As a pandemic sweeps through the country, many events, concerts, and other large gatherings have been cancelled in order to adhere to health and safety guidelines. However, some organizations have found that hosting a virtual event is a good alternative to simply calling off their plans completely. Recently, OtherWisz has helped a few of our clients prepare event campaigns that will draw interest even without the benefit of a physical platform.
Booked For The Evening: Interactive assets increase awareness in the lead up to a digital fundraiser
Literacy Buffalo Niagara is a local non-profit that provides free adult literacy and ESL tutoring to the region. OtherWisz has enjoyed working with LBN over the years, including the development of event branding for their annual fundraisers that help the organization continue to operate. When their main event, Booked for the Evening, was forced to go digital this year, OtherWisz stepped up to help plan new ways to make a strong impression, generating interest without their usual in-person experience.
Interactive social media assets allow viewers to remotely participate in the Booked for the Evening digital fundraiser.
While it was not the norm until recently, preparing LBN’s fundraiser for the virtual sphere came with a silver lining – without a physical presence, we were led to consider better ways to engage the intended audience both before and during the event. Our team developed and managed the rollout of a campaign for Booked that fully utilizes digital platforms, creating a separate event website and an extensive set of interactive social media assets. Designing for social marketing is key to reaching a wider audience; if people keep sharing branded GIFs and profile ‘photo frames’ that are fun to use, a chain reaction is created that ultimately increases the campaign’s visibility.
A selection of some of the digital assets OtherWisz designed as part of the Booked for the Evening event package.
Our team created both profile and story frames to use on Facebook, plus animated GIF stickers for social stories that revolve around the “bookmark” theme, a symbol of marking your place (both in a book and online) and declaring your dedication for one night to literacy. These interactive assets allow viewers and event participants to get directly involved with the campaign, helping them to feel that they’re still a part of the event, despite not gathering together physically. To round out the marketing for Booked, OtherWisz designed an event launch animation, shareable graphics to highlight sponsors, branded Zoom backgrounds for use during the fundraiser, and fun illustrated digital ‘posters’ that share examples of people’s reading spaces. Check out their event website to get involved!
A custom event website and social media post graphics keep Booked for the Evening participants up-to-date on event details.
ACAW: Hands-on architectural ceramics workshop undergoes a hands-off virtual transformation
The annual ACAWorkshop, developed and hosted by Boston Valley Terra Cotta, brings participants together to experiment with the uses of terra cotta in architectural ceramics, designing and constructing prototypes over the year leading up to the event. As with many other events, the ACAW is currently restricted by social distancing practices, but to adjust to the times, this year’s presentations in August 2020 will be held virtually over 2 days on Zoom video conferencing.
The ACAW coordinators’ strategy for adapting to this situation included an updated campaign that differentiates the modified event from previous years. OtherWisz made updates to the existing ACAW brand – highlighting its new virtual nature, but still maintaining the strong brand recognition it has acquired over 5 years. By altering the branding with an eye-catching and bold orange accent color and developing a pixelated effect that was applied to the original logo mark, we created a visual reference to ACAW’s digital evolution. The new logo was designed with intent to apply animation – pixels subtly fade in and out, drawing the attention of the viewer without becoming distracting. A virtual logo for a virtual event.
The logo for the ACAW 2020 virtual conference was designed to move – pixels fade and shift, capturing the essence of the ever-changing digital world.
Creating a digital asset package reinforces ACAW’s updated brand
Once the “ACAW – Virtual Conference” logo design was approved, OtherWisz set to work on updating the rest of the campaign. The event website graphics and color palette were adjusted to correspond with the new logo. Our team incorporated the logo design into email marketing and animated web banners. In addition, OtherWisz designed a custom Zoom background that will help event participants have a branded experience even while they tune in remotely. Meeting a tight deadline, OtherWisz successfully built out a package of digital assets in time for the ACAW registration to go live.
OtherWisz’s asset package for ACAW 2020 includes email marketing, a custom Zoom background for use during the event, and more.
When our clients have to adjust their plans to accommodate unforeseen circumstances – like translating their event to a completely different platform – you can be sure that OtherWisz will do whatever we can to help. While digital marketing has been a factor in the industry for decades, we’ve recently had to adapt to a whole new level of contactless activity. Our team can help you navigate the uncertainty of holding a virtual event with a campaign designed to engage viewers on all platforms.
Contact us today to see how the OtherWisz team can help you develop and market your virtual event.
NOTE: The illustration art in this header is courtesy of Freepik designer macrovector, with modification. Booked for the Evening logo animation designed by OtherWisz Creative.
