Sponsors from Pepsi to Freecreditscore.com are showering free tacos and koozies on SXSWers ? especially the digital boys
It will go down as one of those "were you there when ..." moments. You know the ones: were you there when Dylan went electric, when the Sex Pistols played the Free Trade Hall, when Kanye tweeted about fur pillows? Well here comes another: were you there when every booth in the SXSW trade show gave away free booze for two whole hours?
I was there on Wednesday, and let me tell you, I nearly got drunk. There was wine, there was gin, there was lots of really weak American beer, sanitised to lower the calorie count. It was like being at a Roman orgy, except without the grapes and with the opportunity to learn about investment in north Rhine-Westphalia. Oh, and did I tell you it was free?
Everyone loves free stuff. Just look at the internet. But to get free stuff in your hands, to get it placed there by another human being, well that's something else. The rush that passes through your body when someone hands you a complimentary neoprene koozie is like how an investment banker must feel on a daily basis.
SXSW knows the value of free. If you arrange your schedule, and adjust your standards accordingly, you can pass an entire day without spending a penny (note to worldwide readers: in England this would mean you have a very strong bladder). In the morning you can eat a breakfast taco sponsored by a group discount site. At lunch you can eat a Korean BBQ taco while driving a complimentary Chevy. In the evening, you can eat a normal taco laid on by the creators of a music streaming site... there's nowhere like it on earth.
Corporations flock to Austin every March with truckloads of swag, desperate to get a piece of the action. There are so many brands involved with SXSW that Scott McNearney, the festival's sponsors chief, can only put the figure at "hundreds and hundreds". Some of the top level "major/super" sponsors are Pepsi, AOL, the Austin Chronicle and also Utilikilts and Freecreditscore.com. McNearney says between them they sponsor more than 4,500 events over the course of the 10-day festival.
If I were a betting man I'd say the majority of those events were during the first weekend. While once it was the music festival with all the free stuff, nowadays the fizz is all with interactive. That might have something to do with the music industry shedding massive sales year on year while the digital boys keep bathing in a hot tub of venture capital. Who knows. All I'm saying is I know where it's easier to get a free caipirinha.
This shouldn't surprise anyone of course; big brands always know what's best for them. What I don't know is quite what they expect from us. Do they anticipate a lifetime of brand loyalty in exchange for a taco? Or just their name in a tweet: "just got koozie frm @freecreditscore.com ? hv added 2 collection"? Deep down, I suppose, is the fear that by becoming a free-shilling corporate freebie monkey you might lose sight of what's good in life. On the other hand, fail to turn up to the Pepsi Max lot and you might miss out on a free Tote bag.
? Read all our latest coverage of SXSW music at guardian.co.uk/sxsw/music. You can also follow us on Twitter at @GuardianSXSW or @GuardianMusic. And sign up now for our weekly Sleeve Notes email newsletter to get all the week's music news straight to your inbox.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/mar/18/sxsw-music-free-lunch-sponsors
Kelly Ripa Yvonne Strzechowski Rhona Mitra Kelly Rowland Danica Patrick
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