“Facebook and Instagram have delivered on building international awareness with incredible reach. Partnering with Facebook and utilizing the creative solutions team in the best ways possible, enabled us to maximize engagement and view-through rate.” – Anthony Ward, VP Marketing, Expo 2020
In October, Expo 2020 Dubai launched its biggest global campaign to date, entitled “Be There.” The campaign was part of a large international effort to increase awareness and consideration by helping people understand that Expo 2020 Dubai will be an event for everyone. The campaign was meant to excite people from all walks of life about the prospect of being there for a moment that is set to define the world for generations to come. Targeting over 15 million unique visitors who will come to the site over 25 million times, the majority of which will come from abroad, Expo had to explain the unique benefits of attending, while creating excitement, anticipation, and intent.
With so many potential travelers, Expo 2020’s targeting aimed at reaching people most likely to visit the site between October 2020 and April 2021, by communicating both the overall proposition and the thematic and programmatic content in store for visitors.
The creative strategy was anchored in the insight that most people often hear about big events, but end up missing them. Expo 2020 Dubai is their chance not to miss the next big thing. The event was compared to landmark historical events and positioned as the catalyst for what’s to come in the future.
What were the main objectives of the “Be There” campaign that ran on Facebook platforms?
Building awareness and consideration to attend Expo 2020 was the key communication objective. As our core asset was a video, video views were our main marketing objective.
What made you choose Facebook’s marketing solutions out of many alternatives?
Facebook and Instagram have been two of the highest reaching and performing platforms for Expo historically. They have also proved to be cost-efficient and effective with regards to our objectives.
Which Facebook/Instagram solutions and products did you use for this campaign?
We have used Audience insights to clearly define our target audience based on our visitation model. In addition, we have worked with Facebook creative partners to enhance our creative to be more mobile-friendly and in line with Facebook and Instagram ad formats. We have also relied on Facebook pixels and events manager to understand user behavior on our website and allow deeper engagement with them.
Which measurement methods did you use to gain new learnings?
From a brand health perspective, we used the Brand Lift studies to understand the message association and the brand recall across all target markets. We also have a media effectiveness score in place, which we use to assess each platform on its strengths.
How would you describe the value of measurement?
This measurement becomes the key input for all of our upcoming campaigns.
What do you do to measure the impact of online investment on-brand campaigns?
Considering we are in the consideration phase and ticket sales are not an objective, we use our brand tracker across key markets to measure campaign effectiveness. Some of the parameters measured included familiarity, understanding, buzz, relevance, and likelihood to attend.
What best practices would you recommend to other advertisers who want to increase their brand awareness in general?
Always develop assets based on the platform’s landscape and optimal duration. In order to ensure audience retention, we highly recommend that the brand also ensure that the first quarter of the film is sharp and engaging, rather than slow in telling a story. In addition, always ensure branding upfront in the first 3-5 seconds, especially when it comes to increasing/creating brand awareness.
