What you need to know:

• The marketing chiefs of Seven and Commonwealth Bank, major and super sponsor of SXSW Sydney 2023, have joined Destination NSW GM of marketing in given the first-year festival a solid eight out of 10.
• Both brands have indicated the likelihood of participating in year two, even as they offer up a range of learnings from this year’s version – from programming and putting a roof on activations, to scheduling and app improvements.
• Destination NSW says shorter-than-desirable lead times on the program proved challenging to building awareness and promoting the festival particularly interstate and internationally, and flags promotional activities with distribution partners including airlines and accommodation providers, which usually deliver 111:1 ROI, will be key in next year’s marketing effort.
• The review from the trio of marketing leaders comes as SXSW Sydney organiser reveals the top-level attendee results from this year’s event, including 34,975 ticket sales and 97,462 unique attendees.  

Standing start, next sprint

No one is in any doubt how much was riding on this first SXSW Sydney festival – the first version to run outside of Austin in its 38-year history, and a hefty bet for the state of NSW.  

Hopkins, Boundy and Illy all felt an eight out of 10 was appropriate given it’s the first year for SXSW Sydney and little awareness existed in the Southern Hemisphere about what a South by Southwest festival is all about. And all three are keen to see it grow in years two, three and beyond.

“It was the maiden year, and it was spectacular for the first time in this market. Awareness was lower and the fact we have it for 10 years is unbelievable,” Hopkins says. “Next year will easily be a nine or 10. They have completed this year with a lot of FOMO and people understanding more what SxSW can give.

“It’s 99 per cent likely Seven will be involved next year. We’re super excited about our role in it. What it did for us also from a brand perspective, particularly in the trade, was super important.”

And how about next year’s Seven Upfronts, which was reimagined and ran on the Wednesday evening of this year’s SXSW Sydney event? “Potentially,” adds Hopkins.  

Sydney became the first city outside SXSW’s hometown of Austin to be given the go-ahead to run a version of the creative, screen, music, games, innovation and tech festival in 2023, securing the rights for up to 10 years (5+5 years). The local leg is a collaboration between TEG, the NSW Government and Destination NSW.

'They pulled it off'

Destination NSW GM of marketing, Kathryn Illy, agrees with Hopkins’ summation, noting a few learnings to come out of year one – and a few gnawed knuckles in the lead-up to the event.

“It was interesting to watch it fold out. You could see some ticket sales coming through and thinking, holy cow is this going to make it? Are we going to get people there? It was a bit worrying to be honest in the lead-up to it, and just watching it week by week, I know the team were trying to sort their stuff out. But they pulled it off,” she comments.

Plus, it delivered some hard to reach demos: Illy cites hosting the Intel Extreme Masters gaming event during the festival, which tapped into a different audience to the one traditionally coming to events in Sydney or NSW from arts, culture music and sporting realms, as a standout example.

“This was tapping into an audience we’d never seen before – 30-35-year-old males en masse was a totally new audience for us and an interesting shift in demographics,” Illy says.  

“So it exceeded our expectations. Now, years two, three and up will continue to build and grow. It was always going to be an interesting first year when the awareness isn’t there.”

Running the numbers

Interstate and international visitation was the name of the game for Destination NSW. That split is yet to be released by the promotional bureau or tourism minister but it has been confirmed that attendees included individuals from 41 countries.

In an Mi3 podcast in July in the lead-up to the first event, SxSW Sydney organising chief, Colin Daniels, said half of early registrations were reportedly from outside Sydney, and the target was to have 30 per cent of total attendees coming from outside of Australia.

Further figures released this week by the organiser indicated a solid start. There were 34,975 tickets, wristbands, expo passes and badges sold against an estimated target of 40,000 ticket sales. In all, 1,178 sessions and events were held, and 78 sponsor partners were listed on this year’s event website.

Over at Seven House, Hopkins cites between 800-900 people through the temporary structure per day, including a record 1,200 on the first day of the festival. Seven also flew in people to attend its annual upfronts event at the ICC Sydney.

“I’d say it was a 10 out of 10 for the house and how it worked, plus the calibre of individuals we got in there was really important – be that as a destination to rest and recharge, or our lunches and masterclasses we did,” Hopkins says.

CommBank: Coming back for more 

CommBank was one of two Super Sponsors of SXSW Sydney alongside Qantas, stationing its activation beside Seven House and focusing on demonstrating tech and innovation credentials to attendees. According to Boundy, the onsite activation saw high volumes of foot traffic, including the general public.

“We also used it as a way to connect with customers, both mass Australian – and it was a diverse range of individuals who attended the festival – but also business banking customers, who we gave access to a lot of panels and speaker events,” she says. CommBank also took advantage of having a head office in nearby Tumbalong Park to run bespoke events.

