The challenge

With the advent of AI, beloved automation platform Zapier needed to reinvent itself — and its annual user conference, ZapConnect. As part of that evolution, the creative team asked: In a world where everyone is talking about AI but very few brands offer true clarity, how can we position ZapConnect as the must-attend AI event of the year?

The process

That question led us to a creative direction we called the illuminated journey: a cinematic path of discovery, guided by light. Together, design and copy mapped this journey across the entire experience, from registration to event day. As we created that journey for attendees, we went on one ourselves, embracing AI as a tool that amplifies creative impact — while staying grounded in human storytelling and joy.

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Eventually, this creative direction became the foundation for:

• A bespoke event landing page that framed ZapConnect 2025 as the place where attendees find true AI clarity
• An omnichannel promotional campaign that drove ~30k registrations
• Event programming tailored to the marketers, IT leaders, and ops innovators responsible for scaling AI across their orgs — featuring a special celebrity keynote from LeVar Burton

The creative