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The unique aspect of Melbourne that we are campaigning is Melbourne Gardens. We are targeting young adults ages 18-30 years old, who live in the city of Melbourne. We are focused on appealing to students and young professionals who live generally busy lifestyles. These intellectuals are explorers and are striving for success. They care about their general physical health but often overlook mental health due to their busy lifestyles. These people need to escape the hustle of Melbourne city but cannot afford the money or time to leave the area. These individuals would benefit from experiencing the gardens as it would employ mindfulness and free up space in their minds to improve on their respective careers. Our target audience need to be reminded of the benefits of immersing themselves in natural environments.
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We want to emphasise the positive benefits of using these gardens as an oasis of the body and mind. An oasis refers to a abundant piece of land among an arid desert, we have translated this into the city scape by framing the gardens as an escape from monotony. Studies have shown that suicide is the leading cause of death in young people today (ABS, 2015). We have used this as motivation to promote Melbourne’s Gardens as a place where people can practice mindfulness. As Dr. Bjarte Stubhaug has stated, non-industrial environments create basic sensations in our body and mind that causes calmness and peacefulness (Stubhaug, 2015).
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Melbourne City Gardens are located within the state of Victoria, Australia. Victoria is widely known as the Garden State of Australia, Melbourne in particular is often referred to as the Garden City. Melbourne’s inner city is home to over 300 hectares of evergreen. These gardens span the length and breadth of the city and include locations such as the Royal Botanical, Kings Domain, Fitzroy Gardens, Carlton Gardens, Flagstaff, Como Gardens, Royal Park, Treasury Gardens, Yarra Park & Edinburgh Gardens, Birrung Marr, Albert Park and Alma Park. Our client is the Victoria State Government. To promote Melbourne’s gardens we have chosen to use out-of-home advertising mediums such as transit, tramside, tram stop and an ambient.
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The transit advertisement interacts with the audience through the use of video technology. Audiences are encouraged to ‘press’ the button in order for their image to be transported into the transit. The person who is being filmed can see themselves in the transit, which features an aesthetic image of the Royal Botanical Gardens. The audience is able to feel as if they are immersed into Melbourne’s Gardens, learning that the Gardens are within the city and close by, and they are able to go and enjoy it. This is complemented with the copy ‘your oasis is near’.
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The grey figure indicates where the video of the person would be featured, and the dotted line represents the distance on the image of where the person can move. Originally, the advertisement was planned to be on a metrolite, however due to proximity to traffic, it could have been distracting to drivers. This would not have been as effective and thus was resolved by altering the concept into a transit. Other ethical considerations were privacy. We resolved this with the choice to be filmed, so the button with ‘press’ written on it was added. There is also a disclaimer above the blue button. The transit also features a ‘scanner symbol’ where people with a smartphone can scan, and the image of themselves in the gardens can be sent to them. This promotes a positive relationship with the brand, and gives potential for people to share and discuss over social media. This transit would be located at train stations on the outskirts of Melbourne’s inner city. We have considered stations like Flinders Street, Parliament and Melbourne Central to be too busy and decided to focus on larger stations with steady foot traffic such as Southern Cross and South Yarra stations. Many students and young people use trains to travel due to its affordability and practicality. Train stations are quintessential locations as people are usually passing time with distractions, feeling more compelled to interact with the advertisement. This continues to link with the target audience, which features people who enjoy discovering, the outdoors and appreciates intellectual engagement, who are looking for a brief relaxing escape from the fast-paced concrete city. 12
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Tram sides are an effective form of advertising as their messages reach public transport users and people who travel by bike, car or foot. This tram side advertisement for the ‘Oasis’ campaign is aesthetically appealing to students as it is quirky, colorful and is a contrast to the usual monotone, greyscale surroundings of the city. The concept behind the tram side advertisement is to strip back the superficial elements of the city and unveil Melbourne’s beautiful gardens. It is also to show consumers that we understand that it’s easy to get lost in the city scape and forget about the natural qualities of Melbourne. The tram side advertisement is to reveal and remind students that Melbourne has a green side. The copy “Your oasis is near…” is using the medium of the tram side to demonstrate and encourage the target audience to use the trams to visit Melbourne’s Gardens. We have chosen the tram side to communicate this message to approach students and young succeeders on the way to and from there destinations. By doing this, we hope to demonstrate that Melbourne’s trams can be used not only as a vehicle to university/work but as a means to better the mental health and overall happiness. By using this media channel, we are covering wide areas of the inner city and reminding people during the daily grind that Melbourne has beautiful and accessible gardens.
To further the effectiveness of our campaign, we have decided to rent a tram stop. The concept behind the tram-stop is to provide the target audience with a snippet of experience and to ultimately inspire them. We hope the immersive enclosure will encourage the pedestrians and public transport users to seek out the real experience. We replaced the conventional tram stop into a miniature garden model, with wooden bench, and real plants on either side. Everyone, while waiting in the tram stop, will be able to sit back and relax, feeling like they are in their own ‘oasis'. They can do what they like, like listening to music, reading books, or simply sitting down and enjoying the fresh air around them. In addition, the image in the background and pictures in metrolite sides are made up of a panoramic photograph. Standing in the tram station, passengers will have a whole view of a large garden, which will help them to have a more realistic experience. We aim for the brief experience of nature to have a positive and lasting effect on the consumer's frame of mind. The astroturf, wooden seats and images of the Royal Botanical Gardens are to aid in mental health constraints and leave the consumer with a lighter feeling. Nature has been proven to reduce stress levels and improve overall happiness (Townsend, Weerasuriya; 2010). Originally, this concept was for a bus stop, however we felt it was more effective and appropriate to use a tram stop because of the popularity of trams in Melbourne. We also had to remove an image from one side of the tram stop in order for patrons to be seen by tram drivers. We have aim for the target audience to appreciate the tram-stop and in turn visit Melbourne’s Gardens.
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Ambient advertising is an efficacious media choice as it places a greater emphasis on surprise and creativity; ambient advertisements encourage audience participation - the audience often feels as though they have “found” something and as a result, interact more positively with the advertisement. (Luxton, 2000). Appertaining to our target audience, studies have shown that ambient advertising has the greatest impact on people under the age of 30 as the creators are of a similar age (Luxton, 2000). The Melbourne Gardens ‘Oasis’ campaign encourages its target market to seek out relaxation and mindfulness in nature. The idea behind the ambient concept suggests that in the middle of a noisy, busy city, there is a quiet, peaceful oasis - the gardens. The maze visually and physically reflects these ideas - the maze being the city streets with the oasis being found in the middle, this appeals to the nature of our target audience who enjoy discovery.
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The interactive element of this advertising requires physical and mental engagement from the audience, ultimately having a lasting effect and sustaining a relationship between the target audience and the benefits of interacting with nature. In terms of exposure, the large, green maze will be installed in Federation Square - a busy area that receives high levels of foot traffic. In addition, being across from Flinders Street Station, this installation will be close to passing trams.
While the Oasis campaign does not directly or intentionally target children, the nature of the ambient aspect will be appealing to and publicly accessible by children. As a general precaution, this advertisement will include a safety declaration at the opening of the maze, urging parents to accompany their children.
