How True North promoted Uluru tourism while safeguarding the sacred site
Earlier this year, the strategic communication agency won Best Investor or Community Relations Campaign at Mumbrella’s CommsCon Awards for drawing up a set of media guidelines for the historic park. Here, managing director Elena Madden explains why finding a balance between stakeholders was vital to find a compromise to suit everyone.
The iconic landscape of Uluru is one of Australia’s most popular attractions – but it’s also, conversely, regarded by its traditional owners as sacred. It was these competing forces that posed a dilemma to True North when it was appointed to draw up a set of media guidelines for the area.
“It was about finding a compromise,” explains the agency’s managing director, Elena Madden. On the one hand, Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park is so spiritual some say it almost shouldn’t be represented at all. But on the other, sharing images is necessary to promote the park and maintain visitor numbers. “The key problem at the heart of it all was to try and find a balance that met the needs of all the different stakeholders involved, but also was acceptable to the traditional owners.”
True North Strategic Communication is a full service agency with a long history of working across northern Australia.
