Sydney advertising man launches independent event guide with Moshtix as inaugural advertiser

Sydneysiders have gained an independent website providing local event guides with the launch this week of Concrete Playground.

The Sydney website, which launched yesterday, will be followed by Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland and Hong Kong editions. Concrete Playground is aimed at urban influencers who are as just likely to be doctors as they are designers. This site is for anyone who would consider themselves culturally curious.

Moshtix is Concrete Playground’s inaugural advertiser and the twocompanies are working closely to promote Moshtix’s forthcoming events,including Wolfmother’s tour of Australia in September.

Concrete Playground’s content team handpicks the best of what’shappening to give readers a shortlist of cultural inspiration throughemail newsletters so they can fill their days and nights withinteresting events and reading. Content is updated daily.

The site is the brainchild of founder and director Rich Fogarty (left), aSydney native who recently resettled in Australia after several yearsat New York creative shop Anomaly, judged by Fast Company as one of the25 Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2008. Before heading tothe US, Fogarty worked at DDB Sydney, joining as a member of the 2004Graduate program under the tutelage of DDB Group MD Chris Brown.

“Sydney’s cultural and creative scenes are as sophisticated as those ofother ‘creative class’ cities like San Francisco, Berlin and Tokyo.But, for some reason, it’s much harder to find out about what’s goingon here without spending hours delving through countless blogs,websites and street press publications to get your head what you shoulddo each week,” Fogarty said.

“Concrete Playground was developed with time-poor, culturally curiouspeople in mind. Our team of writers handpicks the best of what’shappening so readers have a shortlist to pick and choose fromthemselves. I just created something that I’d use myself in the hopethat it would be helpful to lots of other people in Sydney like me.”

DDB is currently developing a campaign promoting Concrete Playground toconsumers, set to launch in the next month. A seeding campaign launchedin July has helped Concrete Playground attract almost one thousandFacebook followers and more than 200 followers on Twitter.

“Richard’s vision for Concrete Playground is very clear: to develop ahub for Sydneysiders to discover what cultural events are happening inthe city easily and quickly. It is great to be able to work withRichard and provide the non-traditional elements necessary tosuccessfully launch this to consumers,” added Chris Brown, GroupManaging Director, DDB Sydney.