Marketing Lessons from the City of Perth Christmas Event

Posted by Sarah Mitchell on 14 November 2010 | 10 Comments

Tags: content marketing, marketing, Twitter

Last Friday evening, the City of Perth kicked off the Christmas season with their annual Turning on the Lights event. Promising, This magical show will feature a variety of entertainment and the grand arrival of Santa into the City, the event missed its mark "“ by a lot. While I suffered through the evening, I couldn't help but consider the marketing lessons to be learned.

Know Your Audience
The cardinal rule in content marketing is to know what your audience needs and give it to them. The City of Perth failed miserably at this task.

• The content didn't appeal to the target audience. I'm a baby boomer and, even for me, a zany/ditzy news reporter getting a live "wire" feed was dated. Kids don't even know what a wire is. They certainly didn't understand what the electronic beep-beep-beep signal meant every time "breaking news" occurred. It probably would have worked better for an aged care audience.
• Suffice it to say it's never appropriate to use profanity in a kid's show, even mild profanity. I certainly didn't appreciate the "Where the HELL is Santa" line. I'm waiting for my 6-year-old to use that next time he wants to create an impression.
• It's also incredibly bad judgement to describe Santa as a "mythical creature". To the target audience, 3 to 8-year-old children, he is a real person. It isn't the City of Perth's job to dispel that belief.

Keep your content relevant
Everyone in attendance expected a traditional Christmas show culminating in Santa turning on the lights of the city. It's the official start of the Christmas season in Perth and the first time the lights are turned on.

• The content did not stay on topic. The Easter Bunny and Bob the Builder were completely unnecessary elements to the show. It's a great example of where "more is better" isn't.
• The music was wrong. Little kids don't know Favourite Things from the Sound of Music. They would have loved a sing-a-long; Jingle Bells would have been a better choice. The audience was chastised for not participating but how could they when they didn't know the song?
• A cover version of Aretha Franklin's Respect by Mrs. Santa Claus equally confused the audience.

Make your point and keep it concise
The event was too long. Given that it was aimed at young kids and started after 7:30, it shouldn't have gone more than 30 minutes. The event lasted for 50 minutes which was excruciating for everyone. Unfortunately, none of us could skip to the end. It would have been nice to miss the daytime TV personality who plugged her network very late in the program, much to the confusion of the kids.

Know Your Secondary Audience
I suspect the City of Perth was trying to appeal to the parents as much as the children at this event. Big mistake. Christmas lights and Santa are definitely kid's territory. If you want to keep parents happy and entertained, focus on the kids and get them out of there before the meltdowns begin. None of us came to the event for any other reason except to treat our tykes to a Christmas spectacle.

A Clear Call to Action Works
There were a lot of complaints about pandering to the sponsors. As a marketer, that didn't bother me too much. David Jones, the main sponsor, littered our seats with marketing material in the form of brochures and flyers. The kids all had paper visors and carrying bags shaped like stockings with the department store branding plastered all over it. I lost count of the number of times David Jones was mentioned from the stage. When the show was over, my little boy insisted we go to David Jones. He wasn't even interested in seeing Santa but definitely wanted to go see what the buzz was about. I had not planned to go shopping after the show but ended up spending just under $100 in the store "“ none of it in the children's or toy department.

Social Media Works
After voicing some of my complaints on Twitter and trading opinions with other people at the same event, an employee from the City of Perth asked me to email my comments to her so it could be used as feedback for next year. I did that, gladly. As I write this post, at least one other blogger is waiting for me to finish so it can be referenced elsewhere. It's just another example of how Twitter can help advocate change.

We dragged ourselves home from the Turning on the Lights event exhausted and disappointed. My little boy didn't view the event with a critical eye. That's the benefit of being six. I'm waiting to address the, "Is Santa real?" question and will silently curse The City of Perth if it happens this year. I'm also waiting for him to ask me, "Where the HELL have you been?" the next time I show up late for the school pick-up. He's anticipating Christmas and another trip back to David Jones when I'm in a better mood.

What's your take on the City of Perth's marketing approach?

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