Our strategy was built on three pillars:

1. HIGHLIGHT THE HEROES.

The heart of the campaign was a bespoke 6-part branded content series focusing on the personal stories of the local merchants.

Each 3-minute episode gave a unique window into their world and was distributed across pre-rolls, social media and across the website.

2. SHARE THE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE.

We recruited 60 influential hairdressers and encouraged them talk about the program and hand out a Locally Famous kit bag comprising of leaflets and special offers.

3. BE FOR SYDNEY.

We took over village markets for the day of launch and gave away tote bags containing a custom wrapped edition of The Sydney Morning Herald.

We also used bus shelters and chalk drawings (with messaging tailored to each area) to inspire new experiences.

To support this, we partnered with Time Out to create custom booklets as well as an integrated mobile application.

Priceless Sydney was an outstanding success.

75,400 conversations were started about the program through our hairdresser influencer program (66% above target).

1 in 4 Sydney-siders saw the stories of local heroes through our content series.

But what really mattered was the number of people participating in the program and the brand perception scores.

The campaign smashed all expectations.

Merchant offer uptake grew to 3,349 - that’s a massive 841% increase on the previous year.

Brand perception hit an all-time high, with an unprecedented 144% increase in people considering MasterCard ‘engaging’ and a further 128% increase in people describing the brand as ‘exciting’.