Doritos’ giant #BoldStage, a 62-foot Twitter-powered vending machine stage, is the centrepiece of its sponsorship activation at 2013 South By Southwest (SXSW).
Equipped with a four-story-tall LCD screen, the #BoldStage is the focus of the brand’s digital, interactive concert experiences.
Looking like a massive vending machine, the stage reacts to consumer tweets using the campaign hashtag #BoldStage providing a live concert-control mechanism.
An interesting element of this entertainment-led initiative sees three up-and-coming musicians competing to open for the evening’s headliners – which include Cool J, Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Doug E. Fresh.
The winner is determined through a fan engagement scheme via Twitter.
But its not just the opening act that fans can determine via Twitter, but they can also choose playlists and control special effects such as smoke, balloons, pyrotechnics and lasers.
To socialise the initiative, fans can also send pictures of themselves directly to the four-story-tall screen.
‘Making it in the music business is no easy task, but SXSW can serve as the perfect launching pad for the next big thing in hip hop this year,’ says two-time Grammy winner LL Cool J. ‘That’s why I love that Doritos is offering a stage at SXSW to give an opportunity to talented up-and-coming acts. And, if they’re bold enough to gain the fans’ attention, there is no better place to be discovered.’
This programme runs at the festival from 14 to 16 March.
This return of Doritos at the this year’s SXSW Music Conference and Festival, marks the fifth year that parent brand PepsiCo is a primary sponsor of the trendsetting Austin (Texas) event.
As well as Doritos, the beverage and food giant is activating other brands at this year’s SXSW including Pepsi, Brisk Mountain Dew and Kickstart.
Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the Doritos #BoldStage at SXSW actually marks the official launch of the brand’s first ever global brand campaign – ‘For The Bold’.
The international design and marketing campaign is supported by a new logo and updated packaging and it is being rolled out globally over the next few months.
Post SXSW, the campaign is being supported by both TV and digital advertising.
‘For the Bold’ as a concept aims to build on the brand’s heritage of putting control directly into the hands of Doritos consumers.
It’s objective is to empower fans to live for now and do things differently, as seen through previous crowd-sourcing initiatives such as Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl,” “Unlock Xbox” and now the Doritos.
Comment
This activation leverages two current stand-out trends in music activation: young artists support and crowd control of a live experience.
Using flagship sponsorship- platforms to support young musicians has been a feature of much music industry activation in recent months.
Recent examples include the recent #TheWorldIsListening initiative at The Grammys.
While another great example of using mobile and social tools to give the crowd an element of control over the stage and the acts at a concert can be seen in our case study on Coke FM’s concert in Colombia last summer.
Links:
Doritos #Bold Stage Webfilm Introduction YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN_fP2tuxWU&feature=player_embedded
Doritos #BoldStage Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/DoritosUSA
South By Southwest 2013
