Background History
Sydney Royal Easter Show (SRES) is an annual show held and run by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales. The show was first held in the year 1823. Queen Victoria awarded the society and its show the right to use the word “Royal” in its name (“History”, 2018).
The show is being run for around two weeks during Easter periods and comprises of the agricultural show, amusement park and showcasing of livestock and agricultural produces. The show is conceived to be an idea with the connecting city with the country as the rural industries and its products are exhibited to the entire nation (www.mrmworldwide.com.au, 2018).
The show has been one of the most successful events in the cultural landscape of Australia and lots of sponsorships have flowed for the show. Besides, lots of participants participate each year and a whopping number of visitors across the country. On average, 850,000 attendees visit the country’s most ticketed annual event (“About Us – Sydney Royal Easter Show”, 2018).
The last years show a number of competitions. Some of them are listed below:
- ALPA Young Auctioneers Competition [One day program]
- Arts and Crafts Competition [Daily program]
- Arts and Crafts Feature Display [Daily program]
- Arts Preview Evening [One day program]
- Honey Competition [Daily program]
- Wood chopping Competition [Daily program]
Information booth had been created. Lost person centre had also been established across the show. Besides, for lost property, there was helpline number 02 9704 1020 which was contactable till the end of the show. In addition, 1,800 lockers were placed in the show which was used on hire.
For customers service, mobile recharge stations were created and the major part of the show was enabled with Wi-Fi facilities. Also, there were 4 parent rooms and baby changing rooms and restrooms for disabled persons as well (“Facilities – Sydney Royal Easter Show”, 2018).
The country’s largest annual ticketed event is managed efficiently with registration desks and volunteers helping the participants for the registration. For ticket purchase or bulk registration, physically one needs to call the helpline number or send the email to [email protected] (“Ticket and Registration”, 2018). Online booking or ticket purchasing option is both available which may seem to be a bit inefficient.
The venue chosen for the show is Sydney Showground Stadium which hosted 2000 Summer Olympics. The stadium is also managed by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS). The venue is accessible for everyone as it is located almost at the heart of the city with all types of transport facilities available (“Group ticketing discounts – Sydney Royal Easter Show”, 2018). Moreover, the show authorities arrange for special transportation facilities during the days of the show for disabled persons. There are issues with parking facilities and hence, the visitors are strongly encouraged to keep the private vehicle at home and avail public transport to avoid delays (“Public Transport – Sydney Royal Easter Show”, 2018). Overall decoration is attractive and in the evening, the lighting glorifies the look and feel of the entire show.
Current year’s program will be held on 12th to 23rd April 2019 and prospectus is already being released to invite sponsorship by now. The sponsors are provided with rate chart for advertising their product and services. Besides, a stall may be taken which may help them in their business.
Event Overview
The show has some of the renowned partners across the world. These partners provide the show with an additional leverage and benefit and add brand value to the program. Some of the partners are shown herein:
Figure 1: Program Partners
(“Sponsorship Prospectus”, 2018)
The organisers want advertisement and sponsorships and invite the application for the same primarily through their websites.
In 2018, a total attendee was 922,827 with more than 70% female population of mid-age groups (“Advertising Prospectus”, 2018). The same is shown herein.
Figure 2: Participants’ Number, Age and Gender
(“Advertising Prospectus”, 2018)
The attendees mostly belong to a high-income group which may be exhibited through the figure below:
Figure 3: Participants’ Income Level
(“Infographic”, 2018)
Another interesting demographic feature is the “Empty Nesters” occupied most of the sections of customer segments with an average of 25%, as shown herein.
Figure 4: Participants’ Family Status
(“Infographic”, 2018)
The attendees were originated mostly within the country with 75% of total show population came from NSW-Metro. Overseas attendees’ were substantial and amounting to 35,678 last year.
Figure 5: Attendee Origin
(“Infographic”, 2018)
The show organises a wood hooping competition which is one of the key attractions of the show. The prize money of $230,000 provides impetus to domestic as well as international participants to come for the show. The event has five World Title Events and is regarded as “Wimbledon of Wood hooping” (“Woodchopping Competition – Sydney Royal Easter Show”, 2018). The 2018 competition had a number of sponsors like All forks Hire Pty Ltd, Forests NSW, Sydney Water Corporation etc.
