APT 2002 Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia : Report

The Bug Master character gave another dimension to and was integral to promotional and profile activities both on- and off-site. Visits were organised to a child care centres and the Mater Children’s Hospital. The response to the character was overwhelming and reinforced the substantial benefits of such a ‘live’ promotional and educational ‘tool’. 4. Media Preview and publicity The Director, Doug Hall and Minister for the Arts, Matt Foley addressed the assembled group of more than 150 representatives of the Australian and international media, and guests, at the media preview on Thursday 12 September 2002. The news conference was followed by tours of the exhibition by curatorial staff. Artist Song Dong presented a performance of his Writing Diary with Water and the presence of children from The University of Queensland’s Campus Kindy ensured pictorial opportunities for the media. The high profile publicity campaign achieved extensive local, regional, national and international coverage and review that maintained momentum throughout the exhibition. Highlights of this diverse coverage were: • Consistent coverage in The Courier-Mail’s Today and news sections. • Major features and reviews in national press, including Age, The Australian (with a front page masthead pointer), The Bulletin with Newsweek, Canberra Times, Australian Financial Review Magazine and Sydney Morning Herald. • Presence in architecture, design and lifestyle magazines, including Monument, indesign, Vogue Living, Cream and Black and White. • Articles and reviews (including front pages) in national art magazines, including Artlink, Art Monthly, Broadsheet, Eyeline, Realtime and international art magazines including Art Forum, Asian Art News, Flash Art, The Art Newspaper. • International, national, local and community television and radio coverage, including TV NZ, ABC Television’s Sunday program, live crosses from Channel Nine’s Today program and Channel Ten’s weather. • ABC online’s website dedicated to the exhibition. Newspapers were cited by 24.2 percent of visitors surveyed as the motivation for their visit. 5. Advertising The advertising strategy encompassed a number of different components that enabled targeting of distinct audiences: • Opening week program • Pasifika Divas event • General exhibition awareness • Public program promotion • Kids’ APT • ‘Summer Spectacular’ • Youth program events • Visitors to Brisbane • ACAPA forums and lectures • National profile for children’s programs Advertising encompassed selected national and international art journals; metropolitan, regional and suburban press and magazines; local street publications; family publications; Channel Ten television contra; ‘Summer Spectacular’ radio on station B105 and 97.3 FM. Creative Agency and promotional sponsor Harrison Ness produced the television commercial for the exhibition, Kids’ APT and ‘Summer Spectacular’. The resulting strong, contemporary, highly visual commercial appealed to Ten’s young demographic and ensured an extensive and high profile placement campaign. The commercial was cited as the trigger for attendances by 12 percent of visitors to the exhibition and for 19 percent of visitors to ‘Summer Spectacular’. 6. Promotional Materials A comprehensive image testing exercise was undertaken to inform the selection of images to be used in exhibition promotional and advertising materials. The poster and flyer, featuring the most popular image, Kusama’s Love Forever, were distributed nationally and internationally. A total of 8.2 percent of visitors surveyed were motivated to visit by these promotional tools. The Gallery’s information brochure, Preview, was the prompt for visits by 3.1 percent of those surveyed. 7. Promotional Sponsorships The exhibition’s promotional sponsors – The Courier-Mail, Network Ten, Adshel, Harrison Ness – enabled the Gallery to maximise the metropolitan press, television and outdoor profile of the exhibition. 21