Astana

A multifaceted cross-platform approach promotes city EXPO

Challenge

The city of Astana, Kazakhstan, was the host of EXPO 2017. This prestigious event has been steeped in scientific advancement and innovation since the inaugural London exhibition in 1851.

CNNIC was tasked with raising awareness of the Expo, which ran from 10 June – 10 September, attracting visitors to Astana and promoting the theme of sustainable energy. The overall mission was to educate, excite and engage multi-layered audiences.

Solution

The Future Energy theme gave insights into green energy initiatives from all over the world.

To maximise engagement with this diverse movement, we architected an intricate cross-platform approach with many points of entry to stories across digital and TV.

Results

8m+ Banner impressions

2k Total TV units

840k Page views

445k+ Facebook reach

Campaign Deliverables

Television

The campaign led with strategic spot placements with brand alignment around a special series, ‘powering your world’ on sustainable energy that ran on CNN International, supplemented with daily segments and a special 30 minute programme during the week of July 10-17.

Synlight – creating fuel from artificial sunlight

Synlight is the largest artificial sun in the world, offering a possibility of generating synthetic fuels.

Kite power

Using kites to harness wind power, we follow the UK’s first company to fly kites in search of energy.

Rare Earths

How rare earth elements, traditionally a waste product are fuelling sustainable energy production in Kazakhstan.

Flywheel – storing renewable energy

How Ireland is leading the way in renewable energy storage to meet its target of 40% by 2020.

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Content & sponsorship

The digital campaign included a branded content hub with a series of native content articles hosted on CNN.com. In addition, CNNIC created a sponsored section on sustainable energy called Powering Your World on CNNMoney.com (now CNN Business) with the client having 100% SOV on the homepage and related articles.

Sponsor Content Site Screenshot – Astana

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Social

Create, CNNIC’s brand studio, covered the Astana EXPO 2017 with a live social media campaign. Twitter and Instagram posts helped drive interest to 5 Facebook Live events in the run-up and during the EXPO.