Experience12, the entertainment experiential specialist, has created a new operational board, promoting George Bateman and Nick Parker into new board roles.

The op-board will be focused on continuing the record growth delivered in 2021. The company’s revenue grew 76%, the highest revenue in its nine-year history.

Bateman, Business Director, and Parker, Head of Production, are joined on the board by Founder and Managing Director, Chris Whittle, and Marc Berry Reid, from agency advisory group Tenth Avenue, in a non-executive position.

Experience12’s current clients include Amazon Prime Video, Bauer Media, UKTV, The Walt Disney Company, 2K and Netflix.

The agency headcount has grown 57% in the last 6 months and they have a number of open positions. 

Whittle, Founder and Managing Director, commented: “We could not have asked for a better bounce back from the pandemic. The agency is going from strength to strength and I am delighted to be taking the business into its next phase of growth with George, Nick and Marc. The business would not be where it is today without George and Nick and look forward to working even more closely with them on our domestic and international growth plans.”

Bateman, Business Director, added: “It’s a really exciting time for Experience12. The appetite for live events and shared experiences is bigger than ever. We’ve started 2022 in one of our strongest positions to date, with some great creative campaigns and new client wins under our belt already – and more to be announced in the coming months.”

Parker, Head of Production, said: “George and I have been with the business for a number of years now and our compatibility and trust in each other’s skillset has been crucial to the delivery of projects and the company’s growth. With client confidence in events returning, this promises to be another big year for the company”

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Ben Hubbard, Brand Partnerships Manager at Brand Culture provides some excellent examples of how our current state of life is imitating art.

In these strangely surreal times, recent events have stirred memories of past TV series and films, resulting in a distinct sense of déjà vu. Here’s my pick of the top examples of life imitating art:

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

This cult British zom-com has never felt more relevant. Just replace zombies with an unseen virus, right? The film’s live-news updates featuring real-life anchor Jeremy Thompson are eerily similar to the dramatic daily government announcements and developing stories we’re all currently fixated by. Recognising the similarities, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have released a short video featuring an updated version of the movie’s iconic ‘plan’ – something we’d all do well to follow.

Dead Set (2008)

The recent footage of the current German Big Brother house being told of the seismic events outside their bubble strongly echoed Dead Set, E4 TV’s dark comedy horror in which the contestants’ house is sealed off from the outside world, that just happens to be experiencing a zombie apocalypse.

28 Days Later (2002)

A recent BBC News special included a global travel report featuring images of some of the world’s most famous tourist hotspots – the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe and Leicester Square – virtually empty. This drew comparisons with the beginning of Danny Boyle’s pandemic epic 28 Days Later.

The Island (2005)

Michael Bay’s ‘futuristic’ thriller depicts an entirely isolated community, cut off from the rest of the world as a result of ‘global contamination’. I think we can all relate to Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) right now, even if we aren’t actually clones being grown for organ harvesting… although winning the lottery right now would be nice!

Surrogates (2009)

In this sci-fi thriller, Bruce Willis inhabits a futuristic world where human beings live in isolation and interact solely through surrogate robots – more perfect versions of their real-life forms. While our tech isn’t quite as developed as in the film, it does cause you to reflect on the alternate realities being lived on social media and people’s desire to present a perfect version of themselves.

Ready Player One (2018)

Adapted by Steven Spielberg from the cult novel the film centres on the world’s population that has largely self-isolated, doing everything via ‘The Oasis’ – a ubiquitously adopted virtual reality platform. Now, with everyone self-isolating at home, there’s been a huge spike in at-home entertainment consumption, from streaming movies and TV shows to playing video games and watching esports.

To find out more about Brand Culture, get in touch with Ben Hubbard at BenH@brandculture.london

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Coca-Cola European Partners is launching a limited edition Coca-Cola zero sugar Cinnamon flavour for Christmas, and an on-pack prize draw across its entire Coca-Cola portfolio offering tickets to Capital Radio’s annual Jingle Bell Ball music event as prizes.

Available in a 1.25l PET pack format, the Coca-Cola zero sugar Cinnamon variant will combine one of Great Britain’s top festive flavours with the sugar-free taste of Coca-Cola zero sugar. The limited-edition festive packs will feature a bespoke red and gold design to highlight the premium new flavour and specialness of the Coca-Cola brand.

