The Wanaka A&P Show is a major event for the Wanaka community, attracting thousands of visitors to the town in March every year.

Scope Media has managed the Wanaka A&P Show’s public relations and social media for the past two years, helping event organisers raise the profile to ensure continuous growth.

Working with the dedicated and passionate Wanaka Show team, our communications goals included:

• Raising the profile of the Wanaka Show and the Upper Clutha A&P Society via a combination of traditionaland digital media – by increasing the number of mentions in social media and increased story pick-up, leading to increased crowd numbers at the Show.

• Positioning the Wanaka Show as a major community event of national significance worthy of national exposure – it is a contemporary version of a much-loved, long-standing Kiwi tradition that takes place in an internationally-renowned resort town.

• Building the concept of the Wanaka Show being an event of major economic importance for the Queenstown Lakes district.

• Growing the Wanaka Show’s following and engagement numbers via social media.

Our tasks included liaising with local and national media about targeted story ideas, sending regular media releases, providing copy for other community publications and websites and managing social media in the lead up to and during the two-day event.

We were delighted to learn that the 2015 Show was a record-breaker in more ways than one. Not only were entries in livestock, equestrian and trade exhibits higher than before, we also smashed the 2014 crowd numbers record. This year’s event attracted 35,000 people, up from 32,000 in 2014.

The Wanaka Show gained excellent media coverage in the lead up to, during and after the event. Local media covered it extensively several weeks before the Show, which helped generate excitement. Photos of the Show also featured prominently in the March edition of Air New Zealand’s in-flight magazine, Kia Ora.

Social media engagement and reach climbed to new heights, too. Our video of the famous Jack Russell race reached 11,140 people and was viewed 3671 times. Total post reach during the Show and immediately afterwards was more than half the total crowd numbers – getting engagement from people all over New Zealand and internationally.

We look forward to doing it all again next year for the fantastic Wanaka Show team.

If you’re in need of some help promoting your event or would like to talk to us further about our work, feel free to contact us at any stage – we’d be glad to help.