The NZ Herald has traditionally had a stronghold on the Auckland market, largely due to the legacy of the the publication being preferred newspaper of the city for so long. And while Stuff remains ahead of its competitor on a national level, the Herald still has a higher online readership in Auckland.
Fairfax is however starting to challenge the Herald in this space with a series of Auckland-based campaigns to draw the Super City’s denizens to its publication.
The most recent effort involved an activation at Art in the Dark, which saw event attendees queue in long lines to enter the Stuff tent to get a shot at literally creating art in the dark.
Once inside the tent, Kiwis would be given LED glowsticks and were then told to draw or write in the air. These actions were then captured using long-exposure photography, resulting in a host of creative images.
Fairfax’s creative agency Shine worked with social media photo booth specialists Smile Dealers to set up the campaign, and Fairfax marketing director Campbell Mitchell was impressed by the results.
“Over 1,400 people came through the Stuff photo tent over the 3 nights (one night was cancelled due to bad weather),” he says. “The campaign was all about adding value to the event, and providing unique branded content which was shared using visitors’ Facebook pages. We reached over 135,000 people on Facebook.”
This campaign follows on from Fairfax’s recent outdoor campaign, which saw a series of billboards featuring topical headline displayed around the city.
