MEDIA AND MARKETING

An extensive media and marketing strategy was put in place, which resulted in high levels of exposure and positive media coverage for both the event and the participating artists.

The strategy’s objectives were:

• Further develop Strand Ephemera’s reputation as a first class event

• Increase the awareness of Strand Ephemera locally, nationally and internationally

• Increase recognition/awareness of Townsville City Council as the official presenter of the event

• Increase awareness of Gallery Services through marketing the event

• 10,000 + people on top of the average number of people (60,000 in 2013)

Townsville City Council’s marketing was to a broad audience; it was recognised that Strand Ephemera’s target audience is people of all ages with an interest art, outdoor events, and recreational activities. Although some of the marketing efforts focussed nationally and internationally, the majority of activities targeted the local Townsville community. Day visitors from outside the immediate area (i.e. Ingham, Ayr, Charters Towers, Cairns and Mackay) were also a priority.

Complementing the Townsville City Council marketing spend, Strand Ephemera featured as a key event in a state-wide tourism campaign profiling Arts, Culture and Events in Townsville during winter. The campaign was a joint initiative of Townsville City Council, Tourism and Events Queensland, and Townsville Enterprise, and saw the festival reach new markets around Queensland in key publications and locations.

Marketing materials and exhibition collateral developed by Gallery Services to promote the event, and assist visitors in interpreting and enjoying the exhibition, included:

• Television commercial: 15 day schedule, Channel 7, running from 26 July – 9 August

• Commercial running on Townsville Bulletin Square big screen from 30 July – 9 August

• Commercial uploaded to YouTube, including $100 promotional spend

• Townsville City Council website - dedicated webpage and key event graphic links on front page

• NewsXtend online banners throughout July

• Townsville Bulletin website – banner ads running from 31 July – 6 August

• Townsville City Council Events facebook coverage, including $100 promotional spend

• Experience It Live E-Newsletter – August and September editions

• Townsville City Council ‘Messages on Hold’ throughout August

• Spirit (Qantas) in flight magazine editorial

• Experience it Live Quarterly Printed Newsletter – August edition (cover)

• City Update listing, distributed throughout Townsville

• 4TOfm on-site broadcast, Saturday 1 August

• Radio advertisements, 4TOfm

• Artist interviews, ABC Local Radio

• DUO Magazine advertorial, August edition

• Townsville eye (Townsville Bulletin) advertisements - 25 July, 1 August, 8 August

• Flinders Street billboard

• Staff email footers

• Invitiation - print run of 4000

• Flags installed along the length of The Strand

• Publication - print run of 5000

• Artwork labels

• Program of Events - print run of 15000

• Activity Booklet - print run of 5000

• T Shirts - print run of 400

• Airport display: Hugh Martin artwork installation, large ground stickers, drop-down banners, and 4 x event banner bugs at the arrivals baggage collection

• People’s Choice Pads - print run of 45 tear sheet pads (80 forms per pad)

• Castletown Poster

• Customer Service Centre Banner, installed at Townsville City Council Walker Street reception

• Lanyards for Staff, Artists, and Volunteers

• Branded colouring pencils

• Education Booklet - print run of 200

• Public Art Symposium Poster - print run of 500

• Branded Information desk signage x 3

• Facebook - daily artist profiles and regular event reminder posts via Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery

• Twitter - regular posts via Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery

• Instagram - regular posts and frequent traffic through use of the hashtag #strandephemera as part of the Instagram Competition

• Digital editions of all festival publications via Issuu

• Dedicated Strand Ephemera enewsdistribution of 2250

• Photographic Competition entry forms - print run of 1000

• Daily advertisements and advertorials in the Townsville Bulletin - 31 July - 9 August

• Advertisement in the Herbert River Express - 25 July

• Advertisement in the Ayr Advocate - 25 July

This broad coverage combined with the high levels of activity through the Townsville City Council official Events facebook account saw extremely positive results for this account. As an indication, the two posts provided below, which were counting down to the event, each reached in excess of 15,000 accounts, had over 1,000 clicks each, and high levels of likes and shares.

The marketing of and public reaction to Strand Ephemera 2015 also resulted in consistent positive media coverage in local and national outlets.

This outcome was also aided by the contibutions of the festival’s Media Sponsors, 7 Local News, Townsville Bulletin, and 4TOfm.

