Can Do Innovation Summit

Muckle Media delivered an integrated PR and social media campaign to attract an international online audience to the CANDO Innovation Summit 2021. Following an initial key messages and communication strategy workshop, Muckle began implementing a campaign across social, traditional and online media to raise awareness of the online event and drive registrations.

Challenge

Muckle Media was tasked with delivering a campaign to attract more delegates to the CanDo Innovation Summit than in 2019 when the first summit was held. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the summit originally imagined as a physical event was required to be held virtually, introducing a brand-new format for Muckle to deliver on. The campaign for the online event set out to attract a diverse audience of SMEs, sponsors, academics, entrepreneurs and exhibitors while increasing the reach and profile of the CanDo summit, boosting its brand and identity.

Strategy

Muckle Media planned and executed an integrated PR and social media campaign strategy to secure registrations and reach a diverse, international audience. Social assets were created and a mixture of paid and organic social content was planned in the 6-months leading up to the virtual event, targeting the various audiences. A drip-feed of stories and features were also planned to highlight key messages and encourage registrations, targeting trade, traditional and online media as well as focusing on wider digital opportunities such as newsletters and media partnerships. A campaign targeting the key audience of SMEs was planned in order to attract more delegates while providing a hook for further media opportunities. The ‘SMEstage’ campaign involved running a social competition, multiple press releases targeting Scottish national and local press and ultimately provided the event with an additional speaker section on the day.

Results

Muckle Media generated 30 pieces of coverage including in The Herald, The Scotsman and Aberdeen Evening Express. Articles also featured in trade publications such as SME Magazine, and Startups Magazine as well as business titles such as the Institute of Directors magazine, Direction, Scottish Business News and Business Insider demonstrating the wide impact of Muckle’s campaign. The coverage generated an online reach of 13.9 million and 166k print readers. Media partnerships with Digit and Startups magazine were secured which resulted in social coverage, multiple newsletter inclusions, web listings and live coverage on the day of the event. 1300 registered delegates joined the event from Scotland, the UK and beyond, reaching beyond the client’s target and expectations.