Alice Springs consultation plan
In February 2011, Michels Warren Munday was engaged by the Northern Territory Government to consult with the community in relation to a spike in crime and antisocial behaviour over summer. Given the extent of community frustration and concern, we recommended a community action plan that let us listen to people and draw on their ideas and experiences so they owned the solutions.
To create this plan, we conducted extensive desk research then implemented a six week community consultation program that included interviews, meetings and four public workshops on the themes of business and economic development, crime and alcohol, education and early childhood development and youth services.
A research report based on this consultation was published on the Government’s ‘Safe Territory’ website (www.safeterritory.nt.gov.au), along with the community’s draft actions for discussion. A feedback forum was held in August and a committee set up chaired by Mayor Damien Ryan and Catherine Liddle to finalise the action plan and oversee its implementation.
Alice Springs Consultation Report
NT Christian Schools conference display
NT CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
(in collaboration with Boab Design and Peter Eve of Monsoon Photography)
Objective
To ensure the NT Christian Schools Association was portrayed professionally at its stand at an international conference and to use this as a recruitment opportunity by telling the stories of the Association’s eight schools across the Territory.
Detail
In May 2011, the NT Christian Schools Association approached Michels Warren Munday to help with a display for an international conference at the Darwin Convention Centre in July. The conference was expected to attract more than 1000 Christian educators from around the world and the Association had decided its in-house materials need updating.
We suggested engaging the services of Boab Design and using the display as a recruiting opportunity by showcasing the Association’s eight schools in Darwin, Palmerston, the rural area, Arnhem Land and Alice Springs.
The Association was tentative because staff were worried about the cost, losing control of work they had previously done in-house and our ability to meet the deadline, but they gave us the go-ahead.
The campaign was based on gathering stories and photos that conveyed the challenges and rewards of working in the Territory’s Christian Schools network.
The initial concept was to produce a brochure and display, however this was expanded to putting the stories on iPad, with a competition to gather feedback in return for the chance of winning an iPad.
Boab Design came up with a creative concept that was enthusiastically signed off by the Association, worked with Michels Warren Munday to gather the stories, and created a digital publishing version of the story book that was loaded onto iPads for the booth.
Results
Despite a tight budget, we were able to produce a display and materials that delighted the client, achieved the objective of showcasing the Association to both its own and prospective staff, and that created a pool of stories and materials that can be used longer-term to portray NT Christian Schools in a far more professional light.
TESTIMONIAL, Geoff Bateman, CEO
It was fantastic, we shook ourselves a bit and thought ‘this is really us’. The photos, the quotes, the iPad applications - all of that really represents us well... So from that point of view we were stunned at how it came out but we were quite satisfied about the fact that it actually told a true story about who we are and what we do.
Boab Design Managing Director Brett Jacobs and NT Christian Schools CEO Geoff Bateman looking at the NT Christian Schools iPad application in the display booth at the Educating for Tough Times conference held at the Darwin Convention Centre.
NT Police Association social media campaign
Northern Territory Police Association
(in collaboration with Simon Says TV)
Objective
Our objective was to use social media to disseminate information that backed up a strong face-to-face roadshow by the Police Association Executive before the 2011 EBA ballot. The NTPA Executive has endorsed the ballot and was encouraging police to support the offer
Detail
The Northern Territory Police Association approached Michels Warren Munday in early 2011 when it was heading into negotiations for a new consent agreement. The Association had heard about Facebook and twitter and suspected that it was a good way to disseminate information but wasn’t sure if it was right for them or how to implement a social media campaign.
Our research indicated that not many NT Police officers were twitter users but that Facebook was popular. It was important to Vince Kelly, President of the Association, that this didn’t become a public battle. He wanted to use controlled and well-planned tactics, to get a clear result. Everyone agreed that it was important to maintain and encourage two-way communication with Association experts so members could have their questions answered.
Our strategy was to develop a social media campaign. One that would help the Association get timely and accurate information out to its members while complementing traditional communication tools such as website, newsletters and other public relations activities.
Michels Warren Munday created a Facebook page for the Association, worked with Simon Says TV to produce several movie clips using a mix of real life footage of NT Police on the beat and interviews with Vince Kelly and other executive members to explain the benefits of the new agreement.
The movie clips were posted in the members’ only section of the Police Association website and embedded into the PowerPoint presentation used during information sessions. Association members were notified via SMS when new information was added.