“That was one of the amazing things about the festival – you could buy a ticket, go and see the speakers and the concerts; but you could also feel part of it by roaming the streets of Sydney,” Boundy comments. “That I think is the vision for the future – to go from Kings Cross to Newtown and have all these different parts activated.”

A former Austin attendee, Boundy found the Sydney version of SXSW to have more of a tech and innovation flavour than its US counterpart.

“That is a space that Sydney should lean into and own. The opportunity is to design a uniquely Australian and Sydney experience that pays homage to cultural heritage of Austin,” she says.

Boundy indicates the big four bank will be returning in 2024. “CBA is excited to be on this journey with SXSW Sydney and seeing how it grows and evolves; and ultimately how it helps inspire minds,” she says.

How to make it better

There are a few big learnings. At an organiser level, Seven's Hopkins recognises areas need improvement, such as the app and scheduling.

“A fresh app with more lead time will help, but I’m very confident they will have that for the coming year,” she says.

For CommBank the first thing to do next year is put a roof on its place, Boundy says – testament to the hot and wet week first-year attendees were subjected to.

“More seriously, the schedule is so busy and so stacked, you need to only do the really big things that are going to cut through,” she continues. “We did a lot of hospitality, dinners and events that required a lot of heavy lifting. I think less is more when you have lots of different, competing events happening on the same schedule.”

Plan early, and dial up the festival, she added.

“Don’t think of it as just a conference. Less is best and do something unique to get cut through in a busy week,” she says. “The other one is content creation. Don’t just think about people just physically there. There’s so much to amplify and engage with people. It’s a great platform to amplify to local and global audiences.”

Hopkins echoed that view – and said the same applies to the Austin SXSW, where there are hundreds of things happening in parallel at any minute.

“Because it was new to Australia, people weren’t quite expecting that to be the level of experience,” she says. “You often don’t get into everything you want and you need to plan. Australians, when we go to these conferences, are often used to things being more formulaic, getting into everything in and being able to rock up. My request to the industry is they need to lean in and embrace the frenetic nature of SXSW and not expect it to be like anything else. You do have to do some of the research,” she says.

“It’s not a case of turning up with a couple of banners with your product on there either thinking it’s going to work. You have to lean in and be just as creative as the festival is.

“The other thing, which Seven didn’t leverage this year but probably will next time, is the wonders of the areas of Sydney brought to life through this. Some of those cultural moments and experiences.”

Sweating Sydney's assets

More can be done to promote the event earlier by both the bureau and event organiser, Destination NSW's Illy agrees. One challenge was not having the line-up of celebrity speakers or full program as early as was needed to build interest and conversion through international partners.

“This was a two-set sale. We were reliant on having the program, keynotes, talents and speakers to promote,” Illy says. “For example, if we had known Nicole Kidman was on earlier, that would have been a really great sale opportunity. We were a bit hamstrung in some ways when the program dropped. And equally to be able to market to interstate and international markets – you’re looking at a three-month lead time and we didn’t have that.”

An additional limitation for this year’s SXSW Sydney festival faced is the SAAG actor and writers’ strikes.

“If you were SAAG as Nicole [Kidman] was, you weren’t allowed to come in and talk about a film. There was a lot of limitations as a result. You will not have those next year – people will be a lot more open to attending and having those conversations,” Hopkins comments.

Creators, musicians and actors who did make it on stage included Chance the Rapper, Charlie Brooker, Baz Luhrmann and Naomi Watts.

Another initial challenge was trying to work out how much of the festival will do the ‘awareness’ and advertising versus how much a bureau like Destination NSW needed to push. Building more city buzz is a must, for one.  

“There was a bit of let’s just wait and see how this goes,” Illy says. “We did a lot of activity to push this out to regional, interstate and international, but more so around Sydney-siders. That was about targeting those last-minute purchasers of tickets who realise there is something on in Sydney and wonder why they’re not there, so they jump in. That’s what we’re going to look more at next year – what are the opportunities to get those last-minute ticket sales through Sydney-siders.”

In year two, Illy flags working with distribution partners such as airlines, accommodation, online travel agents to be able to promote this as a package of Sydney visit plus attending SXSW as a key marketing mechanism.

Destination NSW’s last financial report shows these promotions garnering 111:1 ROI.

“They knock it out of the park. We will look to do more of the same,” Illy says. “Because the organisers are planning now and have all the things stacked up on what they know they need to bring forward, we can use and leverage that to our advantage. So I suspect there will be more of the same formula we know works, but just earlier.”

Dive into Mi3's comprehensive coverage of this year's SXSW Sydney here.