White Night Melbourne

As someone who suffers from a bit of wanderlust White Night reminded me why no matter where I go, why I go there or how long I stay Melbourne is always worth coming back to.

I had no idea what to expect going to White Night. A friend and I did what is typical of she and I and researched it, grabbed a guide book and circled a bunch of stuff in an attempt to basically see it all! Its what I do though: If I'm doing something I tend to want to do it right, properly whatever you want to call it.

There was so much to see it was almost overwhelming, but everywhere you turned there was something else. Walking into a crime scene, a concert, a water/light show, a concert and for when it all got too much a complete and utter chill out involving a harp in the State Library.The light shows on the buildings of Flinders Street have left me never able to quite look at them the same way again.

As time went by and I was wondering around (and surprisingly managing to find people I knew in the crowd of thousands and thousands of people) and I couldn't help but start thinking about the marketing and publicity for something like White Night. Organic growth for any social media fan bases would be guaranteed from the first tweet. The whole atmosphere was infectious. There is already thousands and thousands of people ready for next year purely from what they saw on social media alone. Bloggers, print journos, news reporters, radio hosts, photographers and videographers alike were all over the streets of Melbourne with the news threads still coming through 24 hours later. From a publicity perspective making sure the right people reported on Ted Baillieu raving about success of the event was obviously a strategic necessity in terms of sponsors, funding and post event reporting for the organisers however that aside I think the digital realm can do more for White night than any other reporter or platform.

Speaking of the infectious atmosphere the feeling I got while wandering the CBD that I thought I knew so well was hard to describe. Walking around in constant excitement and amazement is not something you often find. It even fought off the tireds in the wee hours of the morning! What this experience did teach me that no matter what path I am currently taking working with events like this has to be apart of my future. Re-creating the atmosphere that can inspire so man, put smiles on their faces and create or re-ignite their passion or love of something (such as a band, a city or make them think "who creates these visuals, how can I do that?") is what I want to be apart of. Its infectious and therefore motivating. Who wouldn't want to go to work for that?