Pirouette to success

  • 1 April 2021

It’s hard to believe that just 12 months ago we were all fleeing to our homes wondering if we (a) were going to avoid the world’s greatest pandemic since 1919 (b) had stocked up with enough pasta to avoid starvation and (c) and squirrelled enough toilet paper away to avoid the unthinkable.

While I remain a little misty-eyed for those mornings in the WFH office last March – the sun pouring through the window, the autumnal leaves tumbling from the Manchurian pear trees, the homemade morning tea, a bit of Neil Young on the old Technics turntable – there is no doubt that Australia (and particularly South Australia) has been an international resilience success story.

Now, while Europe, the UK and USA are facing up to a third COVID wave, Adelaide has just completed its festival season – something few of us dared to dream about even six months ago.

Of course COVID-19 is not over yet, evidenced by the current Brisbane outbreak.

But by pivoting, swivelling, pirouetting – call it what you will – a lot of businesses and organisations who moved fast to create new products and services and then embraced the latest marketing technologies – including digital content development and distribution and video – that succeeded.

South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC)

Hospitality was among the hardest hit sectors and we were particularly excited to help launch the SATC Great State Voucher campaign late last year. Working with Executive Director of Marketing Brent Hill and his team to get the hotel turnstiles rolling, we helped create a captivating city hotel accommodation offer, and have now launched a third campaign promoting regional experiences.

As Brent posted recently:

 

With COVID restrictions easing and in response to South Australia’s falling wine sales to the China market, we also worked with SATC to deliver the ‘Adelaide Street Stomp’ last Friday, 26 March. As the launch event for the 2021 Year of South Australian Wine, this activation engaged South Australian opinion influencers who will in turn, encourage the public to get out and visit our state’s award-winning wine regions.

WOMADelaide

Our team also helped WOMADelaide pull-off an outstandingly successful event, with almost 19,000 people attending the four sunset concerts in Ityamai-itpina (King Rodney Park).

We proudly offered our content production and social, video, native, display and search advertising services, focusing our marketing efforts on digital, as well as differentiating each night’s line-up to specific audiences – from Tash Sultana to Oils fans.

Our results reflected the growth we’ve been seeing across many digital clients in the post-pandemic, on-screen world. Digital ad engagement increased significantly compared to previous years, along with the website click-through and e-commerce conversion rates.

UniSA

COVID also accelerated the shift to online in the tertiary education market. Our client, UniSA Online, saw an opportunity to strengthen its position in the market and further promote its flexible, high-quality online study experience.

Ellen Martin, UniSA’s Online Marketing Manager said:

Amy Tran, UniSA’s Content Communications Coordinator added:

“How you learn online can make or break your study experience – but for many, the way online study works is not widely understood. We saw a unique opportunity in the market to demystify what it means to learn 100% online and to shine a spotlight on the things that make UniSA Online the best in business – our exceptional study experience, purpose-built learning platform, and dedicated student support.

“Through a suite of short and punchy animated videos, we set out to highlight the vast array of media-rich course content, interactive learning activities, as well as our online academics who are at the very heart of our students’ success.”

Department for Education

During the height of COVID-19, the South Australian Government Department for Education – faced with the challenge of educating students remotely – needed to quickly equip parents and caregivers with tools to support their child’s education from home.

Fuller’s content and video production teams worked with the Department to develop a suite of three educational videos for parents – ‘How to set up home schooling workspace’, ‘How to talk to children about the transition’ and ‘Reading with your child at home’ – to provide this information in an engaging, and informative manner.

Carers SA

As the pandemic hit last March, another Fuller client, Carers SA, was about to embark on a statewide roadshow. This series of workshops had been planned to educate communities on Federal Government changes to the way the State’s 250,000 unpaid carers are supported.

Overnight, those plans were thrown into disarray. But with quick thinking and savvy advice we were able to help Carers SA transition the face-to-face workshops into a digital environment.

Creating a series of animations and engaging content to replace the workshop presentations and using digital marketing to connect them with the unpaid carer community, Carers SA were able to salvage an activity that was vitally important to so many.

Regardless of type, size or industry, COVID has – and continues – to impact the incomes of many organisations and the livelihoods of its employees.

But it has also been an inspirational time, observing how managers and staff dedicate themselves not just to survival, but dare to imagine the promise of growth.

If you’d like to discuss how Fuller Brand Communication could help your business leverage the latest marketing technologies, contact our Business Development Manager, Paul (PK) Kitching today.