Unley Gala
Promoting a much-loved community event
The Opportunity
After a four-year hiatus, the Unley Gala street party returned to King William Road on Saturday 20 January as a prelude to the final stage of 2024’s Santos Tour Down Under.
Previously known as the Unley Gourmet Gala, it’s the longest running event associated with the cycling tour. Regarded for food, wine, fashion and fun, the Unley Gala celebrates everything there is to love about Adelaide’s favourite main street precinct.
After a competitive pitch, communikate et al was engaged by the City of Unley to develop and deliver a far-reaching marketing campaign to announce the event’s return, showcase the breadth of participating businesses and entertainment program, and drive attendance to the event.
Our Approach
We started with a workshop with council’s key team members to review plans and strategic goals for this year’s event. A comprehensive campaign was planned to align with council’s goals and reach the target demographic with key messages and tactics that positioned the Unley Gala as the summer’s must-visit street party.
Our campaign took a multi-channel approach, engaging with media, partnering with social media influencers, and advertising through Unley Gala’s social media channels.
The campaign was run in two stages – announcing the event’s return in early November and then ramping up activity in the lead up to the event from early January to drive awareness and attendance.
We worked closely with SA Tourism Commission’s publicity team and collaborated on media opportunities to maximise coverage for the Unley Gala, including a photoshoot with Tour Director Stuart O’Grady on King William Road and hosting the Tourism Minister’s announcement to unveil the associated events program.
The Outcome
Our campaign helped attract approximately 20,000 attendees to the 2024 Unley Gala, injecting an estimated $1 million into the local economy.
Highlights include:
- More than 80 local and national media stories across The Advertiser, TODAY Show, 7 and 10 News Adelaide, FIVEaa, ABC Radio Adelaide and SA Life, reaching an audience of more than 2.7 million
- 250% increase in followers of Unley Gala’s Instagram page
- 180,000 impressions through Meta advertising
- 11,000 visits to Unley Gala’s social Facebook and Instagram pages
- 200,000 people reached in their social media news feeds through paid partnerships with Adelady and South Aussie with Cosi, and social media influencers
"The combination of extensive media experience, can-do attitude and respectful, attentive interpersonal communication made communikate et al a team who always sought to achieve the best outcomes for our Council and for our city’s premier public event.
On a personal level, the team was always communicative with us as clients, calm and unflustered, and always looking for different approaches. This creativity and lateral thinking reassured us they would meet expectations."
Kieran Weir
Media and Communications Officer, City of Unley
