Telling the stories behind City of Melbourne’s highest civic honour
How Hyde & Seek delivered a flagship public interest campaign for the City of Melbourne’s 2025 Melbourne Awards, driving national reach, community pride and 100% positive sentiment.
The challenge
The Melbourne Awards are one of the City of Melbourne’s flagship civic programs, recognising the people and organisations shaping the city across leadership, community, culture, innovation, and social impact.
The media challenge was unusually concentrated. Dozens of finalists across eight categories, high-profile spokespeople, and a single night of announcements all had to translate into stories journalists would want to tell.
The brief was to raise the profile of the winners while protecting the integrity of the Awards and strengthening their position as a major celebration of the people shaping Melbourne’s future.
The strategy
Hyde & Seek built an editorial-first media program that treated the Awards as a story about Melbourne and its people, rather than simply a night of winners.
Each awardee was connected to a broader story about the city, from leadership and innovation to community impact. That gave journalists a reason to care about the people behind the Awards, not just the announcement itself.
Media outreach was tiered by story. The two flagship honours were taken to major metropolitan, national, and broadcast outlets, while category winners were matched with relevant trade, community, and multicultural media.
The campaign was carefully sequenced under embargo so journalists could prepare coverage ahead of the gala while announcements remained protected.
When the Melburnian of the Year was unavailable for pre-gala television interviews, we adapted the approach and supplied broadcasters with footage from the night, helping secure television coverage without compromising the campaign.
The entire program was delivered through earned media, with no paid amplification.
The results
The campaign generated 51 unique media placements, including 23 tier-one placements, with 76.5 million total impressions across the Awards cycle.
Coverage included The Age, Herald Sun, AFR, 3AW, ABC Radio Melbourne, Channel 7 News, and Channel 9 News.
The campaign also achieved 100% positive sentiment across monitored coverage and secured direct backlinks to the Awards website, while Lord Mayor and councillor commentary featured across major stories.
- 51 unique media placements
- 23 tier-one placements
- 76.5 million total impressions
- 100% positive sentiment across monitored coverage
- Coverage across mainstream, broadcast, community, and specialist media
As seen across Australia
Engagement: Hyde & Seek Communications. Scope: campaign strategy, story development, media outreach, and coverage reporting for the 2025 Melbourne Awards.
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