I recently had the honour of attending the Garma Festival in Gulkula, Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory with SBS, NITV and a team of their indigenous ambassadors. Held on the extremely remote lands of the Yolngu people, you couldn’t help but feel the spirituality of the location.
For those of you who have not heard of Garma, it is Australia’s largest Indigenous festival, celebrated over four days and hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation. The event is an important meeting point for the clans and families of the region, where traditional miny’tji (art), manikay (song), bunggul (dance) and storytelling is showcased. Garma is a forum for discussion across multiple disciplines that are significant to Indigenous communities, including politics, education, health, arts and the environment. The theme this year was ‘Fire, Strength, Renewal’, and there was an evident passion and focus on collectively lifting up Indigenous People towards attaining equality in health, education and employment outcomes.
This was the first Garma Festival since The Voice referendum. The disappointment of the loss among the communities has evolved into acceptance and a refocusing on moving forward. The inequality faced by our First Nations People still exists, and there is no simple solution to the complex challenges faced. But our industry is in a unique position to play a role in creating the future that our Indigenous communities deserve. We are part of the fabric of Australia’s story telling culture. We have an impact on what Australians see and hear in media, the stories that are told, the products that they buy, the trends that are amplified and the sports they are passionate about. Our connection and influence on Australian culture means we can and should be part of the solution.
So, what can we do to help? Indigenous people are almost 4% of Australia’s population. That is close to 1 million Australians. However, we are only investing approximately 0.3% of our marketing budgets into reaching First Nations People. As an industry, we need to ensure we market to and reach a true reflection of Australia.
NITV is one of many channels we can use to deliver this change. It gives a voice to our First Nations communities, creating an important connection to their people and culture, often in their own languages. It allows them to see who they are reflected in a mass media environment. It also supports these communities by investing in projects that have a positive impact. Of course, NITV is not the only Indigenous platform – there is Koori Radio, multiple print environments, podcasts and, increasingly, more Indigenous media creators online, in TV, and music. At Publicis Groupe, we are actively helping to foster opportunities for emerging First Nations social content creators through our Born Blak program which provides education, training and mentorship to Indigenous creators. Enabling the amplification of First Nations peoples voices in mainstream media.
We should not ignore the power of advertising in an environment like NITV or other Indigenous platforms, where those watching are particularly invested and have an affinity with the content. We pay huge premiums to be part of sporting cultural moments because we know the effectiveness is greatly amplified and our message is more likely to cut through, driving action from those that see it. The premiums are worth it because they deliver results. We can have similar impact by investing into Indigenous Australian media. By placing around 3% of our marketing budgets into First Nations media environments, we can reach up to 1 million Australians in a high affinity, high impact way, whilst also having a positive effect on their communities.
During my time at Garma, I was lucky enough to see firsthand how having a voice and a cultural connection can create positive change. As our First Nations people are looking for ways to move forward. We can support them by supporting their voice and presence in their own media environments, while also knowing that such investment will be powerfully effective for brands. It is our responsibility to help create a more inclusive future by investing in our Indigenous media platforms.
Sue-Ellen Osborn, National Head of Investment at Spark Foundry Australia