Facebook messages were posted daily to advise members of the information session dates, times and locations and encourage them to attend. The Facebook page also told them when new content was posted to the members section of the website..jpg){kind=logo}
Result
During the campaign the Association’s Facebook page received 3,120 post views, for a membership of about 1000. The majority returned a ‘yes’ vote when the ballot closed early June 2011.
TESTIMONIAL, Vince Kelly, President NT Police Association
Michels Warren Munday was a vital part of our information strategy in our 2011 Consent Agreement Member Information sessions. Nichole and Jane’s professional assistance ensured our messages were tight and targeted. This proved vital due to the level of misinformation that can be circulated by internal and other email systems.
The strong ballot return and yes vote was a clear indicator that the approach adopted had real results.
Live export campaign
NT Cattlemen's Association
Objective
To humanise the image of the North Australian cattle industry, dispel misinformation about the live export trade, and lobby the Australian Government to resume the trade before cattle producers and their suppliers went broke.
Detail
In May 2011 the ABC Four Corners program aired an emotive program on the live export cattle trade to Indonesia, with graphic footage of animals being mistreated.
While the cattle industry has made it clear from the start that it doesn’t believe the footage was fair or representative and that no level of animal cruelty is acceptable, the program sparked emotional outrage across Australia. Within hours, activist group GetUp! and the RSPCA had activated highly successful media strategies, advertising and social media campaigns, with GetUp! claiming 35,000 Australians had signed petitions against the trade in just five hours. A limited ban on live trade sent shockwaves through an industry just starting to turn off the annual complement of cattle for export. Then, with no warning or consultation, on 7 June Minister for Agriculture Joe Ludwig announced a complete ban on live exports to Indonesia for up to six months.
The Northern Australia cattle industry is highly dependent on the live cattle export trade, having spent years developing Brahman breeds that suit the tropical climate, seasonal pastures and the needs of our Indonesian trading partners. The industry was devastated by both the content and the consequences of the Four Corners program.
Michels Warren Munday suggested bringing cattle producers together both to brainstorm solutions to the crisis but also to give frustrated pastoralists a constructive way to vent their anger and contribute to solutions. The result was a workshop in Katherine that developed a communication strategy for the industry, with recommendations being to generate human interest stories and a ‘ripple map’ that indicated how broadly the impact of the bans would spread throughout Australia and Indonesia.
Key strategies in the campaign were:
- persuading a generally conservative industry group to make better use of social media including the NTCA’s Facebook, linking up with websites and Facebook pages created by industry supporters
- attending a week of briefings conducted in Canberra and taking a typical Territory cattle family to Canberra with the NTCA executive to give the Canberra Gallery first-hand exposure to the devastating impact of the ban;
- encouraging all NTCA members and suppliers to put their emails to good use by sending their personal stories to friends and contacts to spread the word beyond the Territory’s borders – many of which were published in full by the media;
Results
This has been a devastating time for the cattle industry with trade only slowly resuming. However, we believe the Michels Warren Munday support contributed to the pressure put on the Australian Government to lift the bans and we were praised by other industry groups for the NTCA being the most proactive group in getting its story out.
Village@Parap
Michels Warren Munday provided community consultation support to Sitzler and the Northern Territory Government for the development of the Territory’s first residential mix of public and private housing. Sitzler was selected by the NT Government to work on the project. The community consultation strategy involved working with community groups and residents to obtain feedback, answer queries and provide information about the development. Project team members attended the Parap markets, door knocked nearby houses and met with key members of the community. Michels Warren Munday provided ongoing support and communication materials including fact sheets, newsletters and content for the project website.
Michels Warren Munday developed a communication and marketing strategy for the Village@Parap apartments that included branding, signage and a new website, www.villageparap.com.au.
Tiger Brennan Drive 2009 Open Public Day and 2010 Fun Run
Originally engaged by Macmahon to do a stakeholder engagement strategy for the Tiger Brennan Project, Michels Warren Munday then provided support for the Department of Construction and Infrastructure with the implementation of this strategy. We also coordinated a Public Open Day in December last year and more recently provided support for the 2010 Tiger Brennan Fun Run, with the help of NT Athletics.
(Left: Tiger Brennan Drive Fun Run set up at the finish line of the event.
Right: Michels Warren Munday staff Jenna Hoare and Sue McLean on the Tiger Brennan Drive extension.)
