Consulting Project: Marketing Strategy for "the next" — Annual Conference on Human Behavior

Context 

the next is an annual Moscow conference exploring how human behavior evolves — and what that means for business, products, and strategy. It brings together marketers, founders, researchers, and C-suite executives to examine one big theme through three lenses: business, science, and culture.

Two months before the 2026 edition — themed "Human in the City" — the organizer brought me in as a marketing consultant. The conference was scaling: the full programme runs in Russian with simultaneous interpretation into Chinese, supported by a dedicated Chinese-language landing page for international partners. Major outlets like Kommersant and RBC had requested a media kit, and the team needed the full external communication infrastructure built quickly and precisely.

The Work

1. Landing Page Audit & Rewrite. The existing landing page led with the conference's intellectual concept — compelling for those already familiar with the project, but unclear for first-time visitors. There were no defined audience signals, no progressive warm-up, and CTAs appeared too late in the page flow.

I restructured the page architecture from the ground up: redefined how the target audience was described, introduced warm-up blocks that built the case for attending before asking for a purchase, and placed clear, contextual CTAs at each decision point. I also adjusted the tone of voice to balance intellectual credibility with commercial clarity.

Results: 12% increase in conversion after the changes went live.

2. Media Kit Redesign. The previous media kit was generating silence — organizers weren't receiving responses, even from outlets that had expressed interest. The core problem: the kit didn't differentiate between types of partners or make it immediately clear what each party would receive.

I rebuilt the media kit with three distinct partnership tiers — press, barter, and headline sponsor — each with a defined package of deliverables. Recipients could now immediately identify which tier fit their goals and what the collaboration would look like in practice. The redesigned kit was timed to outreach toward Kommersant and RBC, who had specifically requested materials.

Results: Kommersant confirmed as a media partner. Several additional publications followed.

3. Full Content Rollout. With the landing page and media kit in place, I created a content strategy for the launch. After that I wrote the complete external content suite for the launch:

• A press release for editorial outlets — structured around a clear news hook, supported by audience data (72% C/D-level attendees and founders at the 2025 edition, 860,000+ media reach), and anchored by a quote from the conference's program director, an economic sociologist with an MA from the University of Manchester.

• Two email campaigns — one for a warm audience of past attendees, built on familiarity and continuity; one for cold contacts, leading with the conference's track record and speaker caliber. Different tone, different persuasion logic, same core message.

• Three Telegram posts — each adapted for a different channel type: lifestyle and city media, professional urban discourse communities, and business and strategy publications. Format, vocabulary, and angle adjusted for each.

Results: All materials taken into production without revisions. 9 speakers confirmed, including representatives from Mostransproekt, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and a researcher from HSE's Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Studies. 

14+ partners confirmed, including T Bank, Yandex Ultima, Avito, Lamoda, Moskvichka, Puzzle English, and Onegin.

→ View the 2026 conference in Russian or Chinese

→ View thenext conference project