IQOQO Sessions
Client: IQOQO
Period: 2023
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
Arts, culture & heritage
01 The sneak-peek
What does it take to make it in South Africa's creative industries?
To launch IQOQO — the creative-industries platform BBA Liminal co-created — to the public, we conceptualised the IQOQO Sessions: nine talks over three days, one leading professional from each of IQOQO's nine sectors sharing the real story of their journey.
02 The liminal moment
IQOQO is the creative-commons platform for Cultural and Creative Industries professionals that BBA Liminal co-created — spanning nine sectors, from film and fashion to gaming and XR. Bringing it into public life was its own threshold: how do you launch a platform like this so people understand what it is for, rather than simply being told?
Our answer was to show it. We conceptualised the IQOQO Sessions — nine talks over three days, on 1, 2 and 3 August 2023, with one speaker drawn from each of IQOQO's nine key sectors, each invited to share their journey to success, triumphs and adversity alike. Hosted inside True Design at Keyes Art Mile as a satellite of Joburg Decor and Design Week, the Sessions made the platform's purpose tangible: the people, the sectors and the journeys IQOQO exists to connect and celebrate.
03 The transformation
We launched by showing, not telling. The speakers embodied what IQOQO sets out to do — so the Sessions launched the platform by showing the public what it is about, rather than only telling them. Nine sectors, nine journeys, one platform made real.
We made the storytelling interactive. Each speaker gave an overview of their journey and achievements, followed by a Q&A led by MC Shandukani O. Mulaudzi — letting the audience engage with, and learn from, leaders across film, fashion, visual arts, museums, design, architecture, animation, XR and gaming.
We built the stories to travel. To keep telling these journeys, we developed short 60-second social reels and long-form features on IQOQO.org — so those who weren't in the room could engage with them too, carrying the launch well past the three days.
04 The craft
Three days, nine journeys
The creative industries in their own words: nine speakers — Milisuthando Bongela, Papama Mtwisha, Lady Skollie, Gabi Ngcobo, Nindya Bucktowar, Shaakira Jassat, Nosipho Maketo van den Bragt, Kirstin Lee Grey and Cukia 'Sugar' Kimani — one from each IQOQO sector, hosted at True Design, Keyes Art Mile, and carried onward in reels and long-form stories.
05 The validation of purpose
The launch worked because it let IQOQO speak for itself. 548 free seats were reserved across the three days, audiences tagged #iqoqosessions in 59 Instagram posts, and nine creative journeys — one per sector — gave the public a first, tangible sense of the platform BBA Liminal co-created. The reels and long-form stories carried those journeys onward, to people who were never in the room.
548 free seats reserved
9 creative journeys shared
59 #iqoqosessions posts
Brand & communications strategy
Facilitation & convening
Capacity building
Audiovisual & motion
Copywriting
Brand platform development
Positioning & narrative