Indonesia AirAsia media launch of Darwin - Bali flight
AirAsia
Objective
To fill the first few AirAsia flights from Darwin – Denpasar through the generation of maximum media coverage about the low cost opportunities for Christmas travel to Bali. In that, we need to communicate the airlines’ brand values to its new Territorian market.
Detail
In November 2010 Indonesia AirAsia engaged Michels Warren Munday to organise the media launch of its new Darwin - Bali service, to start 23 December 2010.
Our team was asked to develop a theme that would create an immediate buzz that would see Territorians jump on the internet to book seats on the first flights in the days before Christmas. We also needed to clearly communicate the ‘fun, friendly and savvy’ nature of the brand and achieve widespread, positive media coverage. We had six days to bring it together and our clients were based in Jakarta and had no understanding of how Territory media worked.
We developed a launch that communicated the low-priced flights as Indonesia Air Asia’s special Christmas gift to Territorians. The special introductory fare price of $99 (inclusive of taxes) each way was revealed when NT Airport’s Ian Kew received the gift-wrapped fare signage from IAA’s marketing director and unwrapped it in front of the media and VIP guests.
The launch was held at Darwin Airport Resort which has Indonesian flavoured appointments and furniture, and the room was festooned with bright and bold IAA, Balinese and Christmas imagery, graphics and props which provided a feast of backdrops for photographers and cameramen.
Result
We achieved widespread NT and national broadcast and print media coverage, all conveying excitement at the news of a new airline operating out of the Northern Territory to Bali and beyond.
(Chief Executive Officer of NT Airports, Ian Kew (on left) is presented with a Christmas gift
for Territorians by Indonesia AirAsia's marketing director Widijastoro Nugroho.)
Support NT Caught
NT Seafood Council
Objectives
To build a campaign based on heightened consumer awareness to get Territorians and visitors to ‘buy local’ while also improving the image of the local commercial seafood industry.
Campaign
In 2009, the Northern Territory’s seafood industry was beset by bad publicity and threats from imported fillets masquerading as iconic local species such as barramundi.
Government-funded research conducted by Michels Warren Munday in 2008 for the NT Seafood Council found the Territory is renowned for its barramundi, yet many restaurants were serving imported barramundi fillets to unsuspecting patrons.
The Northern Territory introduced seafood labelling laws in November 2008 however slow compliance by restaurants and retailers and a lack of public education meant people were unaware of the new laws. In addition, the reputation of the local commercial fishing industry had taken a battering due to negative media coverage and conflict with amateur fishermen over fishing grounds.
While people have a high regard for Territory barramundi and mud crab, they weren’t making the connection between the quality produce and the fishermen producing the catch.
Michels Warren Munday was engaged to implement the key recommendation of our earlier research, namely to implement a ‘buy local’ campaign with the tagline of ‘Support NT Caught’.
Boab Design was engaged to bring the campaign to life with a campaign logo, creative execution and production of a range of materials that made strong use of Peter Eve’s photography and personal stories from commercial fishermen.
Result
The result was industry pride, consumer support and a many restaurants switching to ‘buy local’. This campaign won a Gold Target Award in the Northern Territory Public Relations state awards in 2010 and a Commended in the national awards.
Award entries
Award entries 
In 2010, Michels Warren Munday wrote two winning submissions for Total Event Services, for the Engineers Australia (NT Division) awards and the Northern Territory Research and Innovation Awards with the client winning the Minister for Business and Employment Innovation Award. The award submission involved industry research, technical writing and layout.
Tourism awards and submissions
In 2008, Michels Warren Munday prepared three Northern Territory Brolga Award entries, with the client winning all three categories entered, plus the Chairman's Choice Award. The client then went on to win two national awards at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Melbourne
Zuccoli
In 2010, Michels Warren Munday provided community consultation support to the Land Development Corporation for the Zuccoli project. We wrote a consultation strategy, conducted community interviews, ran feedback sessions that outlined the community’s story and expectations for the new suburb, then provided a report to guide masterplanning and development of residential development in Zuccoli. We have previously run concept testing for the Bellamack Gardens project and community consultation for a range of major projects, including the Tiger Brennan Drive Extension and Village@Parap redevelopment.
Northern Territory Australian Electoral Commission
Michels Warren Munday was selected by Melbourne-based company Haystac and the Australian Electoral Commission to help the NT Australian Electoral Commission with media liaison and public relations for the 2010 Federal Election, as part of a national team with a representative in each state and territory.
The campaign objective was to encourage people to enrol and provide information to the public including: how to update enrolment details, cut-off dates, postal votes, remote polling, voting for people with disabilities and first time voters. There was a good response from the media and stories were featured of people in different voting categories. Territory Manager Robert Pugsley was the NT AEC media spokesperson.
Members of the Youth Minister’s Round Table of Young Territorians supported the campaign and initiated a public conversation encouraging others to enrol, media interviews and provided enrolment information to others through social media. The campaign covered Darwin, Alice Springs and remote polling across the Territory.
East Arnhem Land tourism development plan
Tourism NT engaged Michels Warren Munday to develop a tourism plan for the East Arnhem region, to establish a framework for tourism development in the region and to provide direction to stakeholders for the next three to five years. Michels Warren Munday prepared this report in consultation with local tourism operators and stakeholders including representatives of traditional landowners of the region, regional tourism organisations and government departments. This included interviews with individual stakeholders and a workshop in Nhulunbuy.
Michels Warren Munday was later engaged to facilitate a workshop in Nhulunbuy as part of a review of the East Arnhem Indigenous Tourism Hub.
Outback Stores
Outback Stores was established in 2006 to provide food security and ensure affordable, reliable provision of healthy food to remote communities.
By mid-2008, Outback Stores was growing rapidly but had a low public profile and was starting to attract negative media coverage and misinformation from critics about its expansion plans.
Michels Warren Munday was engaged to provide a review of internal and external communications. This led to a rebranding of Outback Stores, a stakeholder briefing program, a new website, a DVD and a proactive media strategy.
More recently, Michels Warren Munday helped research and write a submission to the Housing Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs’ review of remote stores. We are now working on other communications strategies, including recruitment, information for suppliers and internal communication.
After reviewing Outback Store’s internal and external communications, we helped to develop a new style guide and website. Michels Warren Munday wrote the brief, travelled to the stores to interview staff and gathered information and photos to provide the final content, www.outbackstores.com.au.
Darwin City marketing campaign
Darwin City Council
Objective
The objective was to implement a marketing strategy for Darwin’s CBD that generated pride and increased foot traffic in the city and created a strong promotional identity and activities.
Detail
The challenge was to revitalise the city’s image and develop a positive positioning against a history of disunity, changing retail patterns
and mixed feelings about what the city had to offer.
A new brand and positioning statement was rolled out to include street banners, merchandise, a city magazine and promotions. Equally important was a communication strategy to build credibility, engage traders, and demonstrate how the marketing strategy added value to their businesses.
Research for the strategy found negativity and perceptions that the city was ‘tired and rundown’, that Darwin people didn’t walk far, and they couldn’t nominate a ‘picture postcard image’ of Darwin - but they were passionate and proud of their heritage and unique lifestyle. This led to a key campaign theme to ‘rediscover your city’ and communication challenge to ‘revitalise the pride’.
Results
In terms of formal evaluation, it was intended to have quarterly wave-tracking. In the first, 47 per cent of city residents and 25 per cent of general residents said their perceptions of the city had improved. A second tracking survey was cancelled once it was decided not to continue funding the campaign due to disagreements between the council, government and traders about where the funding should come from.
For us the best feedback was the strong loyalty we developed amongst city traders, many of whom still talk about the 15 months we operated and thanked us for ‘making a difference’.
Northern Territory Seafood Council’s “Year in Review”
The NT Seafood Council has engaged Michels Warren Munday to write its annual review for several years, which has included interviews, research and editing of supplied material. We regularly write documents such as annual reports, capability statements, submissions to Parliamentary inquiries and briefing notes.
Tiwi Islands forestry project
We worked with the Tiwi Land Council and Great Southern Limited to develop a communications strategy for the Tiwi Islands forestry project, which included a forestry story book to be used in community consultation with landowner groups.
Trial of Bradley John Murdoch
Jane Munday worked as Media Liaison Officer to the Director of Public Prosecutions then the Chief Justice for the committal hearing and trial of Bradley John Murdoch, who had been charged with the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio. Key objectives were to accommodate the large media contingent covering the trial, prevent any prejudicial publicity, and ensure a professional response by the Territory’s judicial system to the extraordinary media interest.
(Peter Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees and Falconio family members outside court after the verdict)
