Marketing a Conference to Attract a Diverse, More Vested Audience

The Bioneers Conference is a multidisciplinary forum of practical solutions for restoring the Earth and its inhabitants. It's a thriving network of visionary innovators and thought leaders around the nation working to improve the health of our environment and human communities by bringing together nature, science, technology, culture and spirit.

Baltimore is one of 18 U.S. cities to host the annual Bioneers conference – an event that mixes a national broadcast with local and regional programming. Substance151 was engaged by the Baltimore Bioneers to produce the conference and position the event as relevant, able to appeal to a diverse and highly engaged audience.

Analytic Thinking

As a part of the overall effort to produce a green conference, Substance151 considered all aspects of the Baltimore Bioneers’ branding and marketing effort, including environmental impact, effectiveness in reaching diverse audiences, production costs and the ability to replicate and build upon the branding and marketing framework in the years following the initial conference.

Strategic Thinking

To achieve Baltimore Bioneers’ marketing objectives, Substance151 developed a brand strategy that would allow for a unique identity, as well as regional significance and relevance, while still leveraging the cache of the national brand. As part of the branding effort, we identified a suite of awareness building strategies that would employ both traditional, high-end media along with a grass roots campaign in order to effectively reach all target audiences (sponsors, volunteers, community activists and thought leaders, attendees and the media).

The anticipated increase in both awareness and pre-conference activity, led Substance151 to recommend placing a robust and easily updatable website at the core of the marketing program. This allowed Baltimore Bioneers push fresh and relevant content to build excitement leading to the conference and to compel each target group to action.

Creative Thinking

With the overarching goals of attracting a highly motivated audience and sponsors and engaging the media, Substance151 developed a provocative brand identity that visually communicated the Bioneers’ mission: creating a sustainable future for the planet and the human communities that is environmentally responsible, economically viable and socially just.

The visual concept was then translated across a multitude of print and electronic applications and tailored specifically to each of the conference’s core audience groups with the goal of creating an emotional connection and vesting audiences in the Bioneer’s vision.

Inspiring Change

Using the website as a primary marketing tool, we eliminated the need for a number of paper-based tools. The very few printed pieces were printed on Mohawk Options, White Smooth – 100% PCW, FSC-certified, Green Seal, manufactured with renewable, non-polluting wind-generated electricity (Green-e certified). We used local, FSC-certified printers – both reducing the project’s environmental impact and contributing to building a stronger local economy.