It’s A Winter Wonderland for Melbourne Commuters

Tristan Cotterill

JCDecaux Australia, in partnership with Tourism North East in Victoria, have launched a unique live streaming campaign activation from Mt Buller ski resort to connect Melbourne CBD commuters with the snow experience.

Tourism North East Marketing Manager, Gillian Dobson told us “This is the first time that Tourism North East has embarked on an experience the scale of this and we are incredibly excited about the live streaming activation. It’s a fantastic way to engage with Melbourne commuters, bringing the beauty and uniqueness of the Victorian alps to the city and encouraging people to visit our beautiful resorts. We are very appreciative to have secured financial support through Visit Victoria’s Regional Events and Innovation Fund which has helped us fund this unique activation, and it’s been a fantastic way of bringing the campaign to life at this critical transport hub for Melbourne. We saw some incredible – and incredibly funny – results!”

The idea for the activation was brought to JCDecaux by Cole Media, as part of an overarching campaign aiming to drive midweek visitation at Victoria’s alpine resorts. The activation featured live streaming video from a luxurious mountain lodge location at Mt Buller, with the resort’s snow reporters and other mountain personalities (including some friendly husky sled dogs) interacting live with commuters in Melbourne.

JCDecaux Head of Creative Solutions, Ashley Taylor said “This was the first time that JCDecaux has taken its live streaming capabilities out of the studio and into a live location at Mt Buller, which was really exciting. The ability to have all the live streaming functionality, in the middle of winter and from the snow, was an amazing feat for JCDecaux.”

Designed to engage, surprise and delight peak hour commuters, the activation encouraged them to come join in the fun and to ultimately travel to the snow this season.

In a first for JCDecaux, a JCDecaux Innovate digital panel located at Southern Cross Station connected with a live studio at Mt Buller, where talent showcased an array of highlights on offer at the snow this season. The live studio allowed talent to interact, in real time, with Melbourne commuters as they moved through Southern Cross Station using JCDecaux cameras, lighting, microphones, screens, speakers and Wi-Fi capabilities.

Passers-by were rewarded with tickets and vouchers for lift passes for a range of Victorian ski resorts, however, they had to work for their prizes. The Mt Buller team asked commuters to impress them with their moves, such as snowboarding, French fry/pizza and snow angels. Tickets were dispensed from the panel to the lucky winners.

There were 40 midweek lift passes available as prizes, with the Mt Buller snow team deciding who to reward. For those that missed out on the big prizes, commuters’ hands were warmed with a heater in the panel that could be started on cue. A fibreglass snowman next to the panel at Southern Cross held marshmallows so commuters and the snow team could ‘toast’ them together.

The live streaming activation was supported by a broader ‘station domination’ campaign, which is managed by Tourism North East on behalf of Victoria’s alpine resorts of Mt Hotham, Falls Creek, Mt Buller, Mt Baw Baw, Lake Mountain, Mt Stirling and Dinner Plain. Melbourne’s busiest rail station, Southern Cross sees an average of 280,000 passengers every day.


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