The 16th European Space Conference, was held in Brussels in January 2024 and streamed online. It was organised from scratch by mci group Belgium. The four mci group Brussels-based brands – MCI Brussels, logos, Ovation Belgium and Business Bridge Europe – rose to the challenge by leveraging each of the brands’ expertise in organising what attendees called the “mini-Davos for space”.
Through expert engagement with European politicians, policymakers and industry representatives, flawless event management and dedicated digital communication and media efforts, the European Space Conference became THE event in town for the two-days it took place.
The challenge
We wanted to promote the Conference’s messages across the diverse spectrum of member states, European C-level industry representatives, decision-makers and more broadly the entire EU space ecosystem. The broad target audiences had one thing in common: keen interest in space policies and the future of the European Union as far as the space sector is concerned.
Our creative strategy
In close coordination with colleagues from the different mci group Belgium brands, we strategically planned how best to meet this challenge and facilitate the conference’s social media initiatives, community management, organic campaign efforts and, importantly, paid advertising. The event’s USP is the seniority and relevance of its attendees. Our strategy therefore focused on the speakers’ profiles.
To achieve the best results, we combined organic activities with online advertising. In particular we deployed Programmatic campaigns through two different platforms, and Remarketing campaigns on look-a-like audiences.
Social listening and monitoring
The team conducted an in-depth examination of social media platforms, focusing on the ongoing discussions within the space sector. This thorough analysis enabled us to:
- Identify essential stakeholders and prepare tags for all speakers, VIPs and moderators.
- Extract significant trends, dialogues and subjects of discussion, and prepare the background content in advance.
Social media asset curation
Our team prepared all visuals and ensured a fair representation of all speakers involved. The pre-event posts focused on announcing the speakers, panels and moderators, and were tailored to resonate with an audience knowledgeable on space. The pre-event phase focused on LinkedIn, while the live posting on the days of the event was done on X (formerly Twitter).
The campaign consisted of the publication of a summary of each of the panels, including an onsite picture with the speakers for LinkedIn. The biggest effort was focused on X, where our team posted live and tagged the different speakers at key moments.
Social media advertising
Tapping into the advanced tools of the Meta Business Suite and Twitter Ads Manager, we crafted 40+ strategic, tailored copy and visual designs for advertisements to fit the platforms’ advertising policies. These ads were designed to achieve specific social media objectives and the promotion goals of 12 social media campaigns: reach, engagement and video views across the EU 27 Member States. The best options for boosting were applied to achieve an excellent return on investment.
Performance analysis
A proactive stance was adopted with campaign performance closely monitored for any opportunities for improvement, optimisation or recalibration. On the first day of the event, the Space Conference was trending at number one in Belgium on X.
Achievements
Logos, MCI Brussels, Ovation Belgium and Business Bridge Europe proudly brought together 2,000 attendees for this event hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. More than 150 speakers, including four EU commissioners and four ministers, were present. More than 100 articles in were published in the media about the conference.
Frederic Soudain, Director of Government Affairs & Managing Director of logos, says, “We can say the group is taking off in the space sector...” Impressions, reach and engagement exceeded expectations, leading to a high rate of conversions and subsequent registrations for the event.
The results were impressive, achieving both awareness and registrations. In a nutshell: 1.7 million impressions, 17,000 clicks on the ads, 8,000 people reached on LinkedIn, 16,000 visits to the website, and 224 tracked registrations.
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