The Web3 & Blockchain World Conference (W3B) is a product developed in Canada by the Blockchain Research Institute, in partnership with the mci group. To drive rapid consumer response for 2022 event, the MCI team designed and launched a four-month omnichannel campaign with a specific goal: to increase event participation and acquisition.
The challenge
2022 saw a dramatic downturn in crypto confidence and large crypto conferences were being cancelled or postponed. While Web3 and Blockchain technology are perceived as less volatile, W3B investors were concerned that the dramatic shift would affect the buying intention of potential attendees and sponsors.
The final briefing required:
- Flipping and relaunching the brand from “Blockchain Revolution Global” (BRG) to “Web3 & Blockchain World” (W3B)
- 50% following growth over all social media channels
- Maintaining historical engagement levels for the campaign season
- Advancements in tracking technology, and feeding stakeholders with attendee and sponsorship-related data every week
- Increasing revenue from digital channels by 30%, sponsorship leads by 50%, and achieving a 15% growth in revenue from new partnerships
- Improving registration conversion rate from newsletter subscribers by 15%
- Reducing the use of incentives by 45% while increasing ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend) by 28%, maintaining control over the cost per ticket sold.
How did we do it?
Building differentiation shaped every single strategic and creative decision.
For W3B, the dramatic downturn in the crypto market posed a threat to the perception of all entities within the blockchain space, including the conference. Based on our findings, insights and the briefing, the strategic team at MCI determined that the product would need to be positioned with aspects of brand differentiation from the crypto sector. We would position the conference as a stable and valuable opportunity for learning and networking, and highlight the unique elements as part of the experience and proposition.
Our understanding led us to offer an interactive, unusual, fun and engaging environment that proved appealing to hundreds of ticketholders, who had formed queues to get in two hours before W3B opened its doors.
What drew them was that our creative team had reimagined the traditional conference format and transformed it into a highly interactive experience, taking inspiration from the quintessential Canadian summer camp – a place of togetherness, friendship and new encounters.
The tailor-made approach included Main Lodge Keynotes, Fireside Chats, Campfire Sessions, Live Music, and other festival-like elements. Rather than being passive observers, attendees became active participants, engaging face-to-face with an extraordinary selection of the world's leading thinkers and practitioners in the Web3 and Blockchain space.
Engagement
Using insightful, creative and innovative strategies, the team reached consumers with a content distribution strategy structured around the Omnichannel Framework, building conditions for cohesive cross-channel messaging across all active platforms, appropriately tracked to provide a consistent customer experience.
Unusual formats for events, like podcast and messaging groups (Telegram) were used in addition to the usual platforms.
Following strategy definitions, blockchain-related influencers were contacted and their ability to produce and disseminate new content across all W3B channels was amplified. Social posts were created to tag high-profile speakers with a large following on Twitter, generating relevant retweets, with some reaching up to 800,000 views, and approximately 10,000 website visits.
A new Telegram channel was launched for subscribed users to engage with the community. It was updated two or three times per week with new content from the W3B team of influencers. Informative threads were posted on social media, and the content was later boosted through paid media to increase delivery to the targeted audience.
Content creators hired by the agency produced various assets in the form of images, text and videos to increase traffic and populate the conversion funnel. Video content was produced by multiple creators in a face-on format for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The W3B Podcast featured 10 interviews with personalities in the blockchain field, grabbing the attention of thousands of new listeners.
A comprehensive remarketing strategy, managed through CRM, supported the efforts to convert engaged users into ticket buyers.
Results
Detailed KPI results show the success of the campaign, underscoring its effectiveness and aligning with client goals. These include a 48.3% increase in website and ecommerce revenue, ROAS growth of +108%, sponsorship leads and new partnerships accounting for 52% of gross revenue, and financial incentives were reduced by 64%.
The campaign also won Gold for The Best Strategic Campaign at the Hermes Creative Awards 2023.
Compared to the previous edition, W3B 2022 saw a 48.3% increase in website and ecommerce revenue (via Pheedloop), fuelled by strong sponsorship leads and new partnerships, which accounted for 52% of gross revenue. Despite an overall increase in the use of incentives, financial incentives for engaged leads were reduced by 64% and replaced with onsite perks such as early access, additional content, and complimentary streaming passes.
The use of complimentary streaming passes proved to be a highly effective tool for audience expansion, enabling media buyers to enhance their ad segmentations on platforms like Google, LinkedIn and Meta.
The agency's tracking structure was able to identify buyers for 95% of all tickets sold. Remarketing strategies enriched with data from past editions' buyers proved essential, as the majority of paid ticket holders converted after interacting with a remarketing-level ad.
With a focus on improving ROAS, the agency made strategic decisions to leverage data, analytics and segmentation from previous editions to boost the current fiscal year's performance. This approach kept costs low while delivering an impressive ROAS growth of +108%, significantly above the industry benchmark of 4:1.
This campaign is a practical demonstration of sector contamination recovery and shows that by investing in professional marketing and advertising services, smaller players can also achieve significant results.
If you would like MCI to create the same ROI for your event, please contact Juliano Lissoni, Managing Director, or Vini Apoena, Head of Digital & Analytics at MCI Canada.
