Made of Ballarat

The Problem

In recent years, Ballarat has experienced lower visitation than other regional centres. Tourists have perceived Ballarat to be ‘a bit dull’.

The Solution

Make Ballarat about the people and produce – the creativity, productivity and craftsmanship – born of the same magical soil that produced one of history’s richest gold rushes.
Made of Ballarat is here to celebrate it.

The Campaign

Stories told through cinema, street posters, online ads and a broadsheet biannual that’s being distributed throughout Melbourne, all pushing people to madeofballarat.com.au. Here, visitors can dig deeper into the campaign content, which includes articles and documentaries featuring the town’s makers. They can also book their spot in the Maker Event Series, small boutique events run by Ballarat’s artisans. While partnerships with Broadsheet, The Design Files and other brand ambassadors will bring cultural clout, encouraging reappraisal from discerning individuals.

Pop-Up Shop

First launched seven months ago, the Made of Ballarat campaign was born from research that identified less than 10% of Melbourne’s lifestyle leaders considered the city to be an attractive destination for a short break in regional Victoria.

The retail initiative encourages Melburnians to sample all that Ballarat has to offer, with the pop-up shop hosting a series of maker demonstrations and tastings, as well as showcasing forthcoming events across the region.

Unearth

Unearth is a 32 page magazine developed for Visit Ballarat. Helping to drive visitation and transform deep-rooted perceptions of the region as ‘old, cold and gold’, Unearth celebrates a vibrant city with a burgeoning visitor agenda.

The magazine operates in conjunction with the new Visit Ballarat website and can be found adorning Melbourne’s social hot spots throughout the CBD, inner suburbs and regional Victoria.

Target

The Project

Target’s women’s wear sales were in decline and traditional advertising methods simply weren’t working.

In a world first collaboration with Facebook and Instagram we used innovative data tracking and targeting methods to deliver relevant content to our target audience. This resulted in a highly effective campaign that delivered huge ROI.

1200% ROI

There were three stages of messaging corresponding to the awareness, consideration, and decision stages of the purchase process. While advertising messaging might often attempt to achieve all three things at once, knowing where the customer was in the path to purchase allowed us to focus our creative on each stage separately. Additionally, the opt-in nature of the method allowed us to exclude those who definitely were not interested and were never going to be. This meant we could reduce clutter on our customers’ social feeds and use the data to only speak to those who were interested.

Captain's Choice

The Problem

Captain’s Choice was becoming less unique in the market. Other Australian and international tour and cruise companies had lifted their game and had begun competing for the Captain’s Choice customer. Captain’s Choice had lost their edge in the super premium travel category.

The Solution

Reposition the brand and reclaim its spot as Australia’s premier luxury travel provider. Luxury today is about discovering worlds closed off to the common traveller. Getting underneath the skin of a destination to reveal its true colours. We call it, The World of Captain’s Choice.

Record Sales

Within four weeks of launch, all three departures have sold out. In over 20 years of operation, Captain’s Choice have never experienced a reaction on this scale.

As well as selling out trip after trip, this new direction has not gone unnoticed. Captain’s Choice have been voted Best Tour Operator in Luxury Travel Magazine’s Annual Gold List Awards. This highly prestigious award, voted by the readers. Highlighting how new thinking and a new approach can take a brand further than ever before.