TEDxToronto, a regional arm of a global conference and speaking series, has tapped Rethink Canada to develop creative gold for this year’s conference, which will be built around the theme of “Alchemy.”
The agency will be tasked with creating radio and print ads, event collateral and signage for this year’s event, scheduled for Oct. 26 in Toronto.
It is the first time the annual conference has worked with a creative agency in its four-year history. The appointment stems from an informal conversation between the two parties about issuing an RFP, an idea that was soon shelved when it became apparent there was a nice fit between the two.
“When a talented and like-minded creative agency like Rethink offers to handle your event pro bono, you just jump at the opportunity,” said TEDxToronto marketing director Jodi Brown. “We know their work and we think they’re going to do a fantastic job for us.”
The first TEDxToronto event in 2009 attracted 120 attendees, while nearly 750 people attended last year and close to 1,000 are expected to be on hand for this year’s event.
An additional 30,000 people watched a live stream of the event, while videos from the 2011 conference have been viewed more than one million times on TED.com, TedXToronto.com and YouTube.
Rethink’s first work for TEDxToronto will appear in mid-July, when delegate applications open and the conference’s first speakers are announced. Brown said that TEDxToronto is keen to spread the word about the conference beyond the core audience of “forward-thinkers,” “activists,” and “intellectual leaders” to the general public.
“We don’t need to put bums in seats, but we’d like to amplify the event to the wider community to have people from different sectors applying,” said Brown.
