Melbourne's Wheeler Centre is a place where writers and thinkers share their ideas in front of live audiences, to encourage discussion, debate & ideas around conversations that matter.

The problem was, only a small proportion of Melbourne’s population were talking about us.

So we created #Discuss. A real-time social media driven campaign that was part New Yorker style caption contest and part guerilla street art project.

We asked Melbourne what topics were missing in public conversation using the #discuss hashtag.

Three times a day we selected our favourite tweets, rapidly printed them as markers and placed them in contextually-relevant Melbourne locations within the hour.

We then tweeted photos of the plaques back to their surprised authors.

#Discuss ran for one week, and its execution was built around three key principles:

CELEBRATE THE OPINIONATED

Each plaque celebrated a conversation that mattered, and also acted as a piece of outdoor advertising for the Wheeler Centre.

By celebrating people’s opinions, we fed their egos. In turn, they shared their plaques with their followers, amplifying the campaign.

INCITE USING INFLUENCERS

The participation of Twitter influencers was critical to the launch of the campaign. They gave the campaign immediate recognition and awareness.

We chose a broad group, including TV stars, politicians and musicians. Importantly, none of them were compensated for their participation, getting involved simply for the chance to #discuss.

SMART PAID TARGETING

We reacted to the Twitter audience in real time, putting paid support behind tweets as they began to trend, leading to higher reach and value for dollars spent.

Through the #discuss campaign, we brought the Wheeler Centre to a wider audience of Melbournians than it had previously ever reached.

There were 5,643 #discuss tweets, with a total of 17,000 Melbourne twitter users taking part.

Engagement with these tweets was 8 x the Twitter average.

We reached 177,000 Melbourne Twitter users in total, or 67% of all Twitter users in Melbourne. Through Twitter alone, we reached 4.3% of the total population of Melbourne, quadrupling the penetration of the brand across the city.

#Discuss received coverage in a range of digital, TV and print news outlets, with a total earned media value of $2,276,040. Given the budget was $50,000, this an earned media ROI of $45 for every dollar spent.