Media coverage for the festival (generated through media releases and media interest, as opposed to the media coverage included in the marketing strategy) included:

• Zhi Qi Luo photo and article, page 9 Townsville Bulletin - Thursday 2 July

• Fringe Ephemera at The Village half page advertisement, Sunday Mail

• Oonoonba State School, Fringe Ephemera at The Village photo and article, Youth in Print (Townsville Bulletin Tuesday liftout) - Tuesday

21 July

• Fringe Ephemera at The Village half page advertisement, page 9 Townsville BulletinSaturday 25 July

• Double page sand sculpture photos and article in Townsville eye (Townsville Bulletin weekend liftout) - Saturday 25 July

• What’s On Planner photo and listing, page 12

Townsville Sun - Tuesday 28 July

• 3D Pavement Art photo and article, page 10

Townsville Bulletin - Wednesday 29 July

• Pricey opinion article, page 2 Townsville Bulletin - Thursday 30 July

• Front page photo and sub-headline, Townsville Bulletin - Friday 31 July

• Weekend Planner event listing, page 23

Townsville Bulletin - Friday 31 July

• Sand art photo and article, page 4 Townsville Bulletin - Friday 31 July

• Editor’s article, page 36 Townsville BulletinFriday 31 July

• Event listing, Pakmag August edition

• Eye Must event listing in Townsville eye (Townsville Bulletin weekend liftout) - Saturday 1 August

• Txt the Editor photo and texts, page 33

Townsville Bulletin - Saturday 1 August

• Social network and on-air promotion of the festival via 106.3fm as a result of breakfast radio announcers’ prank and Gallery response

• seen@ social photos from the official launch, page 10 Townsville Bulletin - Monday 3 August

• Our Fair Share opinion article, page 11

Townsville Bulletin - Tuesday 4 August

• St Pat’s Pop-Up Ephemera photo and article in @school section of Townsville Bulletin, page 18 - Tuesday 4 August

• Photos and students comments/stories in Youth in Print section of Townsville Bulletin, page 20Tuesday 4 August

• Artwork used for front page weather article, Townsville Bulletin - Tuesday 4 August

• Winner announcement photo and article, page 3 Townsville Bulletin - Wednesday 5 August

• Art theft photos and article, page 3 Townsville Bulletin - Wednesday 5 August (Important to note that while this isn’t positive media, it was managed by Townsville City Council, and combined with online pressure resulted in the return of a stolen sculpture)

• Eye Spied social photos from official launch in Townsville eye (Townsville Bulletin weekend liftout) - Saturday 8 August

• Artwork used for front page spelling bee photograph, Townsville Bulletin - Saturday 8 August

• Artwork used for photograph related to spelling bee photograph, page 6 Townsville BulletinSaturday 8 August

• Eye Must event listing in Townsville eye (Townsville Bulletin weekend liftout) - Saturday 8 August

• Stories on Channel 7 Local News and WIN Local News

The following pages highlight the high levels of interest in Strand Ephemera 2015 as evidenced by increased traffic through Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s social networks; facebook, twitter, instagram, and issuu.

Posts in the lead up to and during Strand Ephemera 2015 reached a far wider audience than prior to and following these brackets. The most popular Strand Ephemera 2015 post on Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s facebook page reached over 1500 accounts.

It wasn’t only the reach of posts, but actual page visits that increased during this period. As shown above, there were a number of external referrers that pointed interested visitors to Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s facebook account for further information about the festival.

Strand Ephemera 2015 continued to build recognition outside of local markets, which can be partly attributed to Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s diverse following.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s twitter activity also clearly illustrates that tweets made regarding Strand Ephemera (using the hashtag #strandephemera) leading into the festival, during the festival, and in the days following its completion have reached wider audiences than regular Gallery activity.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s top five most liked photographs of all time occurred during Strand Ephemera and were directly related to the event.

This correlates with a steep growth in likes for the Gallery’s media posted on Instagram leading in to and during the festival period.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s issuu account featured digital copies of all major Strand Ephemera 2015 publications, including the main exhibition catalogue, Activity Booklet, and Education Kit.

Unsurprisingly, the catalogue is the best performed publication by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, having been read by over 1200 unique accounts, and making over 1700 impressions. In total, the document has been read for four days (96 hours).

Issuu also indicates the various ways in which audiences are engaging with the festival, and from where. While most are reading the publication on their home desktop computers, others used their mobile or tablet devices, perhaps while visiting the exhibition in preference to picking up a physical copy. The publication has also been read numerous times in the United States, Europe, and the AsiaPacific region.