Pencil sharpens the Melbourne Writers Festival

At almost 23 years old, the Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an institution. But it has never been the must-do event in Melbourne’s jam-packed calendar the way other festivals – film, flowers, footy, food and fashion – have. But that’s all changing. A new CEO and a partnership with the brand design consultancy Elmwood have reinvigorated the MWF over the past couple of years. A quirky character called Pencil is writing the future for this Festival. So you might just want to pencil it in!

Background

According to Rosemary Cameron, who became the Festival Director in late 2005, the biggest issue facing the Melbourne Writers Festival was its inaccessibility to a broad audience. It was considered a “serious” writers festival. The concept of “fun” was not part of its brand. As a result casual attendees, including younger people and lay bookworms, were isolated from the Festival.

Objective

To increase accessibility and reach new audiences the Festival needed a makeover. It needed a new look, a new program (published in The Age) and a more appealing website, which currently relied on text-heavy content.

Cameron met with Elmwood and gave them her brief: “[I told them] about the misrepresentations that are common about writers festivals, that we have to fight them, that I wanted it to be entertaining, aimed at a younger audience. I wanted to somehow subvert what people traditionally thought of as a writers festival.”

Solution

2006: Meet Pencil

In 2006, the MWF introduced Melbourne to Pencil. Pencil was a character designed to stand out in crowded spaces and to make people smile.

2007: Save Pencil

Last year the campaign was extended – this one was based around the idea that the Festival appears for only 3 weeks, then disappears – so the story told of Pencil going missing, kidnapped by the evil Sharpener and Rubber.

2008: Pencil Evolution

Melbourne Writers Festival 2008 poster This year welcomes a new evolution of Pencil. “We had a lot of feedback that people really remembered the pencils; in terms of audience recognition the pencil is still a really strong image that people associate with the Festival. So we wanted to keep that and build on the ties into the original corporate standing,” says Cameron.

The MWF is changing with the times. This year they move from the Malthouse Theatre in Southbank to Federation Square in the city. Here, on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, they will be exposed to 60,000 people every day, just by virtue of the premium location.

Results

Pencil’s first outing packs some lead

The new look Festival created a stir. The Pencil image increased buy-in from key sponsors and raised interest in the Festival well before its launch date. The ongoing success of the campaign speaks for itself - by 2007 attendance was up 43% with no other media support.

Attendance up 14%
Box office sales up 44% (highest ever sales)
Book sales up 26%
Schools program up 27%
Website visits up 200%
Sponsorship up 81% from 2005 – 2007

(Statistics reported in 2007 from the 2006 Festival)

Elmwood also won a Mobius International Design Award for the 2006 poster design.

The MWF Pencil is sharpened and writing the right story for Melbourne writers and readers. “People just smile when they look at our posters – they love the pencils!”

Click here to read the full Melbourne Writers Festival case study.