Opportunity

In preparation for the fourth annual In Defence of Democracy event, the Samara Centre for Democracy aimed to boost event attendance by focusing on design and growth marketing strategies.

The 2024 IDOD event, held in Toronto, featured an impressive lineup including Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Connie Walker, and CBC Radio's Nahlah Ayed.

"The In Defence of Democracy event convenes a diverse audience that extends across sectors, disciplines, professions and generations to consider a pressing question of our era: how do we inspire renewed civic purpose in Canada?" - samaracentre.ca

Approach

Creative Direction

The branding aimed to capture elements of both the Samara identity plus the venue's unique characteristics. With Connie Walker also as the main speaker, the design needed a journalistic feel to connect well with the themes of the conversation.

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Omni-Channel Marketing

We developed a comprehensive omni-channel marketing plan. This plan utilized all active social media platforms and included an email retargeting campaign to ensure maximum reach and conversion.

To maximize ticket sales, we created the following flow:

1. Reach users through content marketing (social + email)
2. Path them to the event landing page‍
3. Display prominent CTAs to enter the Ticketmaster checkout flow
4. Users that purchased: further nurture and engage using an email automation flow
5. Users that didn't purchase: retarget with an email retargeting campaign

Outcomes

brand system.

print design.

social media production.

Media Coverage

The art direction and branding for In Defence of Democracy saw placement across a variety of media outlets and partners including CBC Radio, CTV's The Social, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Ontario Heritage Trust.