A Series of Winners…and the Rest

I was lucky enough to attend South by Southwest® Interactive in Austin, TX the past few days. I had never been, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from all aspects: content, networking, parties, learning about new trends/companies/apps/etc.  One thing I immediately started noticing was the various marketing efforts, and the many shapes and formats they took.  I want to talk about what I saw, and what worked on me, just one mid-30’s female consumer out there in the mix.  I’ll post a short series of observations to outline my favorites and why I think they worked, as well as a summary of the most noticeable efforts.

Let me start by saying that this is the interactive conference. The real winners in my book are those marketing efforts that were both experiential and social in nature.  I think to cut through the noise and craziness that is this huge event, I need to physically experience something, as well as be excited enough about it to share with my friends.

First up, my favorite marketing campaign from the week/weekend:

Pepsi MAX/foursquare exclusive Big Boi concert

Pepsi MAX and foursquare teamed up to have a large outdoor area with a bar, games, a real four square game court, music, and more.  They put on an exclusive concert with hip-hop artist Big Boi – ticke

ts were only available to those who “found the golden ticket.” I’m not entirely sure what the algorithm was that enabled one to get the golden ticket, but it had something to do with checking in a lot on foursquare while in Austin.

From the moment I heard about the concert, I decided I had to be there. I live in Atlanta and have been a fan of Outkast and Big Boi for years, and I’ve been lucky enough to see them live several times so I knew how great the show would be. I had a couple of friends who unlocked the golden ticket early in the weekend, so they were set to go. As far as I could tell, that was the only way to get tickets unless you knew someone important at Pepsi or foursquare (I don’t).

The upcoming concert was a big topic of conversation – the exclusivity definitely drove more discussion.  I had heard about the concert online before even arriving in Austin, and once I got there, I continued to hear about it and saw posters and promotions all over the place.  I certainly changed my own behavior in an attempt to win tickets: I have resisted checking in all these months although I’ve watched news and developments in the location-based services spaces very closely.  I had yet to see the “pay-off”, and thought most of my other friends wouldn’t really care where I was. And then there’s the safety factor of telling your “friends” every time you’re not home that concerned me.  But now, in Austin for SXSW Interactive, I finally had a tangible reason to play the foursquare game.  So play I did. (And I’ve continued to check in even after the concert…another foursquare user gained.) In addition to changing my own behavior, I also talked to everyone I knew and met, and told them how interested I was in attending…word of mouth at its best.  I tweeted about the concert and mentioned @BigBoi directly…blasting out info of the concert to my own followers at the same time. I ended up securing two tickets to the show! Not through the traditional methods, but it worked.

The concert was at the Seaholm Power Plant in Austin, which many Austinites have never even been to. More exclusivity and buzz. The experience itself was amazing – great venue, great sound, great lighting, great branding by both Pepsi MAX and foursquare throughout. Drinks were free, people were happy.  @BigBoi was a trending topic in Austin on Twitter that night, thousands of people checked in via foursquare at the event, blasting out their whereabouts to countless friends and followers on various social networks.  This effort was the epitome of social. The Pepsi MAX/foursquare lot was a fun and social place to hang out. The concert was exclusive and there was a unique and even secret way of acquiring tickets – people were buzzing via traditional word of mouth as well as talking about it on their social networks.  And all that talking on social networks blasted out to their friends and followers who weren’t in Austin or in the SXSW® loop.  I of course do not know details about how much money was spent by the two brands to hire Big Boi, set up a physical lot by the convention center for fun and games, to transform the Power Plant into a branded extravaganza, or to write the code that enabled the golden tickets.  But the exposure and buzz were very big: the marketing initiative was a SXSW® winner.

Did you hear about this Pepsi MAX / foursquare / Big Boi initiative? Did it only work on fans of Big Boi, or were others impacted too?