Case Studies

Sara-Marie Final Report

3 April 2002

“Easter in Perth was a great experience. The Capital Group have a professional and dedicated team, and the whole tour ran smoothly, despite my hectic appearance schedule! The events were arranged and managed really well, and seemed perfectly tailored to suit each audience. I'd feel comfortable touring again with Capital's support.”

Sara-Marie Fedele
Star of Australia"s 2001 ¨Big Brother" TV Series
3 April 2002

Overview

Sara-Marie Fedele has become an Australia-wide celebrity since she appeared on the hit TV show 'Big Brother' in 2001. A Perth girl with a down to earth charismatic appeal, she has become famous for wearing bunny ears and pyjamas, while dancing in a unique style. With her bunny ears, overwhelming popularity and local hero status, she seemed a natural choice around which The Capital Group could base several Easter events.

Sara-Marie is currently based in Sydney and represented by Harry M Miller & Co. Following initial discussions with this agent, the go-ahead was received to set up Easter events involving Sara-Marie. After sounding out interest from a number of varied Perth prospective clients, three venues were finalised, each with their own event schedule.

Most promotion was the responsibility of each venue, however all promotional material was required to be approved by Harry M Miller via The Capital Group as per agreement. All promotional material received was of a consistently high standard, and contributed significantly to the events'success. In addition, The Capital Group arranged a live phone-in interview with Sara-Marie on the Wednesday morning from Sydney, and a pre-recorded session with the New 30 evening crew on the Thursday afternoon, both on 92.9fm. A media release was also issued in the week prior to the events, and distributed to local relevant print and broadcast agencies.

Work with each client involved concept, approach, agreement, subsequent consultation, and event set-up and coordination by The Capital Group. In addition, Capital arranged all of Sara-Marie's accommodation, flights, transfers, meals and incidentals. Sara-Marie personally thanked Capital at the end of the tour for making her stay a success, and wished to express her thanks to all three venues and their staff for hosting her appearances.

Midland Gate Shopping Centre
Thursday 28 March, 6:30pm to 8:00pm

In early March, Midland Gate launched an ongoing promotional campaign to build Thursday evening retailing. Called 'Battle of the Buskers', the aim was to encourage buskers to enter a competition format each Thursday evening, with the two best performers going into the final in the last week of each month for six months. The monthly winners each receive $500 and entry to the grand final later in the year, with the winner then to perform on Telethon.

Keen to boost the first month's final, the presence of Sara-Marie offered the prospect of high profile celebrity presence. Agreement was reached whereby Sara-Marie would co-host the Battle of the Buskers March final, draw competitions and sign some autographs.

Midland Gate initiated widespread promotion, involving extensive 15sec radio spots on 96fm and Community Newspaper advertisements, along with in-store full colour posters, flyers and banners.

On the evening, a crowd built early, with many children wearing bunny ears and some wearing pyjamas. Upon arrival, an estimated 500 spectators, primarily children, younger teenagers and parents, greeted Sara-Marie. The buskers themselves seemed almost a distraction to the adoring crowd, and were paid less attention than they may have deserved.

The Capital Group had limited influence in the stage set-up, which although gave excellent exposure during onstage appearances, offered limited shelter for Sara-Marie between her forays onto the stage before and after each busker. Although kept behind a security fence, the crowd was very demanding, and kept her signing autographs constantly during the buskers performances.

Onstage, Sara-Marie co-hosted several challenges with host Bill Shepard, involving a chocolate egg eating contest and a dance competition. She also distributed chocolate eggs to the crowd and drew the winner of a major competition. Overall, Midland Gate were happy with the result, with foot traffic markedly increased compared with the same time last year and usual Thursday evenings.

Lakeside Joondalup Shopping Centre
Saturday 30 March, 11:30am to 1:00pm

Despite a keen interest, Lakeside Joondalup initially passed the opportunity of a Sara-Marie Easter appearance. However, the Easter entertainment originally booked to perform cancelled, and they were happy to be able to accept the proposal for Sara-Maries Easter Bunny Party. Where Midland Gate used celebrity presence to raise the profile of an existing event, Lakeside required Capital to manage a fully planned Easter event with Sara-Marie as the major drawcard.

