Creativity and Technology Conference
CAT Conference Sponsorship (2009)
Ad Age: Creativity launched the Creativity and Technology Conference in 2009. As leaders in technology designed for creative companies, Wiredrive was the perfect sponsor. Dissatisfied with the Sponsorship Menu, I pitched them the terms of sponsorship which resulted in an integrated campaign that increased brand awareness, drove website traffic, converted sales and had measurable results.
The terms consisted of an integrated advertising campaign consisting of:
1 —
Vendor Booth at The Conference
I remember having to fight for wi-fi to be included in our sponsorship package so we could demo our software onsite! We also a huge monitor showing our brand video, “Conversations on Creativity and Technology,” which addressed the challenges producers faced and showed how Wiredrive increased efficiency and productivity.
2 —
“Kickoff Dinner” for Speakers, Key Clients and Creativity Magazine
Our sponsorship also included access to conference speakers so we could invite them to an exclusive dinner to kickoff the conference. It was a great opportunity for the editors of Ad Age, who were moderating the panels, to discuss their presentations and share ideas.
We had some amazing conversations and food that night. The connection that I made with Alessandra Lariu led to me co-founding the Los Angeles chapter of She Says, which connected me with a whole network of women in digital. I also had a deeply spiritual conversation with Damon Meena, EP/ Partner of Transistor Studios. He signed up for Wiredrive as a result of that dinner, and he inspired me to continue pursuing my spiritual path which ultimately led me down the road of practicing and teaching yoga. It was just one of those moments where you meet someone along your path who validates your search for Truth. Those moments were really hard to come by in Los Angeles at the Hollywood parties I was accustomed to. So, it really meant something to me.
I got to meet so many incredibly talented, dynamic, creative people through intimate dinner parties like this one; And, they offered a bigger return on investment than throwing our logo on marketing materials.
3 —
Online Advertising / Email Marketing
Two event promotional banners on Creativity Newsletter
Three dedicated email blasts featuring banner ads
Banner Ads on the CAT microsite for as long as the site is live
Wiredrive will be used to upload media from the CAT Conference and create online presentations, which will be featured on creativity-online.com.
Wiredrive logo featured on “Sponsors” and “Exhibitors” pages of the CAT event website, including a company description and link to website
Creativity also provided a list of all event attendees including Email addresses. This allowed us to send a post-event thank you with photos and then ask people to “opt-in” to our mailing list. I was always “white hat” to follow best practices; But, I was also strategic in how I approached acquiring access. People wanted to hear from us. They wanted to get invited to our parties and learn more about our software.
4 —
Print Advertising
Wiredrive logo featured as a Silver Sponsor on three, full-page ads in Advertising Age Magazine promoting the conference before and after the event.
Full-page ad in the event program guide
A standard vendor booth at the conference, where we had a monitor playing our brand video and computers set up to demo our software onsite.
I produced three huge retractable banners to display at the event, which we also used for multiple future events and conferences
5 —
5 tickets to the event
The President of Wiredrive, myself and 3 sales reps traveled to New York for the conference. I forecasted costs, arranged logistics and managed the reconciliation of expenses after the event.
Results
I was taking cues from what was happening in the B-2-C space, reading books about direct marketing and using that knowledge to elevate B-2-B marketing. I was a trailblazer of using tracking tools and studying analytics to get measurable results for stakeholders.
Overall, the sponsorship was a great success and vastly contributed to our sales growth. It also helped to establish our brand identity in New York where we had just opened a satellite office. Additionally, it expanded our East Coast mailing list, which enabled us to create more targeted email marketing campaigns.