CITY OF PARRAMATTA
Introducing a new Parramatta to Sydney
“The guides Hardie Grant produced on our behalf are fantastic. With a clear strategy in hand, we approached Hardie Grant to do more than simply produce a brochure. We wanted a partner that could help us take our City’s visitor marketing to a whole new level. They have achieved that and more; we now have a very professional, inviting, beautiful, well-written, well-thought-out set of guides, we have extended our reach into new markets and ‘wow’-ed our existing markets. The guides are being used as a first choice to any other brochures on offer and we’ve had to revise our distribution plans to cope with demand. Hardie Grant produce great work and they are great to work with. We are delighted with what we’ve achieved together.”
Jacqueline Allen
Manager, City Marketing
City of Parramatta
HOW WE DID IT
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THINK
While Parramatta has a rich history as Australia’s second oldest city, the reality is more recent history blinds people from seeing it’s potential as a place to live, work and visit. Research had unearthed that Sydneysiders still associate Parramatta with the negative connotations of ‘the west’ and believe it is an unsafe, blue collar, suburban village. While Parramatta is primed to become the ‘second Sydney CBD’ there was still work to be done to get people – and visitors – to truly believe that Parramatta is a prestigious, intelligent and international city waiting to be discovered.
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CREATE
We began by exploring the history and culture of Parramatta to help find interesting stories to share. At the core of the execution, we knew style and tone were critical in helping to bring the personality of Parramatta to life and also challenge existing perceptions about the city. Using editorial to put a spotlight on Parramatta as a multicultural dining hot spot, rich with colonial history, we developed two compact guides: ‘Taste’ (dining) and ‘Discover’ (heritage). Supporting this was an activity map ‘Explore’ littered with many interesting and unexpected things to do.
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EVALUATE
Anecdotal feedback suggests visitors to Parramatta have found the guides very insightful, practical and helpful. And, many distribution points have run through their allocated copies much faster than anticipated – which is always a good sign! In fact, a second print run of both guides and maps had to be arranged within six months of publication to meet the demand.
