MARKETING STRATEGY & INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN | TAHI FESTIVAL 2027
Reaching new audiences and putting solo performance in the spotlight.
Image credit: TAHI Festival of Solo Performance
THE BRIEF
TAHI New Zealand Festival of Solo Performance celebrates the power of one performer to tell an extraordinary story. Based in Pōneke Wellington, the festival brings together artists and audiences through a diverse programme of theatre, comedy, music and other solo performances from Aotearoa and beyond.
For the 2026 festival, the challenge was to grow awareness and audiences while promoting a varied programme of productions, each with its own story, appeal and target audience. With a modest marketing budget, TAHI needed a coordinated campaign that would build excitement, encourage ticket sales across the full programme and extend its profile beyond Wellington.
MY APPROACH
I developed and delivered an integrated marketing campaign that combined strategic planning, publicity, digital advertising, social media, email marketing and out-of-home promotion. The strategy was built around making the festival accessible and appealing to different audiences, while giving individual productions room to shine.
Rather than relying solely on broad festival promotion, I used show-specific storytelling, artist interviews, behind-the-scenes content, reviews and audience recommendations to help people discover performances that interested them.
Paid social media was carefully targeted and delivered in stages, building awareness before shifting towards individual shows, ticket offers and timely reminders as the festival approached.
PR was another major focus. I worked to secure interviews, reviews and editorial coverage across radio, arts publications and other media, helping to raise the profile of both the festival and its artists.
Throughout the campaign, I monitored performance and adjusted activity to make the most of the available budget.
THE IMPACT
The 2026 campaign significantly expanded TAHI's reach, with website users increasing by more than 100% year-on-year, helping introduce the festival and its artists to a much wider audience.
Digital engagement was strong, with Instagram generating more than 250,000 views and 6,700 content interactions. Targeted advertising also performed efficiently, driving traffic to the festival website at a low cost.
Publicity was another highlight, securing 11 radio interviews, more than 20 articles and features, and 18 performance reviews across local and national media.
While ticket sales varied across the programme, several productions achieved over 80% capacity. The campaign also provided valuable insights to help TAHI strengthen audience engagement and ticket conversion in future years.
