Viva Bendigo Branding

What was your mission or the challenge of the campaign?

To create a destination campaign that complimented the Australian exclusive Elvis: Direct from Graceland exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. We wanted to have a standalone brand that represented what was happening outside of the gallery to encourage visitors to stay longer, explore things outside of the gallery, and spend more money in the region. We had specific restrictions on what the brand could and couldn’t contain as directed by Graceland and Bendigo Art Gallery. Words we had to avoid, colours, and overall look and feel. The brand needed to be very different to the brand of the exhibition and be flexible to be used by our teams within the City of Greater Bendigo and for our tourism industry.

What was the Outcome or the solution for the campaign?

We knew we wanted to brand to be called “VIVA Bendigo” as we felt this incorporated the destination point of different we were after, and had a strong fun, vibrant, bright feel to it. We also wanted consumers to think about staying overnight, so we wanted to the brand to have a night time feel to it. We had brands concepts pitched to us from a range of local graphic designers, and Modart Design’s brand was the stand out. We felt it ticked a lot of boxes for our marketing objectives, these were:

  • It was very Bendigo specific with iconic buildings, which was important when branding Bendigo across Australia.

  • The retro colours and Vegas inspired logo gave it a very Vegas/night time feel from Elvis’ era. We felt people would associate this with the Elvis: Direct from Graceland exhibition.

  • It had flexible use and we could envision it on a lot of merchandise for retail purposes at the Bendigo Visitor Centre and out tourism industry.

  • We could also envision the brand on a lot of activations we were planning (VIVA Tram, VIVA letters, Jungle Room at the Conservatory Gardens)

  • It captivated driving up Pall Mall, where we knew our VIVA Bendigo sign would be – signalling the heart of Bendigo.

What were the results or Impacts the campaign had?

The campaign was extremely successful.  The brand allowed us to create a program with our industry and COGB stakeholders that included over 60 experiences and events.

  • We had almost 90,000 visits to our VIVA Bendigo program

  • Countless selfie spots at the VIVA Bendigo letters

  • Sold out Shake Rattle and Roll tram ticket sales

  • Record breaking revenue on Bendigo merchandise and accommodation packages at the VIC.

  • Nationwide media attention worth millions of dollars

  • 3,032,038 reach on VIVA Bendigo Facebook content

  • 112,265 engagements on VIVA Bendigo Facebook content

How was Bendigo Tourism Experience Working with us?

We found working with Steve extremely easy. Having worked with Modart Design before, Steve really understands the nature of the Tourism Industry and has a lot of patience when things can be thrown at him last minute, and from many different angles. Steve had a great communication with our team, always letting us know what work he was prioritising and setting realistic deadlines around artwork. His quality of work was always top notch, providing out of the box thinking which is important with destination marketing to get people’s attention.  He was always available to chat, discuss ideas, help us evolve visions that we had, and support concepts that we found would add value to the brand and visitor experience.

What websites were advertised on and which print publications were advertising with?

Websites:
- Broadsheet Melbourne
- V/Line
- Bendigo Art Gallery
- The New Daily
- Visit Victoria
- Google campaign (YouTube, Display)

Print Publications:
- Bendigo Easter Brochure
- GB Magazine
- Out and About magazine

Brand signage
- Viva Bendigo sign
- Bendigo Train Station
- Bendigo Airport
- Bendigo Tram (Shake, Rattle and Roll)
- Posters in business windows
- Conservatory (Jungle Room)
- Bendigo Visitor Centre entrance and merchandise

The brand was featured in many Editorial opportunities through experiences showcased that had Viva Bendigo brand

Were there any awards or press for the campaign?

2021/2022 Victorian Tourism Awards (Destination Marketing Campaign Category)

2021/2022 Australian Tourism Awards (Destination Marketing Campaign Category)