Soundtracking an outback road trip

Red dirt meets rolling coverage

Nine outback towns. 1,400 kilometres of red dirt road. Some of Australia’s best-loved musicians playing under open skies for communities who rarely get a front-row seat.

QLD Music Trails: The Outback is unlike anything else on Australia’s music calendar and in 2026, QMF had Aruga ride shotgun to make sure the rest of the country tuned in.

Our brief was to reframe the Trail from a regional music event into one of the nation’s most distinctive cultural and travel experiences by reaching audiences across music, lifestyle, travel and regional media.

We built a multi-phase campaign running from October 2025 to May 2026, combining proactive media relations, talent-led storytelling and a first-of-its-kind media famil program that put journalists from QWeekend and Australian Traveller directly on the road. From coordinating interviews with Lee Kernaghan, William Barton and Tori Darke to distributing VNRs across regional broadcast networks, every element was designed to build anticipation before the Trail, amplify the moments as they happened and leave a legacy of coverage that kept the outback on the map long after the last note.

Results

628

total media clips, including syndications

8.2M+

potential audience reach

$643,000

in advertising value equivalent

100%

positive/balanced sentiment

100%

key message inclusion

Deliverables

Copywriting

Crafted two media releases, event listing copy across multiple Trail stops and a thought leadership opinion editorial on behalf of QMF CEO Daryl Raven.

Media Relations

Executed a multi-phase PR strategy across local, statewide and national media and coordinated talent interviews across radio, print, TV and online.

Public Relations

Developed and delivered a media famil program which placed journalists on the Trail to generate immersive destination storytelling and legacy coverage.

Winning Tactics

Aruga positioned the Trail as a cultural and travel experience rather than a regional music event which unlocked tourism, lifestyle and travel media opportunities.

Aruga staggered media famils across two separate itineraries which gave distinct editorial angles and resulted in rich destination storytelling.

Aruga adapted editorial angles at each Trail stop to match the interests of local media which maintained coverage momentum across nine outback communities.