The Brief

Circus Festival is a three-day event for Australian marketers hosted by the Communications Council. Unlike Cannes, the speakers aren’t billionaires and ex-presidents. And unlike TED, you can only tune in with a $1,000 ticket. Agencies would attend – the opportunity was to attract marketers. CMOs had to view Circus as worthy of the elusive staff training budget, and to perceive a real business reason for attending. But how do you convince someone who knows it all to think again? We created a philosophy bigger than any speaker. Then we found a way to make CMOs believe it.

Creative Execution

Circus offers education and inspiration with longevity. We wanted our DM piece to demonstrate that same permanence. By sending a framed, signed art print of genuine value, we knew our advertising would arrive looking important and desirable. This DM piece showed its true value the moment it was mounted on the office wall. By festival time, the most creative marketers in Australia were already engaged in the provocative philosophy of Circuit Breaking, and ready to learn more. To this day, our mantras hold a permanent position in those offices. You could say next year’s advertising campaign is already in market.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We created the provocative philosophy of Circuit Breaking – a challenging manifesto CMOs could turn to for inspiration. They were words we should all live and work by. We commissioned renowned immortaliser of words, UK typographer Anthony Burrill, to turn mantras into original artworks, and delivered them to Australia’s most creative CMOs. These were DM pieces too big and precious for the bin. Once proudly on display, our ads became an everyday tool to inspire courageous work. The prints became a status symbol amongst CMOs.

Results

Our high value DM pieces were sent to a select group of CMOs, chosen for their commitment to creativity. 44% of them attended a Circus Festival event. But the CMOs were just the beginning. Our philosophy had infiltrated the ranks of their staff and advertising agencies. By the time the event was announced above the line, a significant portion of its audience already knew what to expect. After the first prints were delivered we fielded requests from other marketing departments and advertising agencies, both in Australia and abroad. Our audience was paying money to put our advertising on the wall.