United Nations

The United Nations turned 80 this year. To mark the milestone, they were looking to host a once-in-a-generation conference at Sydney’s Sheraton Grand Hotel. 

NGOs, business leaders, academics and civil servants – the UN wanted to bring them all together for a day of talks, networking, collaboration, and defining the organisation’s role in the 21st century. 

And it was a big deal. Many giants of Australian politics, like Penny Wong, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Dr Anne Aly MP, Minister for Small Business, International Development and Multicultural Affairs, were booked to speak at the event.

So how were we going to get people to sign up?

In recent years, there’s a perception that the UN hasn’t done enough to solve the modern world’s biggest challenges: be that inequality, instability, insecurity or anything in-between.

This meant we had to convince people that the conference was worth their while, and that it would be a forum for genuine action (not just talks). A chance to actually get things fixed, in one place, on one day, under one roof.

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To solve this problem, we asked ourselves: what does the UN do best? The answer: they unite people (the clue is in their name). 

For decades, they’ve brought people together as an international forum to solve major global challenges, from eradicating smallpox and reducing extreme poverty to defining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Our work reminded people of this superpower, positioning the conference as a rare opportunity to join forces with other leading thinkers and make a tangible impact through collective action. #UnitedInAction became the rallying cry for the event, with messaging that flexed across speaker topics (“Unite for Human Rights”, “Unite for Wildlife”, “Unite for Facts’ Sake”) and showed people that they’d be helping to solve a range of issues by taking part.

The sense of unity linked up our design system, too. The logo showed three circles interlocking into a single dynamic shape and the individual executions displayed policymakers, gamechangers and humanitarians standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity.

The campaign worked. It was a full house. The atmosphere was electric. And the event played a pivotal role in building alliances and shaping plans of action in multiple industries. A fitting way to mark 80 years of the United Nations.

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