So, I am back from that insane week that is known as South by Southwest, or SXSW. For the uninitiated, SXSW is three conferences in one – an interactive conference for the first half of the week, a music conference for the second half of the week, and a film festival spanning the whole week. It takes place in Austin, TX and is in its one millionth year or something like that.
This is my fifth year attending both the music conference and the interactive conference, and my tenth
SXSW overall. I’ll try and get to another post on here about the interesting things I encountered at the interactive conference, and I generally blog about my experience at the music festival over at my Rock Tourism blog
Rocktourist if you’re curious.
What I thought it would be fun to do this year, though, would be to critique SXSW as a marketing channel. This seems like it might prove useful to our clients, who are always looking for interesting ways to market to people. And while there has been no shortage of things written about marketing @ SXSW, I haven’t seen too many people critique the marketing from a conference-goers point of view. Given my long history in advertising, I figured I was the man for the job.
There are several ways you can market at SXSW. First, you could go the legitimate route and become an official sponsor of the conference or conferences. This ranges from something as simple as a ad in their program book, to an insert, to sponsoring a party, as we did, or becoming a full on partner for the conference.
Secondly, you could throw a rogue party, or host a rogue party house. During the interactive conference, this mainly means doing things like buying out a bar for a night and spreading the word on facebook that you’ve got an open bar tab for a few hours. During the music conference, this can also be this way, but can extend to being an insanely elaborate “house,” such as the Fader/Levi’s Fort or the Red Bull Moontower.
During music, you also have the option of throwing a day party – sponsored or not. Rachel Rae and Paris Hilton took this route, as did the Onion and Pitchfork. Typically this is a consortium of brands banding together – friends, usually – and getting together with a music label, magazine, booking agent, etc. in order to bring you some bands.
One other option is to sign on as an additional sponsor one of the lounges that is already in existence. Purevolume is the best example of this. Purevolume is a music website that hosts an after-hours rock lounge all week, and sponsors pay to be either a week-long sponsor (if, say, you’re a vodka brand), or you can sponsor a specific night. As a bit of an experiment, I sponsored a specific night at Purevolume on my own (well, with some friends, more on that in a bit), using my
twitter handle. I mainly did this because I like a good party, and I was curious what the process would be like.
Finally, you could “go rogue” and be on the ground, doing hard core guerilla marketing – leaflets, free samples, etc.
So, first, let’s look at the official sponsors. Basically, the top level of being an official SXSW sponsor lets you be a “presented by” sponsor. This means that every booklet, sign in the clubs, banner, etc. has your logo on it. You can be a “presented by” sponsor for interactive, film, music, or all of it.
The interactive only presented-by sponsors seem to include Microsoft Silverlight.
The all-conference sponsors seem to be Miller Lite, Fuze, IFC, ZOne (the bars, I think), and the Austin Chronicle.
Pepsi seems to be a sponsor as well, though during interactive, interestingly, they sponsored the conference as Mountain Dew. On the site it says Pepsico, with the old logo. On the banner behind the bands, it’s the
much-maligned new logo.This sort of sponsoring seems to be a straight up numbers and impressions play. SXSW is a remarkably diverse festival, especially across interactive, film and music. Getting your logo in front of all of those people probably has value – especially for second-tier products like Zone and Fuze. I have no idea what this sort of sponsorship costs, but I would do a straight up calculation against any other sort of outdoor or display advertising. There’s not a lot of deeper engagement with the consumer, and anything ancillary the offer aside from your logo everywhere goes to a far, far smaller number of people.
Throwing a party during the interactive and film conferences, by contrast, seems an extraordinary value. For very little money, you get your name printed in the official schedule, and a TON of people will come to your party. It’s up to you to capitalize on that and turn it into good will for your brand, but after two years, I’ve found it’s really not that hard. You just throw a good party, and be nice to everyone. Seems a much better value. Red Bull takes this to the extreme with the Red Bull Moontower, an amazing party installation over on east Guadaloupe that has fantastic art, great bands, free drinks, all the red bull you want and zero carbon footprint.
Having this kind of control over the experience is powerful, and you can reach your target in a much more effective way. Potential customers can feel true brand affinity for you if you footed the bill on them seeing Monotonix or Erica Bayduh up close and personal.
Comparing this to sponsoring something like Purevolume, the benefits become even more clear. After hours houses at SXSW are notoriously packed, impossible to get into, or so far away that they aren’t worth going to. You don’t control the brand experience, and the conditions are generally horrible. I paid maybe a third as much for my Purevolume sponsorship as we did for the Barbarian/Onion party at the (really wonderful) Mohawk bar. I don’t think I even got one tenth of the brand exposure. For days afterward, people were complimenting me on our great party at the Mohawk. For days afterward I found myself apologizing for the rude door staff, capricious rules, schizophrenic bouncers, warm beer and intolerable volume at the Purevolume house. The told us the VIP area held 100, limited our total number of VIP wristbands (not simultaneous attendance, but total wristbands) to 50, then took ten of those for themselves, even though they had the other 50, and then proceeded to cram 200 people in there. We had a wine cosponsor who wasn’t allowed to serve her wine. All of this was after we explicitly stated our concerns that exactly this would happen. Priority attendance was randomly cut off at 1AM for a 4AM party – even though the whole point of doing it there was for the 4AMness of the event, and such a cutoff was nowhere in our contract.
Having gone to SXSW many times, and been to Purevolume before, I went into it expecting exactly this sort of behaviour, and so I’m not surprised. But I cringe thinking of other sponsors who come by expecting to be treated well. Walk up to the door and say your a sponsor. You’d expect at least a “oh hello, this isn’t your night but come on in” or a “sorry we can’t let you in tonight but talk to so and so tomorrow and you’ll be all set.” This was a nuisance for me, but could be a serious drag if you’re a brand or trying to show a client a good time. It’s worse when you’re trying to get a client in, holding a VIP wristband for them in your hand, and are being yelled at by bouncers telling you that the place is full no matter what, while you watch them bring in underage girls.
Obviously I’m a little bitter, but I think it does actually highlight the risk of this sort of marketing. As you partner up with people, know who’s in charge. Purevolume has a business to run and an image to protect and that involves giving young aspiring rock bands the impression of upward success in the music industry. This is potentially true at any other party that’s not in your control.
I’ve noticed that Fader and Levi’s have had a long fruitful relationship on the marketing of the Fort, and it seems to work well for them. I’d have to question the immense expense and whether it’s had an impact on their brand, however, but at least I can’t fault the great experience the Fader/Levi’s fort provides. You’ll notice, however, there aren’t a
ton of second-level sponsors for the Fort – it’s just a couple brands. So the impact is stronger.
I also have to put in a good word for the guerilla marketing on sixth street. Free handouts are THE BOMB and everyone is thankful. There are THOUSANDS of people on sixth street, just walking around – way more than actually attend the conference. And they love free stuff. There was a line 8 people deep wherever the little Red Bull car went.
This, then, I think, leads us to some guiding principle for advertising at SXSW.
Nine Rules for effective SXSW Sponsorship
#1: Do less, well. Don’t try and blanket the whole event unless you can OWN it. Have a single party, or maybe two, and have them be AWESOME. Facebook did this expertly during interactive – they found a great club and they had their single party, and it was awesome and I will be forever thankful for them for showing me the awesomeness that is Flosstradamus live. I still have people thanking us for Tokyo Police Club last year, even though we were the smaller party last year.
#2: Don’t worry if there’s something else going on. There are just SO many people at SXSW, and so many parties, and so much NEED for parties that it’s totally okay if there’s another, or bigger party down the street. So long as you’re listed in the official guide (or have great promo on your own), people will show up. People show up for bands in the lobbies of banks and at pizza restaurants. They’ll come to the party.
#3: If you’re throwing an event, have a stone cold badass party planner, and make sure you have your VIP situation sorted out: Any party at SXSW, no matter what, is going to have a line at the door. Hundreds of people long. Before you start. Make sure your VIPs know who they are, and make sure they know how to behave and where to go. Make it clear to them they’re the VIPs, and don’t call everyone VIP. There’s nothing that upsets people more than to be told their a VIP and then get to the party and realize that there are 500 other VIPs waiting in line.
#4: Keep your event downtown: This one is the subject of much debate – and the remoteness of the Red Bull Moontower definitely adds to its air of authenticity, and makes the locals feel a bit more loved. But do consider the ramifications of location. People are notoriously weary of lines. but they’ll give anything a shot if they know it’s not too far out of their way and there’s another bar next door.
#5: Control the event, or at least make sure you trust those who do: When we first came to SXSW, we did our party with the Onion, whose president at the time was a close personal friend of mine. I knew they wouldn’t screw us, I knew we could trust them. One of my employees was friends with the bar owner. Ditto. The minute it feels like you’re talking to your potential co-ponsor like a media channel or a media outlet, rather than a partner, beware. If your goals and needs aren’t aligned, and they’re in control, their needs will come first.
#6: Try to stay legit: There’s a LOT of weirdness with being a legitimate SXSW sponsor. They want you to upsell. They may discourage you from having your party on a certain night. They may not exactly tell you what their motivations are. Sometimes it’s a complete mystery. Why is the opening party for interactive THREE DAYS IN? Nobody knows! But in general, they’re good people, and being a legitimate sponsor is not only sound from an impressions and marketing point of view, it’s the right thing to do.
#7: Offer something unique: Bring a band who’s not playing (Activision OWNED this this year with Metallica showing up at their Guitar Hero party). Bands during interactive. Free booze. Something to give your party a little bit different of a spin.
#8: Get a ground crew: Having a local presence can help immensely. We have definitely benefitted from the Onion’s Austin ground operation through the years (thanks guys!)
#9: Become friends with the staff: If your event has a staff, try to become friends with them. They may change halfway through the night, that friendship may go out the window when capacity hits, but it can’t hurt. And stay cool. Treat them well and they will treat you well. Usually.
Okay, I’m running out of rules. Nine it is. This entry is so Mashable.
on September 28, 2011 at 01:19 PM
