Campus: Bentley
Placement: Travel Management Group; Margaret River Wine Region Festival 2012
Placement Stats
The official start date of my placement was 20th February; however I began my own personal work experience with the organisation from Monday 6th February with two - three contact days per week depending on deadlines. At this point in time, I am well and truly immersed in my placement working on the Margaret River Wine Region Festival 2012 at Margaret River event management company; Travel Management Group.
The Margaret River Wine Region Festival is the premier event to celebrate the end of vintage and commemorate the magnificent work of the Margaret River wine region. TMG has been contracted by the Margaret River Wine Industry Association to organise the annual event on April 13-16th. There are four main events; the Vintage Festival, the Long Table Feast as well as two street fiestas in Dunsborough and Margaret River. A dozen more events will unfold at local wineries over the course of the festival.
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| 2011 Vintage Fest entrance at Palmer Wines |
Media CampaignWe are currently in the heart of the media campaign. At the start of my placement, my supervisor and I developed a week-by-week media timetable extending right up to the festival, and the weeks that follow. Each week for the past two months I have written media releases which are distributed through the MRWIA to their media contacts. To my delight, all of these media releases have been published in one of the south-west community newspapers. Unlike state publications who might prefer to put their own stamp on a story, the community newspapers have been a lot more receptive to publishing media releases without making great changes. Taking this into account, I've ensured all of the media releases follow the inverted pyramid style and are written as though I was a reporter for these newspapers. My media releases are proofed by TMG director John ‘JB’ Bradbury. JB sends the article through the MRWIA, who check they're being properly represented before then distributing it among their media contacts. As this step-ladder scenario might indicate, my part of the process is the very first rung. So at the start of each week I write my articles for the following Monday, giving enough time to filter through accordingly. See below for a couple of the articles about the festival which have also been published online.
(JB was interviewed by a journalist for the Margaret River article. This article featured in the Escape magazine in the Sunday Times on 19th Febrary. Unfortunately, the festival itself isn't mentioned until halfway through the article, but it did score the front page of the magazine!)
Over the past fortnight I have been putting together the event programme. The event programme will be published as a 16-page lift-out in the Sunday Times this Sunday, 25th March. The content I have written includes; event blurbs and feature articles, the MRWIA president welcome, and band bios. I adapted some of the content from past festival programmes, and the Sunday Times journalists contributed several articles too. Let me know your thoughts if you see it!
Channel 9 and WIN has commenced airing the festival advertisement which can be caught at midday, or after 8.30pm (not in prime time because it is an alcohol event). Hotfm will be running a series of advertisements and some editorial during the next few weeks.
Image: The cover-page for the event programme which is to be published in the Sunday Times, 25th March. Artwork by Margaret River artisan Julienne Pogue is titled 'Lunch with the girls at Cullens'. Julienne won the People’s Choice Poster Competition at the 2011 Vintage Festival
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