We used electronic media and direct mail specifically targeting design and advertising agencies to start. This meant leaking the innovative prototyping and 3D-scanning processes we were employing to create the work, which we did digitally.We used PR to communicate the immense effort of finding ordinary people (especially those in rural areas) with extraordinary ideas.So when the traditional ad campaign hit, some of our featured designers were already becoming household names, like Ethiopian Azmeraw Zeleke, who had attracted new businesspeople with his creativity. The wider market was reached with a 4-week burst of traditional media including TV, radio, print, press and posters. It was followed by our branding of the Design Indaba magazine cover, which appeared at newsstands everywhere.Thereafter, the campaign filtered into all areas at the event like outdoor, branding of Cape Town’s streets during the event, programmes, access tags, speaker stage intros, displays and more.

The Design Indaba 2009 conference and simulcast was sold out two weeks in advance. The expo sold a record 29,000 tickets, a 28% increase over the previous year. The expo also showed a 56% increase in international buyers from 2008. Design Indaba was featured on several national and international television variety shows and websites. It is widely regarded as the world's premier design conference. For the client, it achieved its goals in not only selling tickets but branding the event as something accessible to all.