Semi-Permanent is something that creatives are well aware of, so it certainly didn’t need to be explained to them. What was required, however, was to remind Auckland’s creative community why it was so important that they took the time to attend it. But the problem was that if they could have taken a break, they would have done so already. So just telling them they should was pointless. Instead, what was needed was to reframe the opportunity in a way that would resonate with a bunch of grumpy, overworked creatives.

We all need inspiration, creative people most of all. But often we’re so pressured it’s nearly impossible to carve out the time. If ever there was an ideal reason for creatives to make some time for themselves, it was the Semi-Permanent conference. But the creative audience had to be persuaded, so a campaign that empathised with their time pressures in a unique and totally surprising way was created.

Using a mix of (unauthorised) drone-powered video content, visual storytelling, blogging and good old-fashioned eDM, NZ’s creative community was persuaded to actually take some much-needed time out. And they did, with the event fully sold out for the first time in its history.