Breaking records at Brisbane’s best-loved fun run

The biggest crowd in a decade turns iconic Brisbane event into a runaway success

Team Aruga was back on course for a second year, putting its best foot forward to support The Sunday Mail Transurban Bridge to Brisbane 2024 – Brisbane’s biggest and best-loved community fun run.

Delivering an integrated campaign, Aruga pitched, organised and attended 17 photo shoots, engaged 10 Ambassadors from breakfast radio presenters and football stars to local Instagram legends, delivered 10 paid social campaigns, crafted hundreds of social posts and secured thousands of high-quality editorial clippings.

We also provided consistent marketing and communications support for key stakeholders and partners, identifying opportunities for inclusion in social media content and eDMs and creating PR opportunities to showcase fundraising efforts and participant storytelling.

The campaign contributed to a record-breaking impact, crossing the finish line with a sold-out event of 35,000 registrations – the largest field in a decade – and $1.1M million raised for Queensland charities and community groups.

Results (2023 - 2024)

4,828

media clips

59.1M

potential audience reach

821

organic social posts

2.12M

organic social impressions

20

paid social campaigns

3.4M

paid audience impressions

20

ambassadors and influencers engaged

118.4K

total reach from ambassador and influencer content 

Deliverables

Copywriting

Developing key messages for multiple audience segments that were crafted into media releases, media alerts and fact sheets for roll-out throughout the campaign.

Organic Social Media

Managing a highly engaged online community and keeping them connected with high-quality visual assets from previous events, integrated with fresh content and eye-catching visuals developed by our graphic designer.

Paid Social Media

Designing and executing a strategy to optimise organic social media reach and overseeing reporting.

Ambassador and Influencer Engagement

Managing outreach, contractual negotiations, content briefings, liaison and content capture to drive strong outcomes from event ambassadors and influencers.

Stakeholder Management

Liaising with sponsors, charities and partnership leads on content deliverables.

Marketing Support

Contributing to eDM content and paid media support.

Winning tactics

Aruga worked with News Corp Australia to engage some of Queensland’s most recognisable faces to promote the 2024 event. This resulted in high-quality news coverage in The Sunday Mail, The Courier-Mail and associated lift-outs and sections, and quality social media content for their and Bridge to Brisbane’s owned channels.

Aruga ensured media readiness for race day, preparing on-ground access instructions, fact sheets, key messages, precise timings and real-time results for journalists. Sourcing quirky vision and talent opportunities resulted in national coverage across three major weekend news programs (Weekend Sunrise, Weekend Today and The Sunday Project) and high-quality coverage on all national evening TV bulletins.

Aruga collaborated with photographers and videographers to prioritise posting real-time race day content across Bridge to Brisbane’s social platforms, resulting in the top five social posts of the campaign featuring content captured on race day.

Aruga leveraged key talent profiles from Bridge to Brisbane’s media partners, including Nova 106.9’s Ash, Kip and Susie O’Neill and Mitch Lewis, and 7 Queensland’s Sally Pearson and Alyssa Smith, securing coverage across various platforms, including Channel 7’s Weekender, Nova106.9 live crosses and multiple photo stories for The Sunday Mail.