8.2 million people visit the site of the Sydney Opera House every year, making it the most instagrammed icon in Australia. But most people stand outside, take a photo of the building on their phone and move along. This behaviour became our solution.

Introducing #comeonin.

A campaign that invites the public inside the Sydney Opera House by targeting unsuspecting people right outside that have recently posted a photo of the building to Instagram. The first real-time campaign that transforms Instagram photos into experiences.

For four weeks we monitored Instagram with a custom software application using computer vision and geo-location all running on mobile devices. When someone posted a photo of the Sydney Opera House from the outside, the mobile response team shot and shared a personalised response video in real time inviting them to #comeonin for a money-can't-buy experience.

Photos were turned into private sound checks with artists, acrobatic lessons with performers, behind the scenes tours, karaoke sing-alongs and more.

The content we were able to curate through the experiences of the inside was re-shared on Instagram directly by invitees. In turn, using our invitees as a channel to further extend the reach of our campaign from a grass-roots level. Experience by experience, picture by picture, we were able to change perceptions of the Sydney Opera House.

Over 4 weeks, more than 5 million people got to see the magic that goes on behind the scenes inside the Sydney Opera House.

With a media budget of $15k we’ve landed over 17 million impressions.

2 million social impressions (paid and organic), 1.8 million influencer impressions, 13.9 million PR impressions.

Incredibly, all this came from inviting 126 unsuspecting Instagrammers who simply posted a photo of the Sydney Opera House, to #comeonin.

It’s not easy getting more people inside the Sydney Opera House. Out of the 8.2 million people that visit the site annually only 1% goes inside, the rest take photos outside and move along. So we turned this behavior into our solution.

We were fighting an invisible force-field keeping people at selfie stick length from the Sydney Opera House. So we decided to turn this behaviour into our solution. We wanted people to come inside and experience for themselves what the Sydney Opera House had to offer.

And what better way to do it than to invite them inside with a one on one conversation via Instagram? We used the Instagram platform to challenge spectators to try something new this summer, because it’s amazing what happens when you invite someone inside your house.

We needed to get more people inside the Sydney Opera House during summer. Even though it’s the most Instagrammed icon in Australia, only 1% who upload a photo ever go inside.

Along with the perception of being too formal, expensive and high brow, there also seems to be an invisible barrier preventing people from going inside, especially in summer when most people love to be outdoors.

What we really needed was for the brand to be more accessible and welcoming to tourists and locals alike. Only then would they come inside to experience world class contemporary and classical music, creative shows, insightful tours, cool bars and incredible cuisine.