Happy 7th Birthday MediaCast! Lucky number seven!
This past weekend we fell down the rabbit hole with our Alice in Wonderland themed seventh birthday celebrations. We kicked off the day with a Wonderland themed escape room, with one of our teams escaping with just 6 seconds to spare –at MediaCast, we never say die!
We then faced off in a scavenger hunt around Brisbane City, tracking down items, creating TikToks, undertaking random acts of kindness, and hunting for pink doughnuts. We ultimately put together clues which led us to our evening’s destination. The day culminated in a party thrown in the W Brisbane’s beautiful penthouse complete with our very own Madhatter!
What really struck us, as we sipped champagne and celebrated the year that’s been, was the sense of camaraderie felt by our team, which has now grown to 10 people. During the event we played a ‘get to know’ the team game, when the question, ‘what has been your highlight at MediaCast?’ arose, completely unprompted, each member of the team commented on how valued they feel at MediaCast. What a wonderfully encouraging moment that was for MediaCast’s management.
And at the end of the day, it’s our staff that have driven such amazing outcomes over the past year. Just last week, we wrapped our biggest campaign yet, with 806 items of coverage secured for Volunteering Australia’s, National Volunteer Week 2022 campaign. We experienced year-on-year growth of 25% and landed 22 new clients, including OmniPod, Memory Machine, SkinB5, Foxtel and the NRL to name a few.
Since Covid restrictions have eased, we’ve been able to get back out into the world and play a more hands on role with our clients. It’s been a treat to be onsite filming Video News Releases and orchestrating live interviews and on-location at media calls.
To keep up with this flurry of activity, we’ve made sure our back-end technology keeps in step with our client’s ever-evolving needs by upgrading our in-house studio. It’s fair to say we have really settled into our new office location at Eight Mile Plains and our office dogs, Murray and Sia, have enjoyed their weekly visits!
Over the past year, we’ve consistently secured notable coverage, for new and repeat clients alike, with frequent appearances on top tier TV programs including A Current Affair, The Project, and Sunrise. We’ve communicated our client’s messages via print and digital outlets such as the Herald Sun, Courier Mail, MamaMia, 9Honey, and The Australian. And let’s not forget our bread and butter - radio! Some great broadcast highlights have included ABC News Radio, 2GB, and 3AW.
MediaCast’s consistent display of excellence led us to take home PRIA’s Golden Target Award for best Public Affairs and Advocacy Campaign 2021, which highlighted our achievements with the Immunisation Coalition. Aligned to the fourth Melbourne lockdown, our campaign objective was to persuade the Australian Government to update and change health guidelines regarding the administering of the COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot simultaneously. We secured of 453 items of coverage with a reach of over 31.2 million, with highlights including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier-Mail, ABC Radio and ABC Online, and MSN.
While it’s always fantastic to receive recognition from our industry, to highlight MediaCast’s internal staff achievements, we developed a monthly award to recognize the staff member who scored the best piece of coverage each month. This has led to a sense of friendly competition developing amongst the team and an anxious wait in the Coverage of the Month ceremony, led by our Head of Delivery, Cavill to see who’s taken out the top spot at the end of the month.
Speaking of the team, we’ve expanded ours! We’ve taken on a Marketing and Business Development Coordinator for the first time, and we’ve introduced a steady flow of interns to the world of PR. All our new employees, with their diverse professional backgrounds, have grabbed the metaphorical PR bull by the horns and displayed great tenacity for getting the job done.
In the PR industry, and especially in broadcast, there are many ins and outs that can only be learned through experience, careful observation, and a commitment to learning. It’s been a pleasure to see our new staff have come into their own and our existing staff continuing to thrive. Into the next year, we hope to expand our reach into new industries, use our recent momentum to begin new partnerships, and grow, grow, grow.
Cheers,
Fran & George