Just over a year ago, FBi Radio in Sydney launched one of the most creative media campaigns the country had seen since “Kevin 07”. And it certainly surpassed that by a long margin (where are ya now Kev!?). It was a stunt entitled “Ask Richard”, in which the listeners of FBi were asked to go out of their way to get Richard Branson’s attention, with the goal: for Mr. Virgin himself to donate money ($1 Million the goal) to help keep FBi Radio on the air. And if he did, whoever took responsibility for making it happen would win a share of the cash.
Amazingly, it worked! Well, kind of. After people jumped out of planes, bombarded Sunrise HQ on Channel 7, created raps, faux advertisements and even cupcakes with Richard Branson’s head on it, they got their man! A woman named Georgia actually SWAM to his island to tell him about the promotion, and he promptly looked into it, later calling the station from high atop his island. Coolest man alive? You better believe it.
As you would expect, he couldn’t create the impression that he just gives money away, but he was kind enough to sign up as an FBi Supporter and provide the station with free flights to the UK and LA on its Virgin Atlantic and V Australia airlines, respectively. These then became part of a membership drive giveaway that saw the station raise enough cash to stay on the air… for now.
Now here’s a question for you: Has anyone ever interviewed Georgia? The only mention I’ve ever seen of her was in Richard’s own blog. Yes, he told the world about the FBi promotion – he was mighty impressed! While this promotion was going down, a series of highly successful concerts were also taking place to raise money for the community radio station. And now, a year later, FBi had to ask themselves – well, what do we do next?
Thankfully, they haven’t tried to outdo themselves on a promotional front – you really just can’t beat that one, surely! But what they have done, is something they know how to do well, and that’s put on some killer events around Sydney. For this, they’ve created the “Sydney Sounds Like Festival” – 4 nights over July celebrating the Sydney Music Scene. The lineups are huge and tickets are on sale now! Here’s the lowdown…
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FRIDAY JULY 9 – OXFORD ART FACTORY
CUDDLE PUDDLE
KID KENOBI, KATO & ANNA LUNOE, RO SHAM BO, HOOPS, DIZZ1 (live), TONI TONI LEE (live), SIMON CALDWELL, JAMES TAYLOR & BEN MORRIS, MONKFLY, GARAGE PRESSURE, STOLEN RECORDS, ANDREW MAXAM, JAMES MCINNES, BOONIE, 16 TACOS, WEDDING RING FINGERS, GENERIC DJs
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SATURDAY JULY 10 – THE FACTORY THEATRE
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
ACTS INCLUDE: CLOUD CONTROL, THE JEZABELS, THE HOLIDAYS, LAURENZ PIKE, GEORGIA FAIR, PAPA VS PRETTY, MEGASTICK FANFARE, ZEAHORSE, BETTY AIRS, HALAL HOW ARE YOU?, WE ARE VOLCANOES, PVT DJ SET, DAPPLED DJs, SOSUEME DJs, PASH DJs, BAD WIVES, 30 IN 30 COMEDY
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FRIDAY JULY 16 – GAELIC THEATRE
STOLEN RECORDS GALA BALL
KOOLISM, THUNDAMENTALS, OZI BATLA, THE OPTIMEN (QLD), DAILY MEDS, PHATCHANCE FEAT. COPTIC SOLDIER, LOOSE CHANGE, KATALYST (DJ SET)
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SATURDAY JULY 17 – METRO THEATRE
THE FINAL FLING
THE PRESETS (DJ SET), PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY, JONATHAN BOULET, MATT VAN SCHIE, PARADES, DEEP SEA ARCADE, LOST VALENTINOS DJs, SEEKAE, PURPLE SNEAKERS DJs, PhDJ, kyü, GUINEAFOWL, CABINS, JINJA SAFARI, PLUTO JONZE, BON CHAT BON RAT
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For tickets, head to http://www.fbiradio.com/ – and keep an eye on our competitions page! We’ll be giving away some double passes over the next couple of weeks!
