How does a world conference grow when it cannot meet in person?

The brief

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The Union - the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease - holds the world's largest gathering of health practitioners, policymakers, researchers and advocates working against lung disease, with a particular focus on low- and lower-middle-income populations. In 2020, The Union was forced by the pandemic to hold its World Conference on Lung Health virtually for the first time in its hundred-year history. The Union asked us to drive registrations and revenue beyond the membership number, broaden participation beyond the EU and North America, and raise the conference's profile.

What we planned

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Reaching this audience meant going well beyond the existing membership. We built targeting frameworks from behavioural and demographic data by geographical region, modelled lookalike segments from previous conference attendees, and retargeted site visitors who had started but not finished registering. From the outset, we tested two distinct creative approaches, the client's established style and a new, more literal execution we proposed, so the campaign could learn what worked for which audience rather than assuming one creative fitted everyone.

How it ran

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An initial run of 28 creative executions launched across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in the first fortnight, growing to 32 in total. Google Ad Grant-funded paid search ran alongside, restructured and actively managed from 10 September 2020. Older, more senior audiences engaged more readily with the traditional creative, while younger healthcare professionals responded better to the literal approach, so we optimised delivery to each group's behaviour. Partway through, we adjusted the registration journey to reduce friction.

What the reporting showed

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Participants came in at more than four times the membership number, and registration revenue finished above its target. Sixty-two per cent of participants came from outside the EU and North America, with India, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Tanzania, Indonesia and Kenya all prominent among site visitors. Site traffic rose sharply once paid activity began, and the bounce rate roughly halved over the same period, suggesting visit quality held up as volume grew. Video proved the most engaging format.

Campaign results

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2020 Union World Conference campaign results

Measure	Result
Participants against target	More than 4x the membership number
Participants from outside the EU and North America	62%
Site traffic since paid activity began	+269.86%
Recognition	Winner, Northern Digital Awards 2022, Best Digital Marketing Campaign, Third Sector

Source: The Union award entries and Route's post-campaign analysis, 2020 campaign period. All outcomes relate to the 2020 campaign.

A partnership across three conferences

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We went on to run the World Conference registration campaigns in 2021 and 2022, building on the 2020 result with targeted early-bird activity for previous attendees ahead of each main campaign, and working in partnership with Gardiner Richardson. The results above relate to the 2020 campaign.

The work was recognised with two industry awards for the 2020 campaign.

• 2022 Northern Digital Awards - Winner, Best Digital Marketing Campaign Third Sector (with partner Gardiner Richardson)
• 2021 Global Digital Excellence Awards - Winner, Best Global Charity/Not for Profit Campaign