What do #LifeHacks and funny videos have to do with the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC)? Everything, as it seems. Recently, the organizers of the annual, energy-focused conference and exhibition tapped Houston-based creative marketing outfit, WOND3R, to help expand awareness and drive attendance.
Alan Wegener, Project Director for URTeC and Managing Director, Global Business, for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), challenged the agency to help diversify the show’s media mix and implement an aggressive digital strategy that effectively utilized social media. “After 6 years of highly successful events, our research showed that some professionals in the industry still didn’t know about us,” Wegener said. “We wanted to change that by taking our outreach to another level.” URTeC is attended by the top companies in the industry like Devon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, OXY and GEODynamics.
WOND3R Co-Founder/Creative Director Graham Painter knew right away that the campaign needed content that was breakthrough to be successful. The solution was to call on individuals in the target audience – professionals working unconventional resource plays – to come up with unconventional solutions to everyday problems (i.e., life hacks) outside of the energy sector. Calling on key partners and veteran director Raul Casares, the WOND3R team set on creating the ultimate #LifeHack fail video to create attention around the promotion and the conference at large. “We just thought that the Internet is loaded with simple #LifeHacks that work, so why not use the ideas of surprise and humor to engage the audience,” added Painter.
In addition to providing smiles and show information, the video encouraged viewers to create and submit their own videos and/or photos. All entries were judged after URTeC 2019 and gift cards were awarded to the winners.
