Brisbane Festival
Winning new opera fans in country music heartland
Opera Queensland
Arts
Major Events
Regional
Tourism
Regional Queensland was on song when the Festival of Outback Opera returned for an encore year
We packed our swag as Opera Queensland celebrated its 40th birthday in 2021 with its inaugural Festival of Outback Opera and most ambitious and successful regional production to date: the 31-city, eight-week season of Are You Lonesome Tonight.
Aruga generated huge media buzz by capitalising on unmissable media opportunities, creating smart visual assets and leveraging noteworthy partners and talent to get opera in front of new audiences – 18 million people to be exact.
We came a-waltzing Matilda with Opera Queensland again in 2022 to shine a spotlight on its second annual Festival of Outback Opera and provide support for its regional tour of The Sopranos.
Over two years, we flew The Weekend Australian Magazine to Queensland’s outback, put Opera Queensland on the front pages in Townsville, enticed TODAY away from Canberra’s political epicentre to Longreach’s main street and sparked a love of music and song among new audiences.
Aruga commanded attention with strategic and targeted media activity, sold the dream with stunning video and image assets, profiled the exceptional talent on stage and off and showed selected journalists first-hand the majesty of opera in the outback.
The campaign results are worth singing about!
2022 Festival of Outback Opera Results
420
media clips (588% increase YOY)
$205K
advertising value equivalent (95% increase YOY)
6.3M
audience reach (333% increase YOY)
215
national clips (2587% increase YOY)
205
local/state clips (286% increase YOY)
392
broadcast clips (684% increase YOY)
2021 Festival of Outback Opera Results
65
media clips
$102K
ASR
1.5M
in audience reach
98%
of coverage in top-tier media outlet
100%
of coverage including more than two key messages
100%
positive sentiment
Are You Lonesome Tonight Results
1137
media clips
$315K
ASR
17M
audience reach
68%
coverage in top-tier media outlets
97%
of coverage including more than two key messages
100%
positive sentiment
Deliverables
Media famils
Coordinated journalist visits for Festival of Outback Opera including The Weekend Australian Magazine (2021).
Media relations
Targeted editorial pitching to regional media and broader national storytelling for Opera Queensland.
Media partnerships
Coordinated and managed a partnership with TODAY.
Copywriting
Developed media materials for 2021 and 2022 Festival of Outback Opera, Are You Lonesome Tonight and The Sopranos regional tour.
Winning Tactics
We made the best use of Opera Queensland’s video and image assets to land coverage across major national media outlets.
Our media famil program led to high-quality, legacy storytelling that showcased the Festival and Opera Queensland’s support for regional arts.
Brokering a TODAY weather cross in Longreach on opening day in 2022 put opera and our client on the nation’s radar and drew the attention of new audiences.
