The conference where storytelling takes center stage

To help delegates feel part of a collective ambition.

Imagine taking delegates on a journey from the Wild West to the jungle, or from outer space to the land of fairytales.

More than 400 staff from a global pharmaceutical company stepped into this imaginary world, allowing them to connect with their organization’s ambitions and celebrate their successes.

Read on to explore how we crafted content that was full of purpose and kept storytelling at its heart.

The challenge

Our global pharmaceutical client had some big ambitions to meet. The mission for this UK conference was to keep teams energized and motivated to meet their goals, ensure they felt listened to by leadership, and celebrate their successes. We were asked to build on the “This is why” visual identity that we created for a previous conference, which is all about helping employees to connect with the organization’s purpose and use storytelling to write their own narratives of success.

The solution.

We created an action-packed, vibrant, and interactive conference celebrating the power of storytelling in all its forms. This brought together our Creative, Strategy, Behavioral Science, and Film teams. 

Creating a compelling narrative.

The “This is why” visual identity was used throughout to reconnect the audience to their purpose. The design was reminiscent of a book title, with textured backgrounds used to suggest the page of a book and the tactile nature of stories and art. Each delegate also received their own personalized event book to use throughout the conference.

The power of imagination.

Presentations by delegates from each therapy area were themed around a different storytelling genre. From tales of superheroes, to outer space and the Wild West, we worked with teams on everything from the visual presentation to audio effects and props.

It was a light-hearted way to deliver serious content and was woven together in the schedule with the plenaries, panel discussions and sessions you would expect to find at a pharmaceutical conference.

Each of our workshops also asked delegates to use their imagination: from painting to bullet journaling, poetry to song composition, everything delegates were engaged in focused on encouraging the power of collective collaboration.

Through the lens.

Our film team produced 65 separate deliverables, including a short animated film, countdowns, and opening stings to introduce sessions, along with narration to maintain that sense of storytelling throughout.

Celebrating success.

The conference culminated in a glitzy awards ceremony. From creating the look and feel to scripting, content and audio, we produced a fast-paced, 45-minute ceremony where the house band played an interactive role.   

The results.

Thank you so much for your continued support. We couldn’t do this without you! The engagement and energy was fantastic… the conference continues to be a key piece to achieving our ambition.

(UK General Manager)