Delivering a side-splitting, record-breaking Festival

Five glorious weeks of big, bountiful belly laughs

This year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival was one for the record books, producing more acts, laughs and media coverage than ever before.

The five-week-long LOL-fest saw the world’s best and brightest comedians flock to our river city in droves, from visiting headliners and national comedy icons to fan favourites and local up-and-comers.

For a fifth straight year, Brisbane Powerhouse engaged Aruga to manage publicity and media relations for Brisbane Comedy Festival, amplifying the Festival’s events and artists to south-east Queensland audiences from the first announcement to the last laugh.

With a proactive PR approach at its core, the 2023 Festival generated 914 media clips, saturating television, radio, digital media and newspapers with side-splitting content.

Aruga secured key coverage in Concrete Playground, B105’s Stav, Abby & Matt breakfast program, ABC Radio National’s AWAYE!, Channel 7’s Sunrise, InQueensland and so many more.

Results

914

Media clips

9.5M

Estimated audience reach

110

Festival shows

71K

Festival attendees

4.26M

Minutes spent laughing

Deliverables

Media Relations

Aruga worked with media on long and short-lead editorial opportunities including program announcements, talent profiles, targeted angles and managing photo and interview opportunities.

Copy

Aruga developed key campaign media materials including launch and partnership announcement media releases and event listing copy.

Stakeholder Management

Acting as representatives for Brisbane Powerhouse, Aruga established and maintained key relationships with Festival stakeholders, talent managers and artists.

Strategy

Aruga developed a strategic campaign approach, targeting a mix of national, state-wide and local media leading into and during the Festival.

Partnership

Aruga worked closely with the Brisbane Powerhouse team to announce a new partnership with Revel Brewing Co.

Winning tactics

Understanding current media appetite and ticket buying trends, Aruga focused campaign efforts to capitalise on short-lead and in-Festival opportunities.

Who said arts and sports don’t mix? Building on Aruga’s existing relationships, the team secured a Channel 7 Sunrise feature for Brisbane Comedy Festival via an existing opportunity with BEDA ahead of the NRL Magic Round.

By not just profiling the ‘what’ but also the ‘who’, Aruga uncovered some of the untold stories behind Brisbane Comedy Festival’s programmed artists, leveraging unique angles for talent profiling opportunities with media.