Since the event has agricultural elements in its flavour and unisex (for both men and women), the visual appeal of the competition sitting in the stadium is something palatable for the audiences.
Revenue generated from the program entirely goes to RAS’s agricultural program which further strengthens the national agricultural base. Every year, RAS invests around $7 million in the program to showcase the agricultural excellence and keep the community development ongoing. It is needless to mention that such intuitive helps the community building and fosters cultural diversity.
RAS, the managing body of the show has presently 130 full-time staffs working towards the betterment of the society and especially for the show. However, there remains a vacancy for both full-time and part-time job opportunities and online application is invited from the RAS in this regard (“Current vacancies – Royal Agricultural Society of NSW”, 2018).
Such a world-class show undoubtedly brings value to the country and its administration if conducted correctly and efficiently. Managing the entire show with a large number of population and visitors across the world is a challenge g task and success of the program goes may be capitalised by the ruling party as well.
Since the program showcases agro-products and industrial products are not exhibited, there remains lesser scope for environmental impact. However, the stadium is affected to an extent which is being regularly maintained by the ground staffs.
On an overall basis, all the stakeholders get benefit from the show, either through sponsorship or through participation and even by way of attending the show or buying agro-products with superior quality.
The last year’s show of 2018 received $33 million worth of media exposure. Additionally, the media partner The Sunday telegraph performs the entire coverage of the show in their pages. There has been sufficient media coverage and press release as may be seen from the official website of the show. All the major events and actions have been covered through media and duly published for the attention of the general public.
The official show guide of the event is The Sunday Telegraph which is circulated among 400,000 people across the nation (“Infographic”, 2018).
The management confirmed that the official page of the event earned almost 25 million views which establish the fact that the program has been quite successful with a large number of visitors attention.
Also, the research reveals that in the year 2017, 116,000 people downloaded the Easter Show App which helped to generate approximately 4.4 million page impressions.
Since the major part of the show is primarily targeted for getting sponsorship, the advertisement brought by them is assured to be displayed in big HD screen of 220 sqm. In addition, there is 52 plasma screen located across the show for display and broadcasting purpose.
Conclusion & Recommendations
The discussion shows that the program has sufficient safety and safety measure. However, the venue management could have been better with better transport facilities and parking lot provision being more efficient. In addition, online ticket booking should start so that the hazard of physical booking may be avoided. Also, the environmental impact of the show should be carefully measured. The large show will affect the environment by way of excessive light, sound, wastes and left out food products. The management committee should be cautious to look after the same.
Conclusion
Based on the discussion and analysis performed in the preceding sections of the report, it may be asserted that the show has been a successful program held in Australia each year. The recommendatory points, if considered by the management of the show, will add value to the show. A well-designed event plan and its efficient execution and implementation on the program will significantly contribute towards the success of the program in the long-run.
References
About Us – Sydney Royal Easter Show. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/about-us/
Advertising Prospectus. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/globalassets/document-library/easter-show/partnership/download_2018_PDF_advertising_prospectus
Current vacancies – Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.rasnsw.com.au/careers/opportunities/current-vacancies/
Facilities – Sydney Royal Easter Show. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/facilities/
Group ticketing discounts – Sydney Royal Easter Show. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/ticket-information/group-tickets/
History. (2018). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20141006072445/https://www.rasnsw.com.au/history.htm
Infographic. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/globalassets/document-library/easter-show/sponsorship/2018-sres-infographic-v2.pdf
Public Transport – Sydney Royal Easter Show. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/getting-here/public-transport/
Sponsorship Prospectus. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/siteassets/easter-show-documents/commercial/sponsorship-prospectus-v5-2019.pdf
Ticket and Registration. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.ticketmaster.com.au/promo/pfhgl0
Woodchopping Competition – Sydney Royal Easter Show. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.eastershow.com.au/explore-plan/attractions/woodchop-competition/
www.mrmworldwide.com.au, w. (2018). Sydney Royal Easter Show. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20070227053444/https://www.eastershow.com.au/aboutshow/aboutras.html