As with the other Coca-Cola zero sugar variants – Vanilla, Cherry and Peach – the Cinnamon version will be exempt from the UK’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), commonly knows as the Soft Drinks Tax. Under the tax, companies pay 18p per litre in tax if the drink has five grams of sugar or more per 100ml, or 24p per litre if the drink has 8g of sugar or more per 100ml.

In tandem with the new flavour launch, CCEP will be running an on-pack prize draw offering consumers the chance to win tickets to Capital Radio’s annual Jingle Bell Ball which takes place in December.

The on-pack offer will be running across on-the-go packs of Coca-Cola original taste, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola zero sugar for five weeks from mid-October.

To enter, consumers have to enter a unique code found on promotional packs on the brand’s website, to be entered into a draw to win a pair of tickets every day. There will be 100 pairs of tickets available to be won. According to a link on Coca-Cola GB’s Facebook page, consumers will be able to input their codes from October 15^th 2018.

Coca-Cola sponsored the Jingle Bell Ball in 2013, and from 2015 to date.

Simon Harrison, customer marketing director at Coca-Cola European Partners, says: “We’re confident that with the early arrival of our great tasting Cinnamon variant and Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball on-pack, the festive season will get off to a flying start for our customers. We’ll be back in November with even more activity that will keep Coca-Cola at the centre of Christmas celebrations for both consumers and retailers.”

Coca-Cola European Partners is the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler. CCEP is the sole licensed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) in Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Luxemburg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

CCEP makes, sells and delivers the following products in GB for TCCC: Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Schweppes, Fuze Tea, HONEST, AdeZ, Abbey Well, glacéau smartwater, Powerade, Oasis and Appletiser. In GB, it also makes, sells or delivers Monster, Relentless and Capri-Sun.

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Brand Culture‘s Scott White explores which brands seized great entertainment opportunities this year, as well as the best marketing opportunities in 2019 that could drive customer and consumer engagement.

The dust has only just settled on this summer’s main cultural events and we’ve seen a raft of brands either actively embracing or deliberately avoiding them. If you’ve not yet got around to thinking about promotional and shopper campaign ideas for your brand next summer, then why not take a look at some of 2019’s hot entertainment properties that could provide the difference between sizzling and luke-warm sales.

Aligning with a major summer sporting event, such as the football World Cup, comes with a hefty sponsorship fee and, as a result, is often the preserve of major multinational brands, while piggy-backing events without official rights to the intellectual property can be successful but also a dangerous game to play if you lack credibility in the space or are seen to be capitalising on the property without approval.

As we’ve seen over this long, hot summer, the old adage “If you can’t beat them, join them” can pay dividends if done well, but we’ve also seen a fair share of UK brands avoid the clutter of sporting events. Some jumped on the opportunities afforded by the feel-good-to-be-British Royal Wedding in May (for example M&S, Tyrrells Crisps, Soda Stream, Strongbow and Cottonelle). Others got up close and personal with ITV2’s fourth series of reality show Love Island, including Rimmel, Jet2, Kellogg’s, Lucozade Zero and Missguided. Elsewhere, brands like Victoria Plumbing, O2, BP and Pizza Hut have chosen to partner with entertainment franchises Dead Pool 2, Netflix’s Stranger Things and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to help achieve their objectives.

Because, much like sport, entertainment releases such as film and TV shows have the ability to pervade public consciousness and foster a positive emotional connection – fuelling online buzz, family discussions on the way to school and water-cooler conversations at work. It was no accident that following England’s victory over Sweden, The Sun’s editor chose the front page headline ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go A-Kane!’ – acknowledging consumer awareness and excitement for the imminent cinema release of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, the follow-up to 2008’s ABBA musical phenomenon.

Now, more than ever, ‘entertainment’ as a whole presents a wealth of marketing opportunities for brands. The licensing of character/entertainment properties is in rude health, with brands contributing towards the US$121.5 billion in global revenue from licensed goods and services – which is a whopping 44.7% of the total global licensing market and by far the largest segment of the licensing industry. The now mass market consumer appeal of video games and the successful rise of video streaming – which has exceeded pay TV subscribers for the first time in the UK with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime’s original content and scripted TV series – are also contributing to a rich pool of creative brand campaign ideas.

