One of the most
exciting parts of working with the PR and marketing team at Westfield Carousel
is the exposure we get to big acts and names due to national contracts. During
my time working I got to be a part of The Voice 2013 winner, Harrison Craig coming
to Carousel to perform and do a signing for 200 screaming fans.
Of course my
involvement in this event started long before the actual day of Harrison's
performance and what an eye opener! Having previously assisted in minor roles
for similar performances in the centre I didn’t really know how much of my role
would be different this time around but it was!
While we first started
planning this event about 4 weeks out from the actual day (for anyone who has
been working with events you’ll appreciate that this is quite short notice to
start campaigning!) However, the initial planning stages in centre involved our
team liaising and communicating with a National events coordinator, who works
closely on contracts with Sony BMG and Samsung, relationships that allowed such
a fast-paced event planning phase.
It wasn’t until three
weeks out that we knew we were actually getting Harrison Craig, as this was
when the winner of The Voice was announced, prior to this it was extremely
vague as to who would be coming to perform; if anyone at all. Once we knew it
was Harrison, we had to decide which Western Australian Westfield he would
perform at- Carousel Innaloo or Whitford City. Based on other engagements throughout
the year it was decided it was fairest for Harrison to come to Carousel- the
FIRST stop on his Australian whirlwind tour!
So we knew who we were
getting and when we were getting him- now we just had to make sure that all
stakeholders that could possibly be affected or interested in Harrison’s performance
were aware and aroused. Essentially we wanted to maintain the support of those
that would be in-centre anyway whilst attracting new customers.
There are so many
people to think about and communicate with; event briefs and run sheets we
developed and distributed to Centre management staff, risk assessors, contractors
(stage & sound) retailers within the shopping centre, additional security,
Concierge team members, cleaners, media just to name a few!
This event was one of
the biggest gigs WA centre’s get so it was very exciting; adding to the
pressures and thrill was the fact that we were the first centre to get
Harrison. We didn’t have any precedent to base number expectations and general
crowd mood from.
Everything ran
smoothly however and we had a turn out bigger than expected which lead Harrison
to stay an extra hour than was initially planned, but lucky for us Harrison was
more than happy to stay around and talk to fans- he was so easy to work with
and very appreciate of everyone around him and of his fans especially. We were
thrilled that after the signing he stayed around to talk to the team and was genuinely
grateful for how smoothly things had run.
This event was one of
the most rewarding I had been a part of and although we were lucky with
Harrison and how nice he was- I do not believe in ‘luck’ as a concept in an
event plan. You have to plan for absolutely everything. It was phenomenal to
see the senior staff think of so many little details that for me didn’t seem so
important; however on the day it was evident they were.
My favourite part however
was sitting back and looking through the photos of the day with Harrison Craig
CD playing in the background.
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| "All my love, my darling...." |
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| Check the crowd! |
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| Very exciting getting a snap with the star! |
To check out more photos of the day check out the Facebook album here:
