The Campaign

Melbourne’s Longest Ever Encore saw one of Australia’s biggest bands, the Pierce Brothers, play an epic 5-hour encore all over the city. And the only way they could get from venue to venue was with public transport. The band caught trains, trams and buses all over Melbourne to 10 different music venues in a single night, and the crowd continued to build as they followed them for the whole journey. Melbourne has seen music encores before, but never anything quite like this.

Creative Execution

The night started with a sold-out show. To everyone at the venue, it seemed like a normal gig. But once the Pierce Brothers got to the encore, they surprised the audience by telling them that they were doing something a bit different. They were going to perform Melbourne’s Longest Ever Encore and were using public transport to get from venue to venue until 4am. The crowd followed, and more people joined along the way. For fans overseas or at home, they could follow along on Facebook Live. The band played at 10 different music venues and the whole night was documented – all the performances were edited into original music film clips and were released on social media the following week.

Hundreds of people joined the band on the night, and thousands watched the music film clips online. Melbourne’s Longest Ever Encore got the music press buzzing, informing the wider music community how reliable 24-hour public transport is when it comes to getting to and from music venues after midnight. Now music fans all over Melbourne know they can stay at the show until the band walks off the stage.

Melbourne’s Longest Ever Encore was a live experience that captivated the Melbourne music community. It was the first time the city had seen anything like it, and it got people singing, dancing, taking photos, recording video and following along on social media. Not only did the encore entertain, it also seamlessly delivered a very simple branding message: public transport runs all night on weekends to get you to and from music venues.

Melbourne is the home of live music in Australia. Many performances go well into the night, so we needed to let music fans know that 24-hour public transport can get them to and from the venue, no matter what the time is. So, we created an activation that spoke to a niche audience (music fans) at a very specific time (when a gig has finished). Our strategy was to prove to music fans how reliable the Night Network is by inviting them along for the ride and getting them to use it.