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How do you make news for an online talent booking platform that’s new to Canada?
Everyone in the talent booking industry — whether you’re looking to hire talent or talent looking for a gig — knows the struggle: finding creatives takes hours of crawling google, dozens of dead ends and unreliable referrals, while securing opportunities is equally painful for artists. Enter Playbook Hub, a South Africa-based, brand-new online artist booking solution that Strategic Objectives was thrilled to launch to Canada in the spring of 2018.
Background
Playing at the intersection of two worlds, business and art, Playbook Hub supports artists with a first-of-its-kind platform that showcases artists’ work and connects them with potential gigs, all on a reliable, free and easy-to-use platform. Playbook Hub’s first international talent expansion was to Toronto, North America’s fourth largest city and Canada’s entertainment capitol.
The Challenge
Already a hit in South Africa, Strategic Objectives faced the challenge of launching the new concept with Canada as the entry point for North America.
Our objectives were to:
- Engage Toronto’s arts and entertainment communities
- Earn positive branded, mainstream and social media coverage
- Produce a social media presence to establish Playbook Hub’s leadership in talent booking
- Attract artists and bookers to the platform
The Solution
Top Canadian PR Firm, Strategic Objectives, conceived a fully integrated social PR strategy that leveraged mainstream and social media (including content development, community management and contesting) ambassador partnerships, an entertainment-packed launch event, social videos and digital.
- We built Instagram and Facebook pages for Playbook Hub, each launching with custom crafted countdown artwork
- Our epic industry bash introduced Toronto movers and shakers to Playbook Hub, with an evening featuring top talent hosted by eTalk’s Tyrone Edwards, live music from the Monowhales, performances from a drag queen, an LED hula hoop troupe, hot Canadian DJs, plus a live chocolate art installation, tarot readings, delicious food and drinks and an oh-so popular GIF photo booth that ensured virality
- We created and promoted a social video campaign — from concept creation, storyboard development and artist casting that cleverly communicated Playbook Hub’s services while spotlighting top local talent
- We recruited 30+ Toronto artists from a broad range of art forms to pre-register on the site, ensuring that Playbook Hub was stacked with top-tier talent to time with its launch
The Result
400K+
On-target social media users reached
2.7M+
Online Impressions
2.1M+
Views of Social Video Campaign
- Winner of IABC/Toronto OVATION Award 2019:
- Merit; Advertising and Brand Communication
- 150+ arts and entertainment industry guests
- Earned media features in Canadian Musician Magazine, TrendHunter, Globe Advisor BlogTO and Ad News
- Earned media coverage exceeding 2.8 million impressions for a Cost per Contact of $0.03 CAD, beating Canada’s MRP2 industry standard of $0.05
