Almost 1,000 participants walked, ran, climbed or crawled(!) up the 1,958 stairs to the top of the Eureka Tower exceeding 1.2 million steps.

The event raised over $120,000 in donations for disadvantaged young people at home and abroad for the charity partners – Whitelion & Interplast Australia and New Zealand – with the motto ‘climbing higher to re-build young lives’.

Participants were able to register as an individual climber (timed), walker (un-timed), or enter a team of four. There was a nominal registration fee with a minimum fundraising target of $55 per participant.

The fastest time recorded was Stuart Gibson who climbed the steps in a record of 8 minutes and 56 seconds, eclipsing his best time from last year by almost a minute. The fastest female was Judith Arndt from Germany who achieved the feat in 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

The focal point of the entertainment and festivities was Eureka Tower. The adjacent road was closed to traffic allowing for a main stage area with live music and vision from the top floor, food and drink vendors, café style seating, market stalls, emergency service vehicle displays and roving entertainment.

A highlight was the celebrity challenge, hosted by Olympic Swimming Champion Michael Klim, which featured several Olympians, AFL players and media personalities.

Despite the inclement weather (Melbourne had a month’s worth of rain in twelve hours) event organisers received many positive responses in the post-event survey with over 90 per cent of people indicating that they would participate in Eureka Climb next year.

Marketing the climb

Essentially a new event, King Performance developed a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy for Eureka Climb ‘09 which included:

• Poster and flyer distribution
• Direct marketing to charity partner databases
• Interactive website
• Print advertising in health and fitness based publications
• Direct marketing to the local Southbank Precinct including residents and businesses.

The organisers negotiated a partnership with radio station 3AW which helped to raise the profile of the new event.

PR was also a key marketing tool with press articles published in the Herald-Sun, Melbourne Leader and The Age; radio interviews with 3AW and SEN; and post-event TV coverage on all the commercial networks. Channel Seven’s Sunday morning program ‘Sunrise’ also conducted six live crosses to the event.

An estimated advertising value of over $300,000 was achieved for the PR strategy which was instrumental in raising awareness of Eureka Climb.

Key commercial partners were then sought, which initially proved difficult due to the economic climate during the start of 2009. However, several organisations supported the event in a true partnership capacity including Eureka Tower, Eureka Skydeck88 & Eureka89, Grocon, and 3AW.

The event was a tremendous success with the main highlights including:

• Over $120,000 fundraised by competitors
• Almost 1,000 competitors participated
• Overall, the format was more attractive to the general public
• Over 40 different companies provided their support via cash contribution, pro-bono or in-kind support
• Increased awareness of the Eureka Tower, Skydeck88 and the surrounding Southbank precinct.

Climbing higher in 2010

Moving forward into 2010 and beyond, stakeholders see Eureka Climb becoming an annual and iconic Melbourne fundraising event.

Ben King is Managing Director at King Performance. Eureka Climb was designed, developed and delivered by King Performance – marketing & events. For more information on the event visit Eureka Climb.