Looking ahead to summer 2019, then, what are some of the big entertainment properties that could drive customer and consumer engagement in your brand?

Kicking things off are May’s cinema releases of Disney’s Aladdin, a live action movie featuring Will Smith as the Genie, and Universal Pictures’ Illumination title The Secret Life Of Pets 2, which sees the return of much-loved Max, Duke and their animal friends. In hot pursuit are Disney/Pixar’s long-awaited Toy Story 4 in June and Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the sequel to 2017’s Homecoming, in July. Rounding off the summer with a bang is the ninth instalment in Universal’s unbelievably successful global franchise, Fast & Furious, and Disney’s new adaptation of best-selling book Artemis Fowl, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Outside of the cinema, 2019 is anticipated to be a great year for video game releases, although you may not be able to activate with a big property over the summer, as traditionally triple A titles tend to release in Q1 or Q4. That said, the iconic and epic video game Halo is scheduled to get a scripted TV spin-off series which goes into production early 2019, and this leads us neatly into the TV shows to watch out for. Next year sees the return of Game of Thrones Season 8, Big Little Lies Season 2, a re-booted Shipwrecked, The Crown Season 3, Stranger Things Season 3, the last ever season of Homeland and Fargo Series 4 if you’re looking for something a little more quirky.

So, there really is something for everyone, with a choice of existing and new franchises that will capture consumer hearts and minds and present exciting ways for your brand to create that all-important cut-through along the entire shopper journey.

Scott White is Managing Partner at Brand Culture, one of the world’s leading agencies specialising in entertainment and lifestyle-led shopper campaigns.

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Square Enix, publisher of the Tomb Raider game series, has appointed entertainment marketing specialist agency Brand & Deliver to secure UK brand partnerships for its upcoming title, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Following the success of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of The Tomb Raider will bring Lara Croft’s origin story to a conclusion. The multi-award winning Tomb Raider franchise has sold over 63 million copies worldwide.

B&D has been tasked with using its data-driven approach to source and activate commercial partners for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It will use its expertise in entertainment partnerships to drive awareness and revenue for the title. Brand & Deliver will also work to secure UK partnerships on other major Square Enix titles over the next 12 months.

Ros Carmoody, Partnerships Director at Brand & Deliver, says: “Lara Croft is one of the most iconic characters in gaming. We’re thrilled to be supporting the final chapter of Lara Croft’s origin story in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and to be working with such a well-loved franchise. We’re looking forward to producing some really exciting campaigns.”

Elizabeth Blackman, Head of UK Marketing at Square Enix, adds, “We’re excited to bring to fans Lara Croft’s defining moment, and we’re working with Brand & Deliver to help secure partners that will make this release the biggest one yet.”

Brand & Deliver is a full service creative marketing agency delivering experiential, digital, film, design, partnerships/promotions and marketing to a range of organisations from blue chips to start ups. Brand & Deliver is employed by a number of leading technology and entertainment companies to handle promotional partnerships, B2C and B2B event activation, branding and product marketing. Current clients include AMD, Rovio Global, Warner Brothers, LG, Sony Pictures and Three.

Square Enix Ltd. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses Square Enix, Eidos and Taito branded entertainment content in Europe and other PAL territories as part of the Square Enix group of companies. The Square Enix group of companies portfolio of intellectual property includes Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Tomb Raider, and Space Invaders.

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American Express has joined forces with leading figures from the worlds of music and food to launch ‘Backed By’, a nationwide initiative offering two members of the public the chance to win backing from music legend Nile Rodgers or culinary innovator Gizzi Erskine.

Launched as a continuation of its new brand campaign, ‘Powerful Backing: Don’t Do Business/Don’t Live Life Without It’, ‘Backed By’ celebrates the powerful backing American Express has been giving customers throughout its 168-year history.

In addition to advice and practical support – whether that’s words of encouragement, industry introductions or constructive criticism to help further their musical dreams or foodie business idea – the two winners will have access to life-enriching experiences, such as spending time in the world-famous Abbey Road Studios alongside Nile Rodgers and joining him on the road or cooking in the vibrant Mare Street Market kitchens in Hackney alongside Gizzi Erskine. The successful applicants will be given inspiration and support to propel their passion forward.

