Case Study: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra launches brand awareness drive
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has created a viral messaging campaign aimed at increasing brand awareness.
The Campaign used postcard company Avant Card as its primary medium to distribute free postcards in the CBD area and was supported by social media.
The Case Study:
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra achieved strong results following a viral messaging campaign designed to build brand awareness, increase both its e-news subscriber list and its following on social media sites such as facebook and twitter.
Taking note of a shift in their target audience towards new media and technologies, with on-line ticket purchasing and membership renewals increasing, MSO made a strategic effort to capture this audience in their element. The crux of the campaign was a directive to sign up online at the MSO website to receive special offers, exclusive invitations and information on events. A snail mail option was also available for users signing up at events or who were simply not ‘au fait’ with signing up online.
Although the campaign directed the audience online, the key media channel used was Avant Card Free Postcards – a print medium.
Avant Card distributed the postcard campaign to relevant venues from its 1500+ strong network, to reach professionals, students and families within the Melbourne CBD and urban hub areas. Venue types included cafes & bars, arts & culture venues, retail sites, tourism venues and universities. The medium’s readership multiplier figure of 2.5 ensured a viral messaging effect for MSO’s message. Additional postcards were distributed at concerts, events and via mail. The only supplementary media to support this campaign were alerts via MSO’s facebook and twitter pages.
Shannon Hick of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra said, “We chose Avant Card for distribution to reach our audience as it is an edgy medium to communicate via, which suited our campaign objective. We are also aware of the growing trend to direct people online via printed collateral and thought this was the best fit for us…any campaign that would keep us front of mind and educate audiences as to our increasing online presence is a positive move for us”
Avant Card is fast becoming known as ‘the print social media’ and is continuously being used to direct audiences online to websites and various social media portals.
Founder & Managing Director of Avant Card, Pat Mackle said, “Make no mistake, facebook, twitter, apps, blogs, the internet, the web, the rise of social media are all very important – however people still interact socially with each other every day. To reach people out & about away from their smart phones & computers you need to give them something visual, compact, valuable, & provide the message in a format they want. Enter Avant Card. We spread the message further & wider & drive audiences back to the point of interest. There will always be a place for print media & out of home advertising so long as it’s effective, free & easy to find. Avant Card is the leader in this field & is the perfect complement to any social media campaign.”
Creatively, the campaign was a stand-out, making a splash among both the target audience and industry peers. The creative depicts an image of Mozart taken from a painting of him at the piano. In place of the piano, in this image, Mozart sits at a computer with his facebook page displayed on the screen. The tagline reads: ‘Mozart would have done it, and so can you’, relating to signing up for MSO’s e-mews or following them via facebook or twitter.
Source: Avant Card press release
