QVB

The Situation

33 million people moved through the Queen Victoria Building each year via Town Hall station below. The building had cultural weight most brands spend decades trying to manufacture — a Victorian-era heritage landmark embedded in Sydney's identity. What it didn't have was a commercial strategy that matched the asset's actual scale. The marketing budget was functioning as a cost centre. The question was whether it could be turned into an investment fund.

The Idea

Reframe the marketing budget as an investment line. Use the building's deep emotional equity — Sydneysiders genuinely love the QVB — as the commercial engine. Design products and experiences that let people connect with the building more intimately, and use those products to generate new revenue streams that hadn't existed before.

The Strategy

A five-year transformation strategy across four pillars simultaneously: brand transformation, digital transformation, product transformation, and strategic partnerships. The digital transformation was developed through a UTS MBA program team — peers from Qantas, Accenture, Tourism Australia, and property development — with Deloitte partners contributing. A lean strategy investment. A new e-commerce system was built to facilitate the new revenue streams.

The Products

A rooftop cinema. A ghost tour that sold out in 20 minutes. A reimagined history tour — the narrative rewritten to include the Suffragettes who met in the building and other meaningful stories from the building's past. A new Santa experience that became one of the highest-revenue activations of the year. A major winter event that took over the entire building. Two new restaurants and bars: the Champagne Parlour and the late-night supper club, connecting the QVB to Sydney's contemporary hospitality scene for the first time.

The Partnerships

Strategic partnerships with the Biennale of Sydney, Tourism Australia, Google, and Disney — all structured as in-kind exchanges against the building's equity, with no cash spent. Google documented the entire interior and exterior of the building for virtual visitation worldwide, elevating the iconic status of this heritage-listed asset. A Biennale performance in the central dome — closed to the public for 20 years — was prepared and ready to launch before Covid restrictions required cancellation in March 2020. Campaigns featured photography by Georges Antoni and a collaboration with The Inspired Unemployed.

The Result

Significant new revenue generated across multiple new product lines in year one. Global Content Council award. Innovation award nomination from Vicinity Centres. 33 million people reached annually. The building made virtually accessible worldwide. All partnership value delivered in-kind. The entire commercial transformation executed under one allocated marketing budget, through lean resourcing and strategic leverage.