Humanitarian Xchange

Client: Humanitarian Leadership Academy

"When Brandfuel lost the pitch for a new humanitarian summit, we were absolutely gutted and went back to ask why. 

Our presentation - complete with event name, graphic identity, website and video - had seriously impressed the client, the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA), but the cost was too high. And so the collaborating and cost-cutting began, leading to what Dominic Courage, the HLA Deputy Director, called “an amazing partnership”. 

In 2022, the HLA reported that there were only 628,000 humanitarian workers globally. With the growing prevalence of crises, there were simply not enough humanitarians: a new approach was desperately needed. 

With a mission to mobilise a million trained humanitarians in the next decade, and to create a more collaborative approach to overcoming global crises based on long-term relationships, the Humanitarian Xchange on February 20, 2024, set itself ambitious, uncompromising targets. HLA wanted 3,000 registered online attendees, with 400 in-person delegates at the Business Design Centre in London. It also wanted a global platform that would continue to help humanitarians everywhere do their job more effectively.

Roll on eight months: we delivered the largest gathering of humanitarians in the UK for 50 years. On the day, 5,488 people had registered online (82% above the target). Online and in-person attendees registered from 142 countries, and 485 came in-person (21% above the target). The 39 sessions (31 hours) of content were live-streamed to 885 online attendees, and 1,500 - and counting - have engaged with on-demand content. This is available for three months."