailer, events etc).
1,038,261 PAGE VIEWS
The number of pages viewed on our website.
27.1% OPEN RATE
This is above the industry standard across both food and events.
2.8% CLICK THROUGH
We excel here. More than double the industry standard.
eatSouthBank’s primary role is to be the vehicle for the collective retail voice to ensure clear and concise messaging whilst positioning the precinct top of mind as a dining destination of choice for Brisbane locals.
Broad awareness campaigns will be executed under the brand in order to increase the preference for the South Bank dining precinct on an ongoing basis. These will largely be focused around and aligned to holidays, themes, and precinct activations.
Awareness campaigns that will be considered this year include but are not limited to:
• Paris in South Bank (JUL-SEP)
• Brisbane Festival Retail Campaign (SEP)
• Father’s Day (SEP)
• Halloween (OCT)
• Christmas Functions (NOV-DEC)
• New Year’s Eve (DEC)
• School Holidays (DEC – JAN)
• Summer in South Bank (DEC - FEB)
• eatSouthBank Foodie Awards (JAN - FEB)
• Valentine’s Day (FEB)
• Autumn Offerings (MAR)
• Locals Campaign (MAR)
• Easter (APR)
• School Holidays (APR)
• Mother’s Day (MAY)
• State of Origin (JUN)
• Winter Offerings (JUN)
These may include the utilisation of the following:
• Digital, Outdoor and Print Advertising
• Cinema
• Digital Partnerships
• Influencer Engagement
• PR
• Famils
CONTINUED …
PRODUCED, SPONSORED & PARTNERED EVENTS
Events represent a large visitation driver to the precinct and as such, the Customer Experience team has developed a scalable event and activation program which has a strong link to retailers, specifically designed to drive visitation and increase spend within the precinct.
This program includes South Bank Corporation produced events, in addition to leveraging premium existing events through sponsorship and partnership opportunities.
Proposed events include:
• Le Festival (JUL)
• Eiffel Tower Activation (JUL-SEP)
• Roaming Opera (JUL)
• Paris Live – Olympics Live Site (JUL-AUG)
• Paris Paralympics Live (AUG-SEP)
• Brisbane Festival – Riverfire (AUG)
• Brisbane Festival - Shows (SEP)
• Trick or Treat Little Stanley Street (OCT)
• MELT Festival (NOV)
• Christmas Program (DEC)
• New Years Eve (DEC)
• Valentine’s Day (FEB)
• Easter (APR)
• Mother’s Day (MAY)
• Sunday Social (ONGOING)
• South Bank Markets (ONGOING)
We will be exploring rebrands, enhancements and introductions of key platforms and initiatives to increase spend opportunities within retailers.
Specifically, these will include:
• eatSouthBank Locals Program
• eatSouthBank Concierge Program
• Parking Validation
• eatSouthBank Gift Cards
• Ongoing Asia-Ready Education and Promotions
South Bank Corporation will be engaging a high energy public relations specialist to assist us in generating media coverage and raising awareness of newsworthy opportunities within the precinct.
As a South Bank Corporation retailer, you will also have access to the following additional services throughout the year, subject to availability:
• Access to the eatSouthBank and South Bank website and associated social media platforms to promote your own retail campaigns, promotions and events.
• Opportunities to mobile vend at key events within the precinct.
• Access to our database of 58,000+ people to promote retail news, special offers and sale information via the eatSouthBank e-newsletter.
• Shared content across stakeholder and partner channels.
• Competition partnership opportunities.
• Access to photography services throughout the year, including food and event photography.
• Influencer engagement in conjunction with events, offers, and campaigns.
KIRA DONOHUE
kira.donohue@south-bank.net.au
Marketing Manager | Retail
SABRINA WALKER
sabrina.walker@south-bank.net.au
Marketing Coordinator | Retail
