Marketing through a pandemic and beyond.

The Solution

The overarching solution was a mix of both physical and digital offerings combined with regular engagement with participants through social channels. And it all began with a creative brainstorm session with the full client team, with a clear aim of coming up with creative solutions to the ‘digital fatigue’ people are feeling during the COVID pandemic.

To create a sense of community and give people a hands on experience during an otherwise digital experience we produced curated attendee gift boxes that arrived in advance of the conference with clear instructions not to open until the start of the conference. Inside the box was a series of envelopes, each with a time stamp for when they should be opened. The first of these was a set of branded colouring sheets and coloring pencils with attendees getting the chance to get creative juices flowing for themselves or pass the task over to their children (or work from home colleagues) to give them an opportunity to focus on the talks. Attendees were then encouraged to tweet ATB with their coloring in creations, with responses coming from their “in-house” art critics.

Another opportunity to interject life into the event was the lunch break. Inventa produced a series of different shows to give the audience a bit of a rest from the conference and the opportunity to win prizes and network with other attendees[RW1] [OB2] . One example of this was hiring a reptile specialist to do a show and tell with a number of his exotic animals including a boa constrictor, and a bearded dragon.

To keep engagement high during this we pre-prepared a number of quiz questions, with those first to respond on the event chat won a prize. To close out the day of talks and networking our third and final envelope was designed as a health and wellness kit that included popcorn, face mask, and hand cream.

Highest audience satisfaction rating in over 5 years!

The Outcome

When Social West logged off for 2020 the numbers spoke for themselves:

• 800 boxes distributed
• 1484 unique social posts
• 619,615 social reach
• 4,685,503 social impressions
• Trended #5 on Twitter (Canada)

Inventa Offers Full Service Virtual Event Planning.