An expo for entrepreneurship in
Montreal, Quebec.
Creating a campaign for what would become the biggest entrepreneurship event in Quebec
It became biggest event for entrepreneurs in Quebec. Over 5000 attendees in the first edition. Over 20 million in reach on the campaign. But all of this started over coffee.
In the end of the summer of 2017, we met for coffee with Nima Jalalvandi, a friend we had shared an office with over a year ago, to reconnect and see what each of us was up to. He mentioned that he was looking to put on an event for entrepreneurship in the end of January 2018. When he told us he was looking for a marketing team to come lead the campaign for the event, we were immediately interested.
Nima Jalalvandi, the founder of Expo Entrepreneurs, giving a speech at the event.
Our role:
Marketing direction, graphic and web direction of the event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrtm1RG48F0&feature=youtu.be
A timelapse of the event
The campaign
When we were approached to start off the marketing, we were starting from a baseline of a small mailing list as well as a couple hundred followers across all social media. Within only a few months, we brought that to a massive campaign that dominated conversation in the entrepreneurial sphere.
Our main axis for the campaign was to build buzz in the entrepreneurship communities online and get different ecosystems for entrepreneurs get invested in the event and promote it through their networks.
The Goal: Get 5000 entrepreneurs to attend the event within 3 months.
The first female mayor of Montreal made a surprise visit on the second day of the event to make a speech.
A few of the results
The branding
The branding for the event was created based off of two Es connecting into an infinity symbol. We wanted to keep the identity simple and straightforward, building a friendly look to the brand for the public.
Website
With no website online and only a couple of days to begin the promotion the event, we did a design sprint to create a rapid website that would be effective to be able to start doing sales. With all hands on deck, we had a website online within 48 hours and we were ready to begin spreading the word. Iterations were made throughout the campaign to keep people coming back.
Visit the website
Advertising
We used a highly targeted social media campaign built across everything from Linkedin to Facebook to Instagram, as well as a series of catchy print ads to promote the event.
We did extensive testing to see which types of ads were performing the best and doubled down on what was working while leaving
We built a series of cheeky full page ads for Newspapers, imitating the classic design of a Google search, but with questions about entrepreneurship.
With only a few weeks left to the campaign, we finally stepped over the finish line with 5000 entrepreneurs locked in to attend
Expo Entrepreneurs
Second edition
It became biggest event for entrepreneurs in Quebec. Over 5000 attendees in the first edition. Over 20 million in reach on the campaign. But all of this started over coffee.
In the end of the summer of 2017, we met for coffee with Nima Jalalvandi, a friend we had shared an office with over a year ago, to reconnect and see what each of us was up to. He mentioned that he was looking to put on an event for entrepreneurship in the end of January 2018. When he told us he was looking for a marketing team to come lead the campaign for the event, we were immediately interested.
Nima Jalalvandi, the founder of Expo Entrepreneurs, giving a speech at the event.