In addition to Backed By, as part of its new brand campaign in the UK, American Express has also created an immersive experience that will be bringing the message of powerful backing to life in London’s EC1.

Popping up in in Exchange Square beside Liverpool Street Station, the experience runs from Tuesday June 12^th to Thursday June 14^th and is open to the public between 11.00am and 8.00pm.

Soundtracked by DJ and broadcaster Maya Jama, there are three zones to explore – a restoring Japanese Forest, the Neon Jungle dance space and the Inspiration Zone.

The PR and content-led campaign will be supported through a media partnership with the Huffington Post on a newly created ‘Backed By’ channel on their website.

To be backed by one of these inspirational ambassadors, applicants are invited to submit a portfolio of their work at backedby.co.uk from June 12th 2018.

Caroline Bouvet, Vice President of Brand and Marketing UK, American Express, says: “At American Express we recognise the importance of powerful backing and have a rich heritage championing both new and established talent in the worlds of music and food through our Amex Invites entertainment programme. We are thrilled to be working with Nile Rodgers and Gizzi Erskine on ‘Backed By’ and giving one budding musician and one passionate foodie this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from the best.”

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Ribena has launched a major summer on pack promotion, ‘Pick Your Own Gig’, offering customers in the UK and Republic of Ireland an opportunity to win tickets to a Ticketmaster event of their choice – with runner-up prizes of free music downloads and free bottles of Ribena.

The campaign was created by activation agency tbk and is its first project for the brand.

Pick Your Own Gig builds on Ribena’s musically-distinctive ‘Ribenary/Zoobydoo’ advertising, and aims to use events to build even greater relevance amongst its consumer heartland, 16 – 24 year olds. It also references the brand’s historic advertising, which traditionally emphasises the quality and provenance of the blackcurrants picked for making Ribena.

Featured on more than 20 million bottles, the fully integrated campaign is being supported through digital, Out of Home (OOH) and a national sampling campaign.

The promotion runs until August 31st 2018. The daily prize pool includes a £200 Ticketmaster egift card, two £100 Ticketmaster egift cards, five £50 Ticketmaster egift cards, 2,000 £1 Amazon egift codes and 7,993 Free Ribena 500ml Coupons. Winners will be selected through daily ‘winning moments’ prize draws, and not all prizes will necessarily be won.

Consumers in mainland UK have to buy a promotional pack and then go online to www.ribena.co.uk/win/ and enter the last four digits of the pack barcode and their personal details. There is a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ route for entry in Northern Ireland, while in the Republic of Ireland consumers have to answer a skill-based question to enter.

Ribena Marketing Controller Charlotte Flook says: “Ribena is growing up, and events offered us the perfect platform to engage with our young adult audience”.

Andrew Ryan, Head of Brand and Partnerships at tbk, adds: “Taking Ribena on a journey into the events space gave us great opportunity to contemporise the brand while still acknowledging the brand’s tremendous heritage and tradition through the language of ‘pick your own’.”

tbk is an award winning brand activation agency that works with clients including Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Krispy Kreme, TUI, Carphone Warehouse and Wickes.

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Westons Cider is ramping up investment behind its exclusively off-trade brand, Henry Westons, with a planned marketing spend of £3.5m over the next three years, including a partnership with the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, sampling and an on-pack promotion offering consumers a chance to win a trip to New Orleans plus tickets to the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

The Herefordshire-based premium cider-producer is aiming to drive further growth and increase market share for its category-leading brand with its marketing activity, which also includes a national TV advertising campaign.

The latest round of TV advertising for the UK’s number one glass bottle apple cider features Westons’ entertaining take on founder Henry Weston’s legacy, and emphasises the brand’s traditional production methods.

Henry Westons is also scaling up its partnership with Cheltenham Jazz Festival. As principle partner, the crafted premium cider brand will benefit from high visibility across the established six-day festival and will be front of mind for festival-goers thanks to the ‘Henry Westons Big Top’ on the festival site.

The partnership with the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which just took place over the May Bank Holiday weekend, included sampling and the return of ‘Henry Westons Sessions’ featuring stripped-back, acoustic performances from the likes of Corinne Bailey Rae, Rick Astley and Imelda May.

