Tastes of Greater Geelong

City of Greater Geelong

Background

In 2024, I was tasked with the marketing and engagement for Tastes of Central Geelong. The annual food festival had supported vibrancy in the centre of Geelong for over 10 years. I analysed previous festival data, Have your say surveys, conducted market researched and presented a new festival angle to the team, coordinator and manager, which would present Greater Geelong as unique culinary destination.

Building on the successes of Tastes of Central Geelong, we opened the food festival to the whole region, creating Tastes of Greater Geelong.

Tastes of Greater Geelong was born as an annual food and beverage festival celebrating the region’s culinary diversity, local producers and hospitality sector. It brings together restaurants, cafes, wineries, brewers, and makers to showcase the best the region has to offer, attracting both locals and visitors.

In 2025, I was engaged as marketing lead for Tastes of Greater Geelong, leveraging previous knowledge and working closely with our event activation lead to bring the festival to life once again.

In this case study, I share how we were able to leverage a marketing strategy, storytelling and hospitality engagement for Tastes of Greater Geelong 2024 and 2025 to grow the food festival’s audience, strengthen Geelong’s reputation as a food destination and support local businesses.

The Challenge

Geelong has a thriving food scene, but Winter is a notoriously quiet period in the hospitality calendar.

The festival faced three main challenges:

1. Differentiation – Positioning Greater Geelong as a must-visit culinary destination in a competitive Victorian food festival landscape.
2. Audience Growth – Attracting both locals across the Greater Geelong region as well as visitors from Melbourne, Surf Coast, and regional Victoria.
3. Economic Impact – Driving foot traffic into participating hospitality businesses and providing measurable value to the local economy during Winter.

Objectives

• Extend hospitality visitation during Winter, bringing more vibrancy to the Geelong region.
• Increase event attendance year-on-year.
• Showcase the breadth of food and beverage experiences across Greater Geelong.
• Strengthen partnerships and engage with hospitality venues, chefs, growers and producers.
• Elevate Geelong’s profile as a food and wine hub.

Marketing Strategy

The campaign combined digital-first marketing, engagement, and storytelling to create momentum.

1. Brand Positioning
   • Positioned Tastes of Greater Geelong as an immersive celebration of local flavours and community spirit.
   • Curated a highend culinary program for a variety of audiences and budgets.
   • Put a spotlight on our local chefs, produce, venues and hospitality offerings.
   • Emphasised food as a community experience, creating inclusivity for all, from fine dining to casual eats, family-friendly activities and free community events.
2. Content & Storytelling
   • Developed a strong content calendar across social media, featuring renown chef videos, local makers and shakers and delicious food and beverages as part of the program.
   • Curated travel articles and e-newsletters highlighting itineraries and events.
3. Digital Marketing
   • Targeted social media ads across Facebook and Instagram focusing on local audiences.
   • Google display ads targeting local audiences and reminding them of the upcoming food festival.
   • Festival landing page with event descriptions, booking links, and an interactive program flipbook.

4. Partnerships and Engagement

• Collaborated with Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine, Visit Victoria as well as local hotels to reach further audiences and enable more tourism visitation.
• Closely engaged with Tastes event hosts and created branded marketing packs for them to have branded content easily available to promote the broader festival and their own events.
• Checked in with event hosts on visitation and booking numbers throughout the festival dates to turn down marketing efforts for those fully booked and support those in need of further promotion.

5. Media

• Pitched stories to local media (Bay FM, Geelong Advertiser, Geelong Independent, Geelong Times among other) for editorial coverage and event promotion.
• Liaised with renown events news outlets and got the front pages and editorial coverage of Forte Magazine and Whats On Magazine.
• Shared highlight menus and events with renown influencers to encourage them to taste their way through the program.

6. On-the-Ground Experience

• Designed a printed and online available Tastes program including all event details and a dedicated map.
• Created unique experiences and shareable moments at the Tastes Winter Festival event, encouraging user-generated content.

Results from 2024

• Digital Engagement: Social media reached 121,938 accounts through City of Greater Geelong owned, paid and influencer social posts.
• Tastes events were covered in 76 media pieces across 57 days, reaching an estimated audience of 468,100

Read the official Tastes Event Report here.

Results from 2025

• Tourism Profile: Increased media mentions positioned Geelong as a rising food and wine destination.
• Business Impact: Most participating venues reported a significant uplift in bookings during the festival period.
• Detailed data pending.

Conclusion

Tastes of Greater Geelong 2024 and 2025 successfully showcased the region as a food and drink destination while supporting local hospitality. By combining digital storytelling, strong partnerships, hospitality engagement and memorable in-person experiences, the festival strengthened Greater Geelong’s culinary brand identity.

Teaser Video Credits:

Client: City of Greater Geelong
Events Activation Lead: Ragen Haythorpe
Marketing Lead: Christina Street

Video Production Company: True South Films
Producer: Caleb Plumridge
Editor: Jake Plumridge
Footage: Courtesy of Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine