Better Homes and Gardens at Summerland Farm

Better Homes and Gardens visited Aruma's Summerland Farm in Alstonville NSW to film a segment. I managed this project from beginning to end. I worked with the show's producers on briefs, photos and video, and background information to prepare the host Johanna Griggs and her film crew before they arrived. I worked with the farm to prepare Supported Employees (people with disability working at the farm) and other spokespeople with key messages, potential questions they may need to answer on camera and camera presentation advice. I travelled to the farm to meet the team on the day of filming to guide the BHG crew around the site and ensure we remained on schedule. There were big smiles all round and it all went well.

I kept in touch with producers to plan our own promotional activity to ensure it aligned with BHG's promotional timing and content. Promotion of the Farm and its Supported Employees provided an amazing opportunity to build community awareness of this magical place, across Australia.

The brand awareness and sales benefits this promotional opportunity afforded Aruma were huge. Here's a few key outcomes:
- In the 24 hours the episode aired, Summerland Farm’s unique user website traffic grew a whopping 2400 per cent (not a typo!).
• Aruma’s Facebook post about the episode attracted over 400 ‘likes’ and 63 shares. We reached 15,000 people with the post.
• Around the time the episode aired, Summerland Farm’s Facebook page saw a 290 per cent increase in followers and 315 per cent increase in page engagements. The post promoting Better Homes and Gardens saw a 98 per cent increase in engagement rate and 109 per cent increase in post impressions.
• The farm has also seen a 50 per cent increase in macadamia sales online. (based on 1 March - 30 June 2023 and same period in 2022).

Several months after the show aired, I took the initiative to nominate this media engagement project for an inaugural National Disability Services Media Award and we won! Host Johanna Griggs attended the awards ceremony on our behalf.