Capturing The Historic Stawell Gift From A Perspective Like No Other
The Stawell Gift is Australia’s most prestigious professional foot-running event. With $40,000 of prize money awarded to the winner of the Men’s and Women’s Gift finals, the 3-day racing meet, held over the Easter Long Weekend annually, receives National coverage via a Channel 7 Live-Broadcast.
In years gone by, efforts have been made to take the Stawell Gift towards the world of digital. Leveraging the use of social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, the event has received greater online viewership. However, there is a desire to make it even bigger.
Client:
Victorian Athletic League & Stawell Athletic Club
Year:
2024
Location:
Stawell, Victoria
The Challenge
Through our partnership with the Victorian Athletic League, Fixon Media Group have been contracted to enhance the digital presence of pro-running in Australia.
During season 2023/24, the Stawell Gift was the 20th and final Round of racing on the Victorian Athletic League calendar.
Over the 3-day event, a total of 34 finals are held, with heats and semi finals taking the number os races well above 100.
In season 2022/23 the Stawell Gift, led by the Stawell Athletic Club, began experimenting with the use of social media video content.
However, due to the high number of finals and races, they found it difficult to balance capturing the key moments of the carnival and uploading consistent, timely and high-quality video content to social media.
Therefore, it was critical for Fixon Media Group to ensure that this balance was meet during the 2024 event.
The Solution
Prior the the Easter long weekend, a plan was crafted as to what races, finals and videos would be created from the first day of racing (Easter Saturday) to the last (Easter Monday).
It was determined that every final, from juniors, open age and master events, would be captured.
Alongside the commitment to finals, a number of highlight videos would be created for key heats, athletes and moments over the course of the weekend.
In total, 58 social media videos were to be created, of which, 33 would be posted ‘live’ over the course of the 3-days of running (11 each day).
This would ensure:
a) The Stawell Gift carnival received vast social media video coverage over the course of the event – something that had never happened previously,
b) Athletes, families and fans across Australia would be able to intimately experience the meet in a way the traditional TV-broadcast was unable to achieve, right in the palm of their hands.
The Result
Over the 3-day carnival, Fixon Media Group successfully captured the key moments, athletes and races of the Stawell Gift carnival.
11 social media videos were published to Instagram periodically throughout each day of the event, with over 20 reels available for publishing post-event for continued promotion and engagement.
Unfortunately, due to the torrential rainfall experienced in Stawell on the final day of the event, a number of finals were cancelled and a handful were unable to receive coverage due to the extreme weather conditions.
As was the case during the 2023/24 Victorian Athletic League season, content types such as ‘roaming mic’, ‘mic’d up runners’ and ‘race drone tracking’ were implemented through our coverage of the 2024 Stawell Gift.
Moving Forward
Fixon Media Group look forward to continuing our partnership with the Victorian Athletic League and Stawell Athletic Club into season 2024/25 and beyond.