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

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.

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.

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.

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.

SXSW’s Consumer-Facing Events

Auditorium Shores Concerts

Flatstock Poster Show

Music Gear Expo

SXSW Comedy SXSW Gaming Expo

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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

Scott McNearney – Sponsors Chief mcnearney@sxsw.com

SXSW.com