Object Maker Aotearoa
Overview
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Object Maker Aotearoa Fellowship was a project co-founded by myself and Jude Chambers, to address a need for tertiary level training within craft | object discipline. Creative New Zealand was a major supporter of this pilot project.
We had three core marketing outcomes we needed to establish:
a. Build a private learning management system that could be used by coaches and artists to conduct online learning, provide feedback and engage with each other.
b. Create awareness of the Fellowship to attract applications and help raise the profile of New Zealand Object Makers.
c. Raise the artistic profile of the ten selected artists selected for the Fellowship.
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A hands-on project that involved comprehensive project management and a wide range of brand development & management, digital design and communication.
Company registration and administration
Project proposal and grant application writing
Branding identity and asset development - including logo, images, videos, printed collateral & signage
Brand awareness and guardianship - including social media campaigns
Client Relationship Management System development & integration
Mailchimp EDM campaigns
Digital - strategy, asset development, - including website, online learning management system with meeting scheduler and video editing, metrics tracking
Stakeholder communications - social media collaborations, copywriting, partnership management, administration, reporting
Event management and administration - including group travel arrangements, public art gallery exhibition & talks
Budgeting and financial administration
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With artists, coaches, and mentors scattered across New Zealand—and often jetting internationally—we knew from day one that the programme’s success hinged on the calibre of our digital resources. Quality wasn’t optional; it was everything.
With resourcefulness and strategic focus, I independently designed 90% of all marketing assets despite not being a trained designer or web-builder.
I successfully elevated awareness of the new Fellowship within New Zealand’s creative sector through an expertly targeted campaign that maximized a modest advertising budget, effectively driving artist applications and community awareness.
Additionally, I developed a sophisticated private learning management system capable of hosting an extensive video library and facilitating seamless scheduling of one-on-one sessions between artists and Coaches/Mentors.
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Brand Board | Style Guide
Upload Art Sector contacts into Mailchimp
Website Sitemap developed
Website Build - including development of video assets, copywriting, image sourcing, forms with file upload ability for Expressions of Interest.
EDM Campaigns to creative sector to promote Fellowship
Paid Advertising Listing on third party website and their socials.
Development of paywalled Learning Hub - included seeking feedback from Creative Sector Advisory on Learning Hub and making iterations before go-live.
EDM Campaigns to advise applicants and publicly announce the artists selected.
EDM Campaigns to onboard artists into the Programme and provide regular updates/ seek feedback/ coordinate group travel etc.
EDM Campaigns to creative sector | stakeholders to update on Fellowship Programme, Artists Development.
Event Management for Group Coaching in Wellington and Year 1 Artists exhibition -
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Adobe Photoshop
Adobe illustrator
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Stock
Adobe Premiere Pro
Shutterstock
Apple iMovie
Squarespace
Vimeo
GoDaddy - Domain & Email
Wufoo (forms)
Acuity Scheduler
MailChimp
Zoom
OneDrive
Meta - Facebook & Instagram
Google Search Console
Google Analytics
Video creation.
This video was developed from a diverse selection of coloured stock footage and edited using Adobe Premiere Pro and iMovie. It was designed to capture attention, raise awareness, and generate interest in the Fellowship.
Featured on the website homepage and incorporated into the launch EDM and social media campaigns, the video served as a key promotional piece.
I intentionally selected footage that represented a broad range of materials, processes, and artistic practices, highlighting that the Fellowship welcomes contemporary object-based artists of all disciplines — regardless of the materials they use.
Several clips were recoloured, reformatted, and adjusted in speed and focus to ensure a cohesive visual rhythm that complemented the soundtrack and enhanced the overall narrative flow.
Website Learning Hub
The Learning Hub was designed to bring together all the various hybrid learning techniques to one private digital portal dedicated to the ten Fellowship artists.
Masterclass recordings: Each one-hour online masterclass was captured via Zoom. Post-recording, I meticulously edited the footage in iMovie to guarantee caption accuracy, excised any superfluous intervals—such as moments when students temporarily disconnected to complete assigned tasks—and integrated visually compelling chapters and title slides designed in Canva. These enhancements collectively elevate the viewing experience, rendering the content both more professional and accessible for students revisiting the material.
