As a first-year event, it was pivotal that the Sarasota International Design Summit capture media, attendee and sponsor attention early and often to ensure the event's success. It was also crucial that the site evolve in its design, layout and content as the summit solidified its offerings and speakers. As one of the world's most influential design institutions, the Ringling School of Art & Design sought to showcase engaging design and its power to transforms people, places and products at the summit. The summit site had to epitomize transformational design and functionality in order to seize would-be attendees, speakers and sponsors.
We collaborated intensely with Ringling staff to develop an interactive campaign that would leverage offline-branding initiatives and incorporate the innovative summit persona. We created a dynamic Web site with rich imagery and modern design elements to educate the design and business communities about Ringling's first-ever summit. The intuitive, enthralling design packaged speakers, agenda and area information to drive summit registrations and sponsorship inquiries. The site was complemented by a captivating e-campaign that extended the summit's interactive brand and alerted people about the latest summit information.
Over 175 people registered online for the Sarasota International Design Summit. Event organizers were thrilled since the figures far surpassed estimated goals for this first-year event. The site and e-blasts attracted attendees, sponsors and press from all over the world. Ultimately, the site positioned the summit as a connecting force between international design and business communities. We were tapped to make the site bigger and better for the 2007 summit based on the success of the previous year's campaign. In 2007, we began anew incorporating a campaign with spell bounding animation, design and functionality.
