Author archive for Rachel Boucher
American Express Charges EM’s Own with Parade Duty
Under the cover of darkness, 4:30 a.m. Aug. 22, I set off for Provincetown, MA, a top LGBT summer destination located at the tip of beachy Cape Cod. Cape traffic can be pretty miserable, though not at that hour, and so in those peaceful early morning hours, iced-coffee in hand, glowing sun rising above the...
How SXSW Crowdsources its Content with PanelPicker
Five years ago South by Southwest waded into the crowdsourcing pool, allowing its attendee community to submit and vote on conference session topics and speaker proposals. PanelPicker, as it is called, started relatively small, but it now forms the backbone of SXSW’s content development structure and is managed year-round. We’ll explore various crowdsourcing models, what’s...
Summer Sampling Goes Hyper-Local to Tantalize Tastebuds
If this summer’s sampling activations are any indication, small is the new big. The mass-market sampling sweeps through 30 states that were once the hallmark of a “summer tour” have become tiny, micro-targeted community stopovers and one-off events designed to win hearts, minds and tastebuds one local at a time. Through local engagement, local artists,...
Why Match.com is Going Offline with Live Events
Venerable dating site Match.com has been making love connections among singles through a 100-percent online platform since 1995. But last June, the brand forged a new path in matchmaking with The Stir, a comprehensive live event program that, to date, has attracted 225,000 attendees.