2023 MarCom Awards – City of Newcastle Social Media Campaign
Awaken Media was tasked with rebranding Newcastle, the second-largest city in New South Wales, from an industrial, blue-collar town to a vibrant, offbeat holiday destination. The media strategy aimed to support Visit Newcastle’s ‘Seek Off Beat’ platform and encourage visitors to explore the eclectic side of the city. The campaign targeted families and young couples aged 25-44, residing within a 4-hour driving distance, intending to increase unique users to the Visit Newcastle website by 150% compared to non-campaign periods.
The communication objectives were twofold: awareness and consideration. ‘Awareness’ was aimed at introducing Newcastle as an appealing destination, sparking interest in the target audience. ‘Consideration’ was about driving actions—prompting the target demographic to visit the website and engage with its content for more than 30 seconds.
The media mix included outdoor advertising on buses, digital radio ads across the ARN network, video ads on YouTube, and partnerships with lifestyle publications such as Pedestrian TV and Broadsheet.
Media was run across Meta and Taboola to direct viewers to specific content articles on Visit Newcastle’s blog. The campaign’s success was measured through an increase in website traffic and changing the public’s perception of Newcastle.
The results were impressive, with website traffic during the campaign period increasing by 162%, exceeding the target. Additionally, the City of Newcastle won the 2023 Top Tourism Town award in New South Wales, evidencing the success of the media strategy in rebranding the city and boosting tourism.
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