How True North promoted Uluru tourism while safeguarding the sacred site
Earlier this year, the strategic communication agency won Best Investor or Community Relations Campaign at Mumbrella’s CommsCon Awards for drawing up a set of media guidelines for the historic park. Here, managing director Elena Madden explains why finding a balance between stakeholders was vital to find a compromise to suit everyone.
The iconic landscape of Uluru is one of Australia’s most popular attractions – but it’s also, conversely, regarded by its traditional owners as sacred. It was these competing forces that posed a dilemma to True North when it was appointed to draw up a set of media guidelines for the area.
“It was about finding a compromise,” explains the agency’s managing director, Elena Madden. On the one hand, Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park is so spiritual some say it almost shouldn’t be represented at all. But on the other, sharing images is necessary to promote the park and maintain visitor numbers. “The key problem at the heart of it all was to try and find a balance that met the needs of all the different stakeholders involved, but also was acceptable to the traditional owners.”
The end goal was to allow photographers, filmmakers, media and the tourism industry to use images for commercial purposes, all while maintaining the Anangu traditional owners’ influence over their land. It took the Northern Territory-based agency more than two years to settle on a solution – a testament to the power of persistence.
To fully understand the full complexity of the task at hand, the agency spent a long time in what they call their discovery phase, physically being at the park and spending time with its aboriginal owners and other groups. “Spending all of that time up-front helped us to understand the values of these stakeholders, and what was important at the heart of the issue,” explains Madden.
The extra time invested in the discovery phase allowed the team to comprehend the complexities that surround a place such as Uluru, as well as the traditional laws that govern it. For example, images of Uluru can be found on commercial items ranging from tea towels, to 3D models, but according to traditional law, specific areas of the formation are off limits to visual representation.
The agency was also tasked with navigating laws on a state, federal, traditional and international level. “From a cultural perspective, we were not open to negotiating on sacred sites,” says Madden. “We set that expectation right from the start.”
While digital was a component of the campaign, face-to-face meetings were the most effective communication strategy. “Ultimately the best thing for us to do was to bring people together to hear each other’s perspectives. We tried all different things, but that took us back to basics as the best way to create shared communication between the different groups.”
The result is a benchmark for similar parks around the world. “It’s like nothing that has been done before,” concludes Madden.