WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this page contains images and voices of deceased persons.
LIVE AT THE BOWL
After a year of ‘unprecedented times’ that devastated the arts, summer offered an opportunity to safely socialise outdoors again.
Home to Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Arts Centre Melbourne set up socially distanced platforms and programmed a summer-long festival of musicians, comedians, DJs and family-friendly events called Live at the Bowl.
All we had to do was welcome people back.
APPROACH
With 70 live performances programmed, I developed a strategic plan combining organic and paid activity to reach audiences where they were online.
Comedians were active on Twitter, so we were too. Low ticket sale shows were pushed via paid targeting to reach the right audiences, whereas photography from high-selling shows was turned around quickly to reassure audiences that the new Bowl environment was enjoyable and safe.
This was supported by a community management plan to ensure audiences felt comfortable returning to the arts.
RESULTS
1,189 posts across the season.
11.4M reach (3.9M organic), 20.3M impressions (5M organic).
From December to the end of April, Facebook reached 3.3M compared to 1.8M in the 5 months prior, and Instagram reached 1.3M compared to the 278k prior.
Monthly profile visits on Twitter increased from 3k - 4k in the months prior to 10k+ per month while Live at the Bowl was on.
97k people returned to the Bowl across the summer.
“Thank you, thank you, Arts Centre. The Cat Empire was just such a joyous occasion and we loved loved the new set up, it works so well, no treading on people or blankets or spilling drinks plus a great view wherever you are and a space to dance. Can we keep it forever??”