Appointment Setting: Acuity Scheduler was integrated to facilitate seamless booking of One-to-One Mentoring sessions between artists and coaches via a live scheduling interface and automated workflows, thereby significantly reducing administrative overhead for the ObjectMaker team.
Establish a centralized, digital Events Calendar designed specifically for students to efficiently monitor and manage forthcoming engagements and critical deadlines, such as virtual group check-ins complete with embedded Zoom links, milestones for art exhibition preparations, and scheduled in-person coaching sessions. This tool enhanced communication, promoted proactive participation, and streamlined access to essential information.
Established a shared Google Drive for the artists and coaches to exchange planning resources, documentation and presentations of their work
Uploaded Wayfind Creative videos to the Vimeo.com library to securely host the content, ensuring an ad-free viewing experience independent of YouTube channel advertisements.
Integrated MailChimp obtain artist feedback and capture data in CRM.
User Feedback about the Learning Hub
Working with creative agencies
During the Fellowship’s RE:OBJECT Exhibition installation week I instigated the opportunity to have two artists sit down with the DEPOT Sound team in their recording studio to produce video content that could be used in social, web and email communication.
By investing time in articulating goals, audience insights, and desired outcomes with the agency upfront, we ensured their creative team could producing compelling content that captivated and drove meaningful interaction.
Engagement levels on Instagram for Mel Ford Reel showed the post was viewed 2,313 times, reach 1,847, and generated 71 positive reactions. As desired, the Audience viewership was well spread - located in AKL (735), Canterbury (323), Wellington (305), Waikato (162), BOP (91), Otago (86), Hawkes Bay (51), Northland Region (51), Taranaki (47), Tasman (24).
Building Awareness of Aotearoa’s Object Makers
Since its inception in March 2024, the Object Maker Aotearoa Fellowship’s Instagram demonstrated remarkable growth in awareness and engagement. With 45,635 total views and an estimated reach of 13,200, the platform rapidly moved from zero presence to 542 followers, illustrating a compelling trajectory of audience development.
Throughout the Fellowship, consistent content sharing played a pivotal role in elevating the profile of Object Makers, with 116 stories and 61 posts designed to engage and inform. This strategic content approach resulted in 1,500 interactions, including 511 link clicks, reflecting a highly engaged and interested community.
Central to this success was my collaboration with DEPOT, working closely alongside their Communications Designer and Social Media Coordinator. Their expertise in content creation and partnership development provided a robust foundation that significantly enhanced visibility during the Fellowship. Together, we forged valuable collaborations that were instrumental throughout the RE:OBJECT Exhibition and public programme, sustaining momentum and expanding the reach of Object Maker Aotearoa’s mission.
Website metrics
Established and regularly monitored the website metrics by integrating and comparing data from both Siteminder and Google Analytics.
This dual-tracking approach enabled insights into site’s performance, audience engagement, as well as the effectiveness of email campaigns and paid online advertising.
Sessions: 3,467 with an average session duration of 4 minutes, 50 seconds.
New Users: 1,625
New User Acquisition: Direct 616 | Organic Social 480, Organic Search 470, Referral 51
Average engagement time per active user: 2 minutes 39 sec [Note: Direct Users Average 4 min 27 sec]
Active users by device: desktop 938 (56.4%), mobile phone 701 (42.1%), tablet 25 (1.5%)
EDM communication
Email communications, generated in MailChimp were consistently used to communicate with artists, the sector, advisors and coaches during the Fellowship programme. Links to our partner websites and their logos were always incorporated to strengthen the partnerships.
High open rates, the clicks per unique open percentage and low unsubscribe rates show the emails engagement was strong. Database maintenance and quality is evident from the very low email bounce rate and zero abuse reports.
A sample of emails sent:
Unique email messages: 65
Email Deliveries: 965
Open Rate: 84%
Email Clicks per unique Opens: 46.9%
Unsubscribed: 3 contacts (0.31%)
Email Bounces: 1 contact (0.1%)
Abuse reports: zero