This past March, EMC and Ross's Design+Business Club hosted the second annual trek to the South by Southwest conference (SXSW) in Austin, TX. I was super excited to make the trip and attend a number of panels and brand activations around entertainment/tech.
A few highlights below—panels covering topics from generative AI and music/tech to brand strategy (this year's conference was hybrid; I attended these panels either in-person or virtually before my flight):
—OpenAI Co-founder on ChatGPT, DALL┬ÀE, and the Impact of Generative AI
—How Tech is Reshaping Music's Present and Future
—Meet Me in the Music Metaverse: New Fan Experiences
—Understanding the Role of AI in Reshaping the Film & Television Industry
—Building a Brand Through Community
In How Tech is Reshaping Music's Present and Future (photo below), business development and product representatives from Warner Music Group, SoundCloud, and Dolby discussed the state of the music industry. Questions and case studies around artist discovery and artist-fan engagement were at the forefront of the conversation. How can the industry best leverage new digital technologies—such as Dolby.io, changing how we listen to and consume media—to build communities and immersive experiences? From a legal and regulatory perspective, the panel reviewed challenges around XR, for example—including royalty-related data reporting. As the music landscape evolves and industry stakeholders confront new challenges, these and other brands are continuing to leverage partnerships to innovate quickly and engage and grow audiences.
If you are a Ross alum (or student) planning to attend SXSW 2024 (or other entertainment conferences), we'd love to connect with you! Please send us an email to get in touch with the incoming EMC board.
Every year in mid-March, the entertainment industry takes over Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festivals & Conference. I had the pleasure of attending this year's film & television track, and I wanted to share my favorite film & tv premiers and the best brand activations I witnessed in my four days at the festival.
SXSW is famous for offering a mix of big splashy movie and tv premiers, as well as smaller oddball releases that the festival leads love and want to publicize. From my point of view, there were two festival highlights: Lionsgate's John Wick Chapter 4, a big splashy premier and MGM's Bottoms, and oddball comedy. Lionsgate decided to show Wick 4 as a surprise screening on the first Saturday of the festival, but word spread quickly, and before long, there were Baba Yaga posters promoting the film all over town. The screening was packed, and Keanu himself even made an appearance, giving all the credit for the film to "the best stunt team in the business". Bottoms is a completely different kind of film, and while I won't give away too many details, I will say it is one of the best comedies I've seen in a decade, and I've never been part of an audience that laughed harder at a movie. This one should be coming out this summer!
As is typical with SXSW, the big streaming platforms looked to make a splash, and Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+ stood out as having the best activations with the most upcoming content to promote. Amazon's "Y'all Are Welcome to Prime Texas", was essentially a small campus with pop-up shops for current and upcoming shows like Daisy Jones & the Six, I'm a Virgo, Harlem, and more. Activations included themed drinks and snacks, a rose station for Harlem, and a custom denim jacket giveaway for Daisy Jones & the Six. The standout, though, was the I'm a Virgo car. This is a show about a 13-foot tall young black man in Oakland, CA, and the activation (pictured below) brought this to life in the coolest possible way (this show also premiered at the festival, and it is seriously weird and great!).
Paramount+ rented out a three story bar on Rainey St. and dubbed it The Lodge". The Lodge promoted (1) Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies with a photo opportunity in a pink car, (2) Yellowstone 1923 with old-west inspired drinks, and (3) Star Trek: Picard with a room full of old Star Trek memorabilia.