Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, is a major driver of visitors to Sydney, Australia, during winter, and adds millions of dollars to the New South Wales economy. It is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the State Government’s tourism authority.

In 2016 Vivid Sydney ran for an extra five nights (23 in total) and included more light precincts and music and ideas events. Despite the size of the festival, a limited advertising budget existed. PR needed to encourage more visitors to see and experience Vivid Sydney for more nights.

Our overall strategy was to become a content hub for Vivid Sydney with bespoke multimedia content created in partnership with media outlets, targeted by audience passion point, using new technologies such as drone footage and 360o video to offer new perspectives. This helped to overcome issues with diminishing media resources, prevent media fatigue by offering new glimpses into the festival and behind-the-scenes stories, and create shareable content for local and international media to ensure fast, frequent coverage.

A comprehensive campaign including launch events, newspaper lift-outs, live broadcasts and interviews ensured mass media coverage from program announcement to lights off and success marketing.

Travel and tourism
Consumer marketing
Stakeholder management
Government relations
Content marketing
Media relations
Influencer relations