Perth city councils Fremantle and Armadale have just launched new marketing campaigns in the space of the last week, and as your marketing man on the ground here in Perth, I am duty bound to discuss!
Two very different ideas for two very different Perth city councils.
Let's put them side by and side and take a look.
Active Armadale
Initially tasked with creating a new identity for Armadale's $26 million upgraded Fitness & Aquatic Centre, The Brand Agency and The City of Armadale realised that the fitness message could encompass the entire Armadale area.
The result is Active Armadale, an initiative encouraging residents to get active, with the goal of becoming the 'most active city in Australia'.
Here's some of the materials;
(from this Campaign Brief article)
This Is Fremantle
Masterminded by Perth agency Juicebox, City Of Fremantle has launched its new destination brand, titled This Is Fremantle.
Video ads are the launch weapon of choice, with a main two minute vid along with 6 fifteen second shorts. There is also a new website.
Have a watch below;
My Take
It's interesting seeing them side by side isn't it! Two Perth based agencies, two Perth city councils, exact same point in time.
Both have different target markets and different goals; this is not an exact like for like comparison. But neither would I say it's apples and oranges either.
Armadale Thinks Big
Active Armadale is colourful, fun and positive, with a simple and effective message - let's get active. The cartoon characters will be great for the kids, helping parents promote activity in the family. And with a cracking new aquatic and fitness facility worth millions, they have put their money where their mouth is.
It's probably not going to inspire lazy 30 something digital marketers with man buns to do some laps, but those guys are a lost cause anyway.
The colourful branding and effective messaging could have been it though, I feel like most government campaigns would have stopped there.
Adding the "let's become the fittest city in Australia" is my favourite aspect of this. This is real community building in my opinion.
It gives the community an identity, something to grab on to. Suddenly, you have created a niche for the City Of Armadale to be the leader in. And fitness is a pretty massive space to take the lead in as a community.
I've heard content marketing champ Joe Pulizzi discuss this idea before, and it's straight up great. Check out his old podcast This Old Marketing, it full of great stuff.
Fremantle Keeps It Super Simple
Where the Armadale campaign is focused on locals, the Fremantle campaign is a different beast, focusing on building the city's reputation and brand to attract travellers and tourists.
The tag line and videos are simple, attempting to let the sights and sounds of the city speak for itself. You can see these ads fitting well on Youtube and social media.
I think it's worth mentioning the level of complexity that Juicebox and City Of Fremantle are dealing with here; marketing all the fantastic aspects of the city of Fremantle in a single campaign is no simple task. Not to mention the plate spinning juggle fest that is working with various stakeholders involved in these kinds of campaigns.
There has been some strong opinions floating around about this campaign already, including this piece in the West Australian and the Sunrise News, as well as this piece by Junkee.
According to the City's Destination Marketing Group Chairman Linda Wayman;
“Fremantle has a reputation for its artistic, creative and laid-back nature, but we wanted to capture the sophistication and polish that now exists within our city’s high-end boutique retail, fine dining, craft beer and hospitality scene.”
I gotta be honest, so far, this campaign is looking pretty basic. I'm not getting much vibrancy and sophistication. Yet.
According to my sources, this is just the first taste of this campaign, so I'll reserve full judgement until the full campaign has rolled out.
So stay tuned and we'll see what else is in store for This Is Fremantle.
That's That
Thanks for reading folks and I'll see you next time!
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Big Marketing Love coming at you like a penguin wanting a hug,
Clay