Further supporting the campaign, the on-pack promotion will appear on 3 million bottles of Henry Westons during May, June and July, offering consumers a chance to win a trip to the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, plus tickets to the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

2018 marks the third year of increased investment for the Henry Westons brand which is firmly established as a ‘must-stock product’ for the convenience and grocery retail channels, reinforcing the £37m brand’s position as the UK’s number one glass bottle apple cider.

“Henry Westons is a star performer within the Westons Cider portfolio and continues to go from strength to strength,” explains Tim Williams, Henry Westons Brand Manager at Westons Cider. “The brand’s impressive growth is driven by an in-depth understanding of our target consumer, and the reliably smooth and rounded flavour that gives Henry Westons its character.”

Matthew Langley, Insight and Innovation Manager at Westons Cider, adds: “This fantastic campaign for Henry Westons comes as we release our third annual cider report, which reinforces the key role that traditional crafted ciders like Henry Westons have to play in growing sales for off-trade retailers, large and small. Glass bottle cider accounts for more than £1 in every £3 spent in the off-trade and this format continues to grow by +2.4% year on year, so it is essential that retailers continue to stock the brand that remains the main driver of that growth, Henry Westons.”

UK on-trade listings for the Westons Cider portfolio include Mitchells & Butlers, Spirit Group, Punch, Enterprise Inns, Fullers, Greene King, Hall & Woodhouse, Marstons, Charles Wells, Youngs and Matthew Clark Wholesale. UK retail listings for the range include all major grocers such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, the Co-op and Booths.

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Asahi Super Dry, the Super Premium Japanese beer, has launched a significant outdoor and online advertising campaign, as well as embarking on a series of partnerships – including this weekend’s Arcadia Festival – that will see the beer at the forefront of immersive experiences across London this summer.

The ‘Remastered by Japan’ OOH campaign has been featuring on more than 600 digital road, rail and London Underground display sites this month, along with larger scale placements in prominent locations such as Shoreditch and Borough High Street.  A heavy-weight social media campaign will also run nationally, creating significant impact for the newly relaunched brand.

The brand has also signed a number of partnership deals which will see it featuring in a number of immersive experiential activations.

For the first time, Asahi Super Dry is the official beer partner of Secret Cinema Presents Blade Runner – The Final Cut: A Secret Live Experience. The 1982 cult classic, set in a dystopian world, explored themes that were way ahead of its time, aligning perfectly with the values of Asahi Super Dry as a progressively minded brand. There will be 80 secret live experiences running until the end of June.

The brand is also the lead beer at dotdotdot London’s latest release, VR experience Somnai, mixing live performance and multisensory elements with immersive technology, while this Bank Holiday weekend (May 5th and 6th) Asahi Super Dry will partner with Arcadia for its 10th anniversary spectacular.

In addition to the above, Asahi Super Dry will be celebrating summer with an array of music gigs and films at the Somerset House Summer Series and Film 4 Summer Screen across July and August.

Laura Mitchell, Director of Brand Marketing at Asahi UK Ltd, says: “When we relaunched Asahi Super Dry earlier this year, we wanted to ensure its marketing would reflect the identity of the brand and put us at the heart of forward-thinking experiences, with a mix of Japanese culture. We’re delighted to be partnering with some truly exciting experiences that feed consumer curiosity and showcase the brand in a contemporary manner.  We strongly believe the ‘Karakuchi’ taste of Asahi Super Dry will make a huge impact, but it is equally important we pay homage to the brand’s heritage and we are very excited to launch into the marketplace with a number of intriguing activations.”

Asahi UK Ltd. (formerly Miller Brands UK) is the UK subsidiary of Asahi Europe Ltd. Asahi UK Ltd. has responsibility for the development of the following Super Premium brands across the UK and Ireland: Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Asahi Super Dry, Pilsner Urquell, St Stefanus and Kozel.

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Neil Davidson  from agency HeyHuman reports back on what film, interactive media, and music festival and conference SXSW 2018 had for the experiential marketer

In a self-contained bubble populated by robots and mechanisation, film, interactive media, and music festival and conference SXSW 2018 was dominated by a surprising theme: empathy.

Talks emphasised the need to tailor our relationships with machines, making them less ‘slave and master’ and more ‘man and dog’, harbouring mutually understanding, empathetic interactions rather than purely subservient ones; and the need to align people and brands on social media, encouraging the latter to use biometrics and neuroscience to engage with users who are typically on autopilot when browsing social channels.