Like Midland Gate, Lakeside initiated widespread promotion, involving extensive 15sec radio spots on 92.9fm and Community Newspaper advertisements, along with in-store full colour posters, flyers and banners.

The event was held on a raised stage, backed by large colourful Easter-themed props and supported by extensive giveaways and prizes. A powerful sound & PA system was designed to cope with the large open space and anticipated crowd. The event was based around a number of challenges and activities designed to encourage audience participation. All of these contained either Big Brother or Easter themes.

As with Midland Gate, audience numbers grew early, with many people reserving their space over an hour before the show commenced. At 11:30am, there were an estimated 600 people, mainly younger children and parents surrounding three sides of the stage.

The Capital Group's Mandy O"Brien, who did an exceptional job of maintaining excitiment while ensuring a smoothly flowing schedule, hosted the event. Sara-Marie seemed a little more comfortable than she was at the Midland event, which was probably a result of an extra day to relax. Sara-Marie and Mandy proved a good team on stage, a retailer competition was drawn, plenty of prizes given out and hundreds of children kept excited and happy.

Though slightly overwhelmed by the crowds, all at Lakeside deemed the event a success. An increase of 4% in foot traffic was recorded compared to the same time last year. Given the current retail climate, Lakeside Management consider this increase a satisfactory achievement, initially expecting to be equal to or slightly lower than last year.

Metro City Nightclub
Saturday 30 March, all-ages 3:00pm to 6:00pm & 18+ 9:00pm to late

Metro City was extremely thorough during negotiations for Sara-Marie. It was agreed that she would do two shows, including an all-ages show in the afternoon before an appearance during normal clubbing hours on Saturday night. Several all-ages events have been held at Metro City previously, attracting large crowds. The aim of these two shows was to promote an Easter theme over what was likely to be a busy weekend.

Like the shopping centres, Metro City heavily promoted the appearances. The events received intensive advertising on 92.9fm, along with a competition running each evening in the week prior to the appearances. The prize was a ticket to the all-ages show plus the opportunity to meet Sara-Marie backstage before dancing with her as a group on stage. In addition, many flyers were handed out, along with 1,000 free tickets.

Unfortunately, numbers at the all-ages show were disappointing, with an estimated 150 teenagers present. Almost all attendees did however dress up for the occasion, with most wearing pyjamas and bunny ears. In addition, due to the low numbers, those that attended were able to meet Sara-Marie and have an autograph signed.

The club opened Saturday evening as usual at 9pm, and by 11pm a solid crowd of revellers had gathered. The evening show was broken into several challenges between blocks of music, the idea being not to interrupt the usual club format too much. The challenges were more adult oriented, and included tequila shooters with partners, wearing and filling oversize pyjamas with balloons, kissing strangers, and applying condoms to suggestively shaped vegetables. The crowd received all challenges enthusiastically, and Sara-Marie was able to join her family for a drink by about 1:30am.

Conclusion

Prior to her departure on Sunday 31 March, Sara-Marie asked for The Capital Group to thank and congratulate the three venues on the way her appearances were handled. Having the famous Perth girl home for Easter with her bunny ears, just prior to the new seasons Big Brother hype, worked well for all her fans across the city. Easter is an especially competitive retailing period, and Sara-Marie proved an excellent drawcard for the two shopping centres.

Matching occasions and personalities is the key to successful themed events. This is a specialty for The Capital Group, and we encourage venues with ideas or suggestions for personalities and events to approach us. We can then build an idea into a successful reality.

“I know your work (with Capital) is so much more than putting these performances together. I can't thank you enough for the way the tour has worked out, and have sent a rave review of your performance to my agent Harry Miller!”

Sara-Marie to Capital Consultant Rod Killick
Metro City Nightclub
30 March 2002

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