Overview

Not only a profound advocate of the ideas and entrepreneurial spirit within New England, TEDxCambridge is also a worldwide leader among TEDx events. From its sheer scale to its quality of talks, only a few of the thousands of TEDx events held every year come close to the impact of TEDxCambridge. But TEDxCambridge did not always have this presence.

The event has grown exponentially since it’s inception – previously selling out venues for a few hundred, it is now held in the famed Boston Opera House, with seating for 2,600. To reflect the growth of the event, TEDxCambridge needed a cohesive and refreshed brand identity, brand strategy, communication plan and event design. TEDxCambridge chose Tank to serve as its creative and strategic partner for both of its 2016 events – and is now planning for 2017.

Brand Strategy

Before embarking on the multifaceted engagement, Tank had to understand exactly what made TEDxCambridge so unique. This brand essence – the organization’s true reason for being – would then be translated into a robust visual and messaging framework.

Visual Identity

TEDx belongs to the TED family. As such, Tank rooted all visuals in the classic TED red. Tank added blue to the brand’s color system as a unique differentiator. The overall aesthetic was intentionally simple, with references to science, humanities and design. We also focused on what differentiated TEDx from TED. Quite simple, it’s the “x”, of course. Tank chose this symbol as key visual element, serving as a frame for speaker-specific iconography as well as a universal anchor for each creative application.

Environmental Design

It’s not every day that Tank has the opportunity to partner with an expert in large-scale projection-mapped graphics. But that’s exactly what needed to happen to bring to life the massive 30-foot backdrop on the Boston Opera House’s stage. It was crucial for Tank to provide impactful creative feedback to the external agency so that all touchpoints – from brochure to backdrop – aligned.

Email

Working closely with TEDxCambridge, Tank established an overarching communication strategy – including an email strategy targeting various audiences. These audience segments were independently monitored throughout each campaign and modified when needed to better serve the campaign goals. By honing in on different segments, Tank created targeted content that not only sold tickets and raised brand awareness, but increased the overall social following of TEDxCambridge.

Social

Social played a crucial role in the overarching communication plan. Tank created a robust social media presence for TEDxCambridge by establishing a posting cadence as well as defining appropriate content types for their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. Tank cemented this presence by curating content, writing posts and managing all channels up until the event.

Tank leveraged the meaningful social presence that was established for the spring event to significantly increase engagement during the lead-up to the fall event. This approach, coupled with a modest sub-$1,000 Facebook ad budget, produced a marked increase in awareness, engagement and ticket sales.

Results

• Improved event’s NPS score by 9 points
• Fall 2016 ticket sales increased by 200 tickets, as compared to Spring 2016 event
• 307 new email subscriptions from March 2016 through September 2016
• An average open rate of 31.7% from July 2016 through September 2016 (compared to a 19.94% industry average)
• A click through rate of 3.6% from July 2016 through September 2016 (compared to a 2.2% industry average)
• From March 2, 2016 to June 8, 2016 (prior to the Spring event), the TEDxCambridge Facebook audience increased by 479 fans (that’s a 13% increase in just over three months)
• From March 2, 2016 to September 29, 2016 the TEDxCambridge Facebook audience increased by 1,072 new fans (that’s a 29% increase in just over six months).
• The fall TEDxCambridge Facebook event page reached 382,000 people and resulted in 10,475 responses and 3,896 ticket clicks.