To achieve the goals listed above, we chose Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The conference coincided with the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11 (the first moon landing), so we knew there would be considerable attention generated by the media prior to the event.

We also knew Apollo 11 was one of the most significant endeavors in human history. And when the Top 100 Events of the 20th Century were compiled, Walter Cronkite, historian Arthur Schlesinger and others ranked Apollo 11 as the century’s number one event. The media attention in both cases provided additional exposure, at no cost to our client.

In our campaign we leveraged the famous images of Buzz on the moon in direct mail pieces and in a poster we created for the event. [Click here or on the poster to see it larger.]

We also prepared the audience for his speech by placing the well known images of Buzz at key locations, erecting a space tunnel as an entrance to the auditorium and placing the Saturn V rocket and the Eagle landing module on stage. We also showed a five-minute film of the highlights of the Apollo 11 flight. When Buzz stepped to the podium, the audience was primed. He received two lengthy standing ovations and became the highlight of the conference.

Footnote:
Perceptions determine the success of any event or any gathering. For this conference, the people attending were rewarded with the opportunity to touch a part of history. Apollo 11 was the first time that human beings walked on another world. The gravity of that statement could be seen on the delegates’ faces. And they will associate those memories with the event.

Their album went double platinum
and won two Grammys.
 

We chose the Dallas-based Dixie Chicks. At the time we booked the group, they were an up-and-coming musical act. But we knew they were really good; their photo images could be used effectively; the audience would really like them; and we could afford their apprearance fee.

  Since we booked a year in advance of the event, we got a pleasant surprise by the time the conference got under way. The Dixie Chicks had just released a new album; it was shooting up the charts; they were on television with increasing regularity; and two of their songs had made it to number one.

Our audience was awed by their performance and in the 12 months following the event, the Dixie Chicks won four Horizon Awards, three CMA Awards and two Grammys including Song of the Year and Group of the Year. They received enormous media coverage including numerous television appearances and voluminous newspaper and magazine coverage.

This was fantastic for the conference since the people who attend (annually) judge the event by who is there. This is not unlike many social gatherings, where the importance of a party is determined by the importance of who attends. In this case, the meteoric success of the Dixie Chicks had a very positive impact on how the industry perceived the conference.