THE FRONT ROW LECTURE SERIES
Project Goals
To increase awareness of Scripps Research’s mission by hosting live and virtual lecture events.
I built the Front Row lecture series and led the strategy to enhance the event experience digitally and in-person, covering advertising, registration, and follow-up communications. For the past five years, the series has aimed to increase brand awareness among newcomers to Scripps Research and the public, helping them understand Scripps Research, its mission, and the significance of its research for human health. This brand awareness campaign fed the top of the nonprofit marketing funnel of the institute’s brand.
The lecture series featured nine speakers annually. Each one-hour event was free and accessible via Zoom or in person at the Scripps Research auditorium. Events included a 30-minute presentation from scientists about their lab’s research and a 20-minute Q&A, followed by a catered reception for in-person attendees to mingle, network, meet lab members, or tour the campus. Registrants receive an email 24 hours post-event with “three takeaways” to make the science accessible, a recording, registration for the following lecture, and an invitation to become a donor.
Services
Color Palette & Logo Marks / Event Audio & Visuals / Microsite / Direct Mail / Email Marketing / Paid Meta & Google Display Ads
COLOR PALETTE & LOGO MARKS
I designed the color palette and logo marks to transform Scripps Research’s traditional academic presentation into a vibrant, accessible brand experience. The visual identity conveys approachability and human connection to science, paired with professional credibility. The logo mark features a clean, modern wordmark with “FRONT ROW” prominently displayed alongside refined “Lecture Series” secondary text, seamlessly integrating institutional branding while maintaining scalability across digital platforms, print materials, and large-scale event displays.
EVENT AUDIO & VISUALS
I worked to transform the auditorium from an outdated, beige event space into a lively, colorful, and curiosity-evoking theater. I wanted to offer the polished branding and accessibility of a TED talk, alongside the intimate and conversational quality of the Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman.
A/V production included: video recording of the stage and queued transitions from the stage to presentation screens, colorful uplighting throughout the theater, onstage pipe and drape with uplighting, staged furniture and stage lighting for the interview area, a lecture podium with a confidence monitor, a spotlight, and an LED wall for lecture slides.
On-screen presentation included: a pre-content loop of giving opportunities and “fun facts” about the presenter, a 2-minute house open video featuring beautiful drone footage and soundbites that share the institute’s mission, event-branded animations to transition to lecture slide content, and an interface for Zoom that shows both the speakers and their presentation slides.
MICROSITE
The microsite informed visitors about the relevant details regarding the lecture topic, the speaker, registration, and event attendance. Digital ads targeted landing pages that required the fewest user clicks to complete registration and triggered automated email flows based on user-selected preferences.
The microsite also featured boilerplate language about Scripps Research, recordings of past lectures, and a donation form for users ready to convert from subscribers to committed donors.
DIRECT MAIL INVITE
A double gatefold card featuring the complete schedule of lecture speakers and topics for the 2025 season, along with a branded A6 envelope, targeting highly engaged subscribers in the Southern California area.
EMAIL MARKETING
The main goal of the lecture series is to build an engaged email subscriber base. Lectures introduce biweekly press release content with registration including consent to Scripps Research email marketing and relevant policies.
Existing subscribers receive event invites three weeks, one week, and one hour before each lecture.
All registrants get a post-event email within 24 hours featuring “three takeaways,” a recording, registration for the next lecture, and a donation invitation, personalized with their first name and signed by the event MC.
New registrants enter a Klaviyo “onboarding journey,” receiving colorful emails over 30 days that showcase four content options (social/email, print magazine, podcast, and events) and allow preference selection.
META & GOOGLE DISPLAY PAID ADS
After years of testing various ad formats, including HTML5 animations, video, and static displays, we identified a strategy that attracted the most new registrants per lecture. The successful format and layouts were static ads on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google Display Ads. For each lecture, we conducted A/B tests during the first 72 hours of a ≥ 30-day campaign using creative that either showcased colorful microscopy with the lecture title or an illustration featuring the lecture title, lecturer’s headshot, and name, as well as the lecture date.
We found that, depending on the lecture topic, there was some fluctuation in which ad layout performed better. Additionally, after several years of testing, we discovered that while some emotional ads about fighting disease generated short-term interest, they did not lead to registrants who remained engaged for future lectures or other research-related content. These ad respondents were primarily interested in immediate disease treatment rather than the longer process of developing research.
Outcome
Achieved continuous growth in brand awareness by increasing event participation, email subscribers, social media followers, and retaining new registrants.
EVENT PARTICIPATION
Results (2024–2025)
It’s also important to note that the results reflect interest in biomedical research topics. This is a small niche audience of content consumers who find value in high-level science discussions.
- Current Average Participation per Lecture: 6,200 attendees (combined live + virtual)
- Peak Attendance: 9,600 participants (The gut-brain axis: A key to metabolism and longevity with Supriya Srinivasan, PhD, February 26, 2025)
- Global Reach: Attendees from 28 countries.
Engagement Metrics
- 40% of participants engage in Q&A/live chat
- 30% return attendance rate per lecture
- Over 50,000 cumulative lecture views per year (on-demand access)
EMAIL MARKETING SUBSCRIBER AQUISITION
Since its inception in 2020 and up to its current state in 2025, this lecture series has consistently gained email subscribers for the brand. In the initial years, success was measured by acquiring between 200 and 500 new subscribers per lecture. By 2024-25, each lecture attracted an average of 3,800 new subscribers, with the most popular lecture reaching 5,650.
This gradual growth provided a metric that illustrated the expansion of a digital community engaging with the brand’s content across various platforms, including events, email, web press releases, magazine articles, and podcast episodes. Subscribers began to form personal connections with the scientists and researchers.
