You know things in Austin are back to normal when SXSW returns in full force. After canceling the festival in 2020, offering a virtual-only format in 2021, and a hybrid of in-person and virtual sessions last year, we’re excited to see the conference return to its former glory—and the benefits it provides to the Austin economy—in 2023.
It got us thinking about our history at SXSW and some of the memorable moments, experiences and partnerships we’ve had along the way. It turns out, in our 15 years, there are quite a few of them.
Getting frisky with Friskies
Friskies—one of America’s leading cat food brands—has long-held an identity that fully embodies its namesake. It’s a bold, creative brand that loves to find creative ways to stand out at events. Despite working with a global agency for their other communications needs, Friskies wanted a local agency with experience and expertise to guide them through SXSW.
It just so happened that the Friskies’ ad agency, Fosforos—also headquartered in Austin—adopted many of the cats displaced by the 2011 Bastrop fire and knew that Red Fan was the right choice to build and manage a bold and creative strategy for SXSW.
The result, a campaign (and iPad game)—You vs. Cat—quickly became one of the most-talked-about stories of the conference. After noticing that cats had a particular affinity for iPad gaming, Friskies created the first-ever dual-species game, in which humans compete against cats to “paw” at pieces of Friskies, giving new meaning to the term “reflexes like a cat” while showcasing the possibility of the use of interactive technology with pets. The rules were simple: The species to collect the most food wins.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cats won—and so did Friskies, which saw coverage in major national media like ABC News, Yahoo!, Forbes and Buzzfeed.
The theme of interactive technology continued the following year in the form of the “Catify Yourself” campaign. In modern terms, it was the first-ever TikTok filter and answered the question every cat owner didn’t know they needed to ask: What would I look like if I were a cat?
Following that campaign, Friskies made Red Fan its agency of record which resulted in years of a successful partnership.
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
In 2014, the SXSW Film Festival premiered of Mike Myer’s documentary, “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.” In his directorial debut, Myers featured the life of Shep Gordon, one of the most widely known talent managers in the entertainment industry.
Mark Rivers, a leading builder and developer from Idaho, hired Red Fan to create buzz around the show-stopping premiere after-party. It was an exclusive event with good music and based on the recommendations of Red Fan included la real ATX vibe with inclusion of local companies like Tito’s Vodka and Blackbird Bakery.
Tasked with elevating awareness of the film and positioning the after-party as a must-attend event at SXSW, Red Fan tapped into its Austin roots and proven local partnerships to quickly and effectively develop a media relations and production strategy.
We partnered with several notable brands in Austin, like Austin Monthly Magazine, Jaguar/Land Rover, Diamonds Direct and Kendra Scott. To generate high interest among SXSW attendees and the media, Red Fan designed customized invitations and media alerts.
During the event, guests were surprised by a special appearance by Willie Nelson. After his performance, guests were given the opportunity to meet Willie himself and buy raffle tickets to receive a guitar signed personally by the music icon himself.
Nerd Carnival: A carnival for nerds
You may have heard of a little Austin company called Q2 Holdings, a financial technology provider for community banks and credit unions and sponsor of Q2 Stadium, home of our beloved Austin FC, and client of Red Fan for more than half a decade. Together we took the company public, launched dozens of new products and solutions, and navigated through multiple acquisitions.
One of the more unique challenges we faced together was recruitment within a city that inherently makes it hard to hire talented software engineers and developers. Q2—and more specifically, its CTO, Adam Blue—were tired of overpaying recruiters to hire coders and wanted to find an opportunity to get in front of potential candidates directly.
The result, Nerd Carnival, a day-long event held during SXSW at Cenote’s, the beloved patio cafe in East Austin. The carnival featured music from underground nerdcore rapper Mega Ran with a guest appearance from fellow rapper Sammus, Austin BBQ, arcade games, a 3D printer and a “nerd museum.”
Hundreds of people, many of them developers and engineers, attended the event. After paying a cover charge (their resumes), they were given access badges (floppy disks), and the Nerd Carnival resulted in dozens of high-value candidates for Q2 and Adam’s team. In an act of sublime guerilla marketing (if we do say so ourselves), Red Fan even recruited many of Austin’s famous pedicab drivers to spread the word about the carnival while transporting attendees around town.
Honorable mentions
- We were a sponsor of SXSW’s interactive track in 2014. The theme? Cyberpunk. The exhibit featured a cyberpunk-themed sci-fi media panel discussion, a working replica of the White Dragon Noodle Bar from the movie Blade Runner, curated cyberpunk visuals, writers from premier publications like WIRED and Fast Company and appearances from a variety of prominent technologists, and it was a hit among reporters, attendees, and sponsors.
- A few of us attended the 2016 NYT Magazine party at the now-closed downtown location of Easy Tiger. A whos-who of SXSW, it also always had great food, so of course, we had to be there.
- In 2017, Red Fan partnered with co-working space Industrious to create a media lounge downtown. While many may think it’s every PR professional’s singular goal to land media coverage at any cost, Red Fan wanted to do the opposite: Give reporters a space to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet that, syrprise, SXSW is not known for. And if they wanted to hold interviews or write up their latest piece on the conference, they could do that too, of course.
- We sat down with evangelist, author, speaker and thought leader Guy Kawasaki to discuss what he loved most about SXSW. We may or may not have bribed him with his favorite Austin BBQ.
- We partnered with MyEDU, an innovative school management application for students, teachers and parents, to organize a panel discussion during SXSW EDU.