Australia experienced its first ever ‘flash’ snowball fight in Melbourne’s Federation Square last week. The public stunt, involving yeti, winter-clad revellers and a whole-lotta-snow, was staged to promote the end of ‘snowy’ reception at community television station Channel 31, which launched on the digital spectrum last month.
Flash snowball fight in Federation Square
When asked ‘How much did the exercise cost?’, Jessie Oldfield, Creative Producer at Keep Left PR, was pleased to admit that the flash snowball fight was indeed a cheap stunt.
“Because channel 31 is a not-for profit organisation, we worked with a zero budget and obtained all props, space and actors either through donation or sponsorship,” explained Oldfield in an email to Anthill. “The campaign’s actual cost was $0.”
“We collected the snow from Oakleigh Ice Skating Centre. We approached them with the idea, explained that we had no budget, and that we were all helping out our community television station, Channel 31. Derrick, who works there, really helped us out and came in early to cut us fresh snow for the event. We thanked him with two slabs of beer and a big smile.”
The campaign was coordinated by Keep Left PR (founded by 2008 Anthill 30under30 winner Caroline Siler) in consultation with creative agency Freeform and involved more than 800 litres of snow.
While many of the ‘flash’ campaigns previously covered by Anthill have involved expensive and elaborate schemes, such as T-Mobile’s memorable-mob in Trafalgar Square, it’s always pleasing to know that tight budgets are still no obstacle to fresh thinking… fresh as the driven snow.
