Stereosonic; with its bright lights, world-famous artists and thumping sound-systems, brought an eclectic crowd of partygoers – from giant panda suits, to the appearances of Batman and Robin, right through to those allowing the majority of their bodies to be touched by the sun and viewed by all! Amongst this lot and the rest of the punters at Australia’s largest electronic music festival, was a young team of Step Back Think volunteers.
Step Back Think lay its ground at Melbourne’s Stereosonic in a 12m x 6m, astro-turf’d, marquee, right at the festival’s entrance. As the crowd consistently streamed through the gates from noon (on the dot), the Step Back Think crew mingled and darted around, drawing strong attention. Handing out inflatable orange beach balls (NB: to the Step Back Think marketing team – order more!) and snapping take-home Polaroid pictures, the team, in its distinctive orange, was near impossible to miss.
Turns out that partying is thirsty work, so a big thanks must be made to Lipton, who provided case-upon-case of its new, limited release Ice Tea flavours (the Virgin Cocktails – Daiquiri, Mojito and Pina Colada) for Step Back Think to serve up at its fresh bar. In engaging the swarm of (mainly) 18-25 year-old’s, Step Back Think’s volunteers sought to pump out the message of the importance of keeping a cool head, whilst having fun during summer festivities.
It was brilliant to note the positive engagement and participation of the crowd, with many individuals requesting further information about both the summer awareness campaign and the organisation and cause in general. This was a great feat for Step Back Think, as the first step towards culture change is the building of awareness and recognition.
At the end of the day, with over a thousand Polaroid snaps taken, thousands of festival-goers ink-stamped with the Step Back Think brand, Lipton supplies exhausted and orange beach balls consistently travelling up and around the stages, the job was done. An incredible commitment by all volunteers, at each of the stages: planning, assembling and running the marquee. Stereosonic provided an invaluable platform for the Step Back Think message to be shared with young Melburnians. The team is buzzing from the success of the Step Back Think / Stereosonic partnership, and cannot wait to plan the next awareness campaign, in continuing to work towards shifting attitudes towards violence amongst young people.
For photos, check out the Facebook gallery:
Josh Baldacchino.