Running across Adelaide and regions every November, Feast is Australia's third largest LGBT arts and cultural festival, celebrating gender and sexual diversity.
Through my publicity campaign the 2014 Feast Festival and accompanying Feast Film Festival received unprecedented coverage for the event across both LGBT and mainstream media, with greatly inreased visibility across all demographics.
With Olympian and cabaret star Matthew Mitcham as the festival's official ambassador and artists on the line-up including Buck Angel, Carlotta, Bob Downe and Hannah Gadsby, I ran a comprehensive cross media campaign to reach audiences outside Feast's regular community base. As a result Feast received increased media coverage and was featured in "mainstream" outlets that had never promoted it before, such as radio stations Mix 102.3 and FiveAA, an unprecedented publicity coup for the festival.
Other media coverage highlights included two covers of Blaze magazine, a spectacular "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" themed cover photo shoot for The City, cover stories for the Portside and Eastern Courier Messengers, major articles in The Advertiser, Sunday Mail, InDaily, SA Life, SA Weekend and gay media including LOTL, Star Observer, DNA, Fuse, SameSame.com.au and Gay News Network, as well as feature interviews on ABC 891, FiveAA and Radio Adelaide, TV news coverage on Channels Nine, Seven, Ten and ABC and a special live cross to opening night on Channel Ten's hit national show "The Project".
I also managed Feast's social media channels during the festival including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and launched official Vine and Soundcloud channels where I devised, shot and published a series of quirky viral videos. Featuring the biggest stars of the festival cracking jokes, singing songs or telling stories, these "Quick Bite" videos were a fun and highly shareable way of engaging Feast's fans on social media. Over the course of my campaign Feast's Facebook audience grew by almost 40 per cent, and its Twitter and Instagram followings both more than doubled.
Watch transgender icon BUCK ANGEL meet his bronze sculpture at the Art Gallery of South Australia for the first time in the first of our new mini video series, Feast Fest QUICK BITES! We'll be doing more of these throughout the festival, so let us know what you think!
Posted by Feast Festival on Thursday, November 20, 2014
Knock knock.Who's there?It's Matthew Mitcham - Olympian telling his favourite joke!Don't miss Matthew's final Feast shows this Friday and Saturday, November 28 & 29, SELLING FAST! Bookings: http://tinyurl.com/kx9h86e
Posted by Feast Festival on Tuesday, November 25, 2014
If you were going to try and pick up Matthew Mitcham - Olympian in a bar, would you use a line as corny as this one? No wonder it bombed (pardon the pun!). Catch Matthew's final performances of "Twists and Turns" at Nexus Theatre TONIGHT and tomorrow, November 28 & 29: http://tinyurl.com/kx9h86e
Posted by Feast Festival on Thursday, November 27, 2014
South African drag diva sensation Odidiva is famous for her elaborate and eye-catching costumes - but in this EXCLUSIVE Quick Bite video she opens up her wardrobe and shows us her favourite one! Don't miss Odidiva in BUSHWAACKING, November 25 to 28, Queer Nexus Theatre, $35/$30: http://tinyurl.com/l2xxnzq
Posted by Feast Festival on Monday, November 24, 2014
"Petra is the ‘golden goose’ who lays golden eggs each and every time! She is charming, super talented and witty, she has enormous experience, skill, is IT savvy and an excellent writer and proof reader. She has an extensive network of industry peers in journalism, entertainment and the arts and is a passionate advocate for the arts. Feast Festival’s 2014 editorial, media coverage and visibility far exceeded our expectations under Petra’s expert hand. It was a pleasure to work with her, I can’t recommend her highly enough."
- Catherine Fitzgerald, 2014 Feast Festival Artistic Director