THE BRIEF
Like many arts events globally, plans for 14th annual Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) in 2020 were thrown into doubt following COVID-19 border closures and the introduction of social distancing measures. However, seeing these unprecedented times as a unique opportunity to reach an even broader Australian and international audience through digital channels, DAAF organisers quickly pivoted to launch an online fair for the first time ever.
THE APPROACH
Bastion Effect and the DAAF team worked closely together to adapt our original communications strategy – which had been developed based on the delivery of a physical art fair in Darwin – to take the fair in a completely new direction. And all while in lockdown!
The campaign involved media pitching to local and international targets, an influencer engagement program with product seeding to 12 influencers across the country to generate socials activity, a digital Google Ads campaign driving traffic towards the fair’s website, stakeholder engagement and key partnerships facilitation.
Bastion Effect worked with local, national and international media across TV, radio, online, print and social media platforms to present DAAF as the premier Indigenous art event in Australia. We also highlighted the move to an online format as an accessible way for anyone, anywhere, to ethically purchase authentic Aboriginal art. To do this we profiled the artists, designers, art centres and DAAF executive team as key spokespeople and experts in the field. Of course, having stunning imagery to work with also helped!
THE RESULT
DAAF opened its virtual doors to the first ever online fair on Thursday 6 August 2020. The program was officially launched the day prior via the inaugural National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFAs) which were livestreamed on NITV broadcast. So successful was the online art fair, it was extended by an extra weekend!
In total, Bastion Effect achieved 310 media hits for DAAF and NIFAs, generating exposure among more than 112,295,450 people worldwide. This included 85 hits in international media including the Boston Herald, Daily Herald, the Epoch Times and MSN News.
Our outreach hit all of our top tier media targets across print including Herald Sun, The Australian, The Age, Australian Financial Review, Vogue, Good Weekend, Marie Claire and the list goes on! The team also managed to land broadcast opportunities with ABC National 7pm evening news, ABC Weekend Breakfast, NITV and Triple J (and more). Lastly, all lifestyle and fashion online touchpoints were covered including RUSSH, Vogue, Vogue Living, The Design Files, GQ, The Urban List, Fashion Journal, WWD, and Fashion newspaper editorials for The Age, Herald Sun and The Australian.
The digital campaign drove 76,000 new visitors to the DAAF website, with traffic up 400 per cent.
Social Media
CAMPAIGN: TOLL AMBULANCE RESCUE
Using social media to demonstrate the importance of an essential rescue service.
THE
BRIEF
Part of the large-scale global logistics company Toll Group, Toll Ambulance Rescue provides helicopter rescue services in partnership with NSW Ambulance. To demonstrate their importance and expertise as NSW Ambulance’s partner, we strategically repositioned their social communications to drive awareness, community support and further positive sentiment.
THE
APPROACH
After conducting a comprehensive audit of Toll Ambulance Rescue’s (TAR) competitors, we determined the brand needed a new edge and a new social approach that would connect with the hearts and minds of the target audience – the NSW community.
The key differentiator was simple – make the content about ‘the people’. Instead of talking about TAR’s biggest achievements and updating the audience with the number of missions, we placed ‘people’ at the centre of our social storytelling.
We shared human stories of team members, we crafted user generated content (thank you messages and photos of the helicopters that were captured by the community and fans) and most importantly, we engaged with the audience instead of having a one-way conversation with them.
On the creative side, we were able to channel the authenticity and humanisation of the brand through real-life photography.
To build on the content strategy and community management, we encouraged the audience to get in touch with us more and to tag us, allowing the brand to build a personable relationship with every member. Because in today’s world, dialogue is often the missing link between brands and people. People want to have their opinions and their voices heard. And in this case, their experiences shared. And social media is the perfect earned and shared media channel to provide that platform.
Concurrently, we also manage ACE Training Centre, which is the training facility and service that TAR provides. Our role in social is to promote the excellence and quality of the program, supported and underpinned by the success stories that are globally-recognised. With a strategic combination of SEM and paid social, we have seen a healthy and continuous pipeline of leads through to conversions (qualified leads who make online enquiries about the courses, followed by offline conversion).
THE
RESULT
Conversion for the ACE Training Centre is one of our key metrics and we’re proud to say that is higher than ever (if you want to know exact, drop us a line), while our social media reach is a mega 6.5 million and engagement 167,000 and counting. Over 12 months impressions are sitting at 12.8 million.
CAMPAIGN: XBOX LIVE STREAM
Driving the conversation for Xbox with Twitter live streaming.
CAMPAIGN: XBOX GLOBAL FIRST TWITTER CAMPAIGN
Driving real-time engagement for Xbox with a first-of-its-kind Twitter campaign.