Independent music and film festivals like South by Southwest and the Sundance Film Festival are unique engagement platforms with a seemingly unstoppable trajectory for growth. They attract an eclectic mix of A-list and emerging artists musicians filmmakers and actors. They provide hip and unconventional backdrops for media coverage. And they lure trendsetting consumers VIPs and industry […]

MORE THAN EVER people are connected 24/7 via text messaging and the web. Still nothing beats an old fashioned house party for sharing meaningful conