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Money Talks: Smart Branded Engagements in Today’s Entertainment Events.
Scott McNearney (SXSW)
Sponsors are the lifeblood of a great event. They can provide financial support, but they offer a ton of value for your attendees as well. However, finding (and then keeping) great sponsors can be very challenging. How do you provide a good return for your sponsors and unparalleled value for your attendees in a way that is win/win for all? In this session, Scott will share the best practices he’s learned along the way as the main sponsor whisperer for the coveted SXSW Festival.
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Money Talks: Smart Branded Engagements in Today’s Entertainment Events
1. SXSW South By Southwest Conferences & Festivals
MUSIC • FILM • INTERACTIVE | MARCH 13-22, 2015
6th Street during
SXSW 2014
“It is the industry event where buzz is
born…”
~ Newsday
2. The conferences at their core:
• Networking (Parties, Meet Ups, etc.)
• Panel Programming
• Pitch Competitions
• Exhibitions
• Music Showcases
• Film Screenings
• Hackathons and Development sessions
The SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals are
foundationally industry and media (press) events for creatives dedicated to
these mediums. Hundreds of thousands of general consumers filter in around
the events resulting in a creative industries event like no other on earth.
3. SXSW Music: is the largest
recording industry conference
and festival on earth.
Now in it’s 29th year, SXSW
2015 will bring the best in
emerging and high profile
musical artists together with
many thousands of music
industry professionals, members
of the press and passionate
music fans.
4. SXSW Interactive:
arguably the most important digital creative
conference of the year. Now in its 22nd year, it
offers more than 1,000 programming sessions – and
much more – over a 5 day period each March.
5. SXSW Film:
a top tier film festival including one of the most comprehensive film conferences
on the independent film festival landscape. Now in its 22nd year, it continues to
bring the brightest independent filmmakers together with the most seasoned in
the film industry for a must-attend film conference and festival each March.
7. The SXSW Conferences and Festivals are the epicenter for:
• Discovery of the next great creative works in music, film & digital
• Unparalleled industry thought leader networking throughout the
events
• Inspiration on the grandest scale
• New brand or product launches that deliver impact, set new
standards & buying patterns and change how we communicate
8. 5,500+ official SXSW events over 10
days, with :
Nearly 80,000 registrants – industry influencers
More than 2,300 performing bands from 55 countries
240+ films screened
More than 1,000 Interactive panels/sessions
More than 200 official networking parties
Hundreds of exhibitors
8,000+ registered members of the press
200,000+ general consumers
9. Who attends the SXSW events?
Music industry
Music lover/general consumer
Digital technology industry
Film industry professional
Film lover/general consumer
Press/media (online, TV, radio, print)
Comedy industry and fans
Digitally minded sports industry members
10. Successful brand integration begins with a
solid understanding of the property or event
that the brand wishes to partner with.
Then connecting the brand’s products and
goals with an authentic integration.
The brand must understand the event, who attends it and
what the overall event landscape is in order to have success
that is seen as legitimate and purposeful.
When brands add value overall to the event experience, the
brand can change perception and win new favor with
attendees.
11. Quid Pro Quo: Information Exchange is Key
Has the brand educated the event on the brand’s objectives?
Does the event understand the brand, its goals and
benchmarks for success?
This mutual understanding between the brand and the event
must exist to help guide the brand to a truly authentic
integration that is woven into the fabric of the event/
property wherever possible.
12. What a Participating Brand Needs to Know
Successful brand participation and integration in experiential
marketing starts with understanding the following:
The goals of its own brand and its product overall, then specifically
for the event it is sponsoring.
The actual purpose of the event.
Who the attendee base of the event is (sub-sets of attendees
within the event).
What attendees want and need to get out of the event.
The goals of the events and what constitutes success for the event
overall.
13. What the Event Team Needs to Know
Keys to the event successfully guiding and supporting brands in
their experiential marketing efforts starts with understanding:
What the brand/product is.
What the brand’s message is and how the brand plans to convey that
message in an authentic way to attendees of the event.
What the goal of the brand is by participating in the event.
How the brand plans to engage with attendees leading up to, during
and following the events.
The end goals of the brand through it’s participation in the events
and what constitutes success for the brand in it’s participation.
14. The Foundation for Successfully Working
Together
Establish a clear and mutual understanding of expectations
between the brand and the event.
Are the brand’s corporate leadership, the brand’s marketing
team, its activation agencies, brand PR team and media
promotional team all on the same page? Conflicting agendas
by brand divisions can thoroughly confuse the message.
Establish roles and processes for planning and execution of
the program to cover all the bases at the beginning of the
relationship.
Clear and ongoing two-way communication to ensure
efficiency and realization of goals.
The Devil is in the details. Cover those details on a regular
basis to avoid confusion and lost opportunity.
15. Effectively Integrating a Brand into the
Existing Framework of an Event
Brands that work to integrate into pre-existing event
framework resonate with attendees and hold authenticity
during and after the event.
Equally important considerations in successfully weaving a
branded engagement into the fabric of the event include:
• How does the program enhance the event for the attendee
and press?
• How does the program enhance the event for the creative
artists/filmmakers/speakers that make up the event?
• How does the program position itself to reach goals for the
brand?
• How does the program work for the event itself?
16. American Airlines
American Airlines offered flight discounts to event
attendees, hosted a travel focused hackathon to
develop new digital travel technologies and folded a
SXSW 2013 in-flight radio station into their
rebranding campaign.
17. Chevrolet
Chevrolet offered the Catch A Chevy/
Drive A Chevy registrant free ride
program, was a talent presenter
(Justin Timberlake, The Cult, The
Hold Steady), and provided registrant
mobile device charging.
18. AT&T
Engineered overall service amplification
for SXSW, including COWs and wi-fi
offerings in strategic locations; charging
stations; the Teleportation Lounge
bringing attendees into SXSW panel
sessions through a surround video
experience; and partnered with American
Airlines on a travel focused hackathon.
19. Yahoo!
Flickr, now a Yahoo! property, relaunched during SXSW and was integrated into
the SXSW Go mobile application. Flickr is the official photo sharing platform of
SXSW 2013 and was the photo sharing outlet for SXSW’s official photo
documentation by both attendees and SXSW.
20. Sonicbids
Sonicbids is SXSW’s official Music Festival application submission platform,
accepting many of the nearly 10,000 Music Festival Showcase applications for
showcase consideration each year. Artists applying for SXSW consideration receive
complimentary trial membership to Sonicbids.
21. PepsiCo
SXSW works with PepsiCo, their bottler and
caterers from the Austin Convention Center and
the Palmer Events Center to convert both venues
from Coke to Pepsi pours during SXSW.
Thousands of cases of PepsiCo beverages are
distributed and sampled in hundreds of locations
during the 10 days of SXSW, and Pepsi products
are for sale at some of SXSW’s largest events
including SXSW’s largest concert series on the
free-to-the-public Auditorium Shores Stage.
22. AOL Music & Mapquest
AOL Music sponsored and recorded “pop-
up” shows featuring buzz bands in unique
locations, with the audio and video content
created appearing on the AOL Music
platform.
SXSW worked with AOL to integrate
Mapquest into all of SXSW’s online and
mobile scheduling applications.
23. Sponsor-branded Venues and
Stand-alone Events – How To Make It Work
The event works with the sponsor to find the best possible
venue relevant to the event. Sponsor builds out/enhances
space for a custom brand experience in consultation with the
event. Venues are included in official SXSW schedules and
promoted through numerous SXSW promotional channels
How does the venue experience work for the brand in
conveying its message?
What does the venue bring to SXSW that adds value overall?
How does the venue experience work for the attendee?
How does the venue experience work for the venues and event
spaces involved? Having venues invested in a program pays
off.
24. IFC Crossroads House
The IFC Crossroads House has grown
from a standalone party in 2009 to a
full blown house from 2010-2013.
-> Music Festival showcases booked
by SXSW Music Fest in consultation
with IFC.
-> Capturing of exclusive band
performance content garnering post-
promo for artists on IFC network.
-> One of three comedy venues booked
by SXSW Comedy in 2013 and host of
Comedy Kickoff Party.
25. Yahoo! at Brazos Hall
SXSW Music Fest worked with Yahoo! to book
exclusive acts, including Depeche Mode and
Foxboro Hot Tubs, which were hust a couple of
the most highly sought after SXSW shows over
the past two years.
-> Hosted upcoming Yahoo! web series watch
parties and startup spotlight events coordinated
in conjunction with SXSW.
26. Doritos Jacked/Bold Stage
-> 6-story temporary stage built exclusively for SXSW by
Doritos.
-> Challenging city/permitting process navigated through
SXSW.
-> Hip hop contest winner got to perform during SXSW with
LL Cool J and Public Enemy on the stage, then go on tour with
LL Cool J last summer.
27. Bringing in Talent
Brand underwrites talent to travel to SXSW and perform
while positioning the brands latest initiative as the
“presenter of talent”; garners promotion and buzz for the
talent and the new platform, with great media coverage
opportunity.
Key questions to answer before pursuing a presentership:
How does underwriting talent work for the brand, the
attendees and artists alike?
How will the talent and presenting brand work together at or
around the showcase(s)? Does the brand expect anything
other than performance from the performer?
28. AmEx Sync launch at SXSW 2012
As a Major Sponsor of SXSW Interactive,
American Express brought Jay-Z to perform
for SXSW-registrant American Express
cardholders as incentive to utilize the new
Sync platform.
29. Taco Bell
#feedthebeat
Rocumentary at
SXSW 2013
High-profile Passion Pit
show during SXSW
Interactive wherein tweets,
videos, and photos taken by
the audience and hashtagged
with #feedthebeat could
potentially be used as part
of the hybrid fan-made and
professional filmmaker
“rockumentary” of the
actual show.
30. An Enhanced Attendee Experience =
Success for All Involved
• Making for a better attendee experience overall leads to…
• Improving a brand’s mindshare and winning new brand preference
in the greater landscape through smart branded sponsorship
integration.
• Show brand understanding of an event and the industry and/or
culture the events center around.
• Seamlessly work with the event and improve the event landscape for
all involved.
• Leave lasting impressions that have attendees talking about the
brand throughout and beyond the events.
• Make a positive difference leaving up to, throughout and beyond the
events.
31. Measuring Branded Integration Success
• Did the brand convey the message it intended to in an authentic
manner?
• Did the event and the brand communicate effectively to get the most
out of the relationship with minimal disconnect (ideally no consuion)?
• Did the brand show relevance to the attendees in their business and
personal lives? What kind of feedback did the brand receive onsite and
through surveys?
• Did the brand move the social metric needle in the right ways, and to
what degree?
• Did the press report on the brand’s integrations and if so, how?
• Did the brand tell a story that can be retold as a building block for the
advancement of the brand?
• How has the program impacted brand sales or buzz?
• Has the brand created objective 3rd party advocates for the brand/
product/initiative?
• How has the brand been grown in the general market? Particularly in
multi-year event partnerships.
32. 32
SXSW FAMILY OF EVENTS
SXSW V2V
August 11-14, 2013 | Las Vegas, Nevada
SXSW V2V offers entrepreneurs from across
all creative industries a space to learn the
skills, make connections and find the
inspiration to take their ideas and talents to
the next level. SXSW V2V will extend and re-
imagine the legendary SXSW experience
with an emphasis on the creative spark that
drives entrepreneurial innovation. Join over
1500 thought leaders for this
SXSW event in Las Vegas.
sxswv2v.com
SXSW Eco
October 6-8, 2014 | Austin, Texas
Seeking solutions for a prosperous future?
Find the ideas, companies, and talent that are
creating change at SXSW Eco. This third
edition will feature conversations with leaders
in energy, design, food and agriculture, policy,
conservation and business as well as
networking, workshops and special events.
Learn more about the technology, business
models and
social innovation that will
drive the future at
SXSW Eco.
sxsweco.com
SXSW Edu
March 3-6, 2014 | Austin, Texas
Creativity and innovation are driving
significant growth in SXSWedu’s passionate
audience of education stakeholders and
practitioners. In just three short years, this
thriving event has sky-rocketed from a state-
focused talk to a global conference and festival
that continues to inspire and engage education
professionals. Connect with teachers and
administrators, as well as business and policy
leaders.
sxswedu.com