But what does this mean for my own corner of the world, experiential?

At SXSW, it’s almost impossible for standard experiential to cut through the noise. Not only have technophile audiences seen it all before, but brands and agencies must play second fiddle to 5,000 speakers including luminaries such as Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders and Steven Spielberg.

But some experiential events did stand out against the glittering list of politicians, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, and celebrities on the roster.

One of the best experiential panels I saw, Create Magic – 6 Experiential Storytelling Secrets, shared six ways experiential campaigns can make an emotional connection, deepen fan engagement and inspire lifelong brand loyalty. The event highlighted the need to:

• Start in the heart – 90% of all decisions made are based on emotion. What’s the story of your brand in the heart of your audience?
• Know your destination – Think about KPIs, objectives and the change you’re trying to create. Is it action, approach, response or applause?
• Emotional Engagement – All great stories have a central theme. Find your experience’s story arc.
• Engaging all the senses – Expect a 62% increase in impact when using touch alongside sight and sound.
• Create Magic – If you create wonder, phones go away and people engage emotionally.
• Exceptional Hospitality – Think about how the smallest differences can transform an experience and how you can make that happen. A central theme that resonates with a wider audience is crucial for any campaign, and that can be conveyed more effectively via multi–sensorial engagement.

With this in mind, how did SXSW’s three most talked about experiential activations stack up?

Westworld, HBO

You couldn’t have a conversation at SXSW without someone talking about HBO’s Westworld experience. They clearly had an agency budget to die for, but it was more than just throwing money into the desert.

Westworld is a sci-fi drama set in the future, where people ‘live without limits’ in a virtual Wild West theme park. It’s populated by androids, and you can indulge in any dark desire you wish. At SXSW, the town was recreated with 60 actors and 444 pages of script for a 90-minute looping experience. And because Westworld is built for outsiders in the series, the activation genuinely felt like you were there.

It was tangible. Escapist. You chose either a white hat or black hat upon entrance – this determined whether you were a goodie or baddie. It put the keys in your hands. You got to make that choice.

The budget was ludicrous, yes, but it would’ve been nothing without the legwork. It provided the perfect physical and mental escape for jaded conference-goers, allowing them to be a part of something, letting them share that experience over social media long after everything wrapped up.

And yes, we got to keep the hats.

A Handmaid’s Tale Season 2, Hulu

A Handmaid’s Tale was very much SXSW 2017’s Westworld, characters creepily walking around Austin and generally giving everyone the willies.

This year’s striking installations focussed on the central theme of resistance, which dominates the show’s second season. Operating on a lower budget, the framed red cloaks, burning for all to see, stood as symbols of oppression, married with the clever #ResistSister hashtag.

SXSW-goers have come to expect something creepy from the drama. Hulu delivered. It was something real, something you could latch onto, cutting through all the VR smoke. Finally, with #ResistSister, Hulu linked A Handmaid’s Tale’s themes with 2018’s cultural ills, female brand ambassadors displaying the slogan on badges in a nod to #TimesUp.

Imposters, Bravo

Last, but certainly not least, was an Imposters experience from Bravo.

Based on the TV show, which revolves around con artist Maddie and her trio of hapless victims, the experience gave audiences make-overs and manicures. Guests could then take photos in one of three show-based scenarios, creating the illusion of living it up on a private jet, yacht, or at the ice hotel. Basically, anywhere but a car park in Austin.

Pitted against Facebook, whose ‘experiential’ taught people how to make better Instagram posts, Imposters had a savvy take on social media amplification. It was a bit of a jibe, actually, referencing SXSW attendees’ compulsion to show off on social. Very ‘fake it ‘til you make it’, and all the better as a result.

As proven by the three activations I’ve focused on above, this year was a massive win for experiential at SXSW. It hammered home empathy via genuine interaction. Tangibility, giving people a sense of self socially.

When you apply all of this to a wider, culturally relevant context, that is what really counts when connecting brands with people.

Neil Davidson is Managing Director and Managing Partner at independent integrated agency HeyHuman. With around 100 staff, HeyHuman supports the relationship between brands and consumers via a focus on building ‘Human Brands’ and specialisms in brand, content, social and experiential. Current clients include: Sony, Unilever, Diageo, Slimfast and Mondelez.

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