It’s not every day that a national treasure turns 100. But this year, 2018, sees the 100th anniversary of AMEB (The Australian Music Examinations Board) as a national organisation. The year is proving to be the perfect opportunity for AMEB to hold a year-long celebration promoting their unique and vital contribution to Australian music, and we’ve been thrilled to come along for the ride.
We worked with AMEB to reach out to their national audience and the greater music community, telling a powerful story that reflects upon their rich history and looks toward a vibrant future of music in Australia. The aim of the campaign has been to help the organisation secure their solid position of importance in the future of our nation’s music education.
Through campaign planning and marketing strategy workshops with our project partner, Fiona Killackey, and our clients at AMEB, we set the goal posts to ensure all 2018 activity was targeted and measurable. By aligning our teams’ goals, we were able to confirm the campaign objectives, budget, timeline, audiences, outputs and resources. Then, we worked through ideas on positioning, SWOT, partnerships and influencers, and delegating resources and responsibilities through a strategic plan.
With our marketing plan in hand outlining our audience touch points, message architecture, content strategy and content pillars, our campaign opportunities were clear. This strategic planning enabled a succinct campaign brief to be developed, ensuring a smooth project and laying the foundations for a successful year for the organisation.
“Social media reach has exceeded expectations with the highest monthly impressions reaching 485k and some videos receiving in excess of 25k views, while the AMEB Online Orchestra project is proving to be a significant success for increasing engagement and goodwill. AMEB received 313 performer entries totalling over 1700 musicians playing their part from all over the country.”
When it came to design, longevity was key. Maintaining variety in a year-long campaign was critical (and challenging) and we developed assets rich in layers and details in order to provide that longevity. This helped ensure that audiences would keep coming back throughout the year as the campaign rolled out.
“Our comprehensive program of brand activations, celebrations and keepsakes remind our audiences of the importance of AMEB. In addition to this, it has also proven to inspire action and involvement from a vast community across Australia.”
The Online Orchestra
A key piece in engaging AMEB’s community of music students and teachers for the year, the AMEB Online Orchestra, was an exciting idea that came up very early through our workshops. Through social media and our Centenary website, AMEB has spent 2018 bringing together a nation of individuals and ensembles to contribute to a single epic composition of Waltzing Matilda. By engaging their audience and inviting them to participate remotely in the year’s celebration, AMEB are making ambassadors of each and every participant, generating conversation and brand recognition that will resonate for years to come.
Social media
In order to provide ongoing social media activity throughout 2018, we created a series of templates for AMEB to use across their various channels. The suite of templates allowed for a range of ‘Teacher’s Tips’ to be sourced and written to engage the community of music teachers. Together with the Online Orchestra initiative, these have provided a platform for regular updates and reminders to keep the conversation going about the value of music education and AMEB.
A lasting reminder
Launched at a special event at the State Library and standing as a lasting memento for the year was a limited edition, hardbound book. Written in the years leading up to the centenary by Dr Rita Crews OAM, it serves as a rich archive of the organisation’s history and lasting legacy. We developed the design for the book, from its format, cover and page templates through to consultation on the specialty print production techniques, then handed files over to AMEB’s own typesetter, David Howell. He completed the epic task of laying out the 236 pages of archival content.
Another important memento we designed for the year—one which will be treasured by the many, many students who will graduate from a grade or diploma level course—is the Centenary certificate. For these certificates, we evolved the centenary campaign look and incorporated a reinterpretation of the original 1918 certificate as a subtle watermark.
Foiled and embossed with the centenary logo, these certificates will live on in the homes and offices of keen Australian musicians for years to come, an image that fills us with pride.
The designs shown were all created by the team at Liquorice. However, AMEB, with their state-based offices and their own significant publishing business have a team of designers, typesetters, and content producers who also needed to use the campaign brand. To ensure consistency across the year’s activities, we developed a style guide and graphic asset suite to ensure they had everything they needed to recreate the campaign brand. Be it a ‘Rockschool’ ad from Perth or an invite to an event in Dubbo, the state offices each had their own rich toolkit from which to roll it out.
With a lot to talk about in celebrating their past, present and future, this campaign has provided AMEB with a platform to engage with their existing community in meaningful and resonant ways, enriching their connection while building brand awareness and strengthening their position in the market.
"The Centenary logo, Centenary website, the Manual of Syllabuses cover, the beautiful Centenary book, various invitations, social media tiles, styleguide and myriad of small design features for day-to-day use - these have all been created with sincere and discerning consideration of who we are at the AMEB and how we wish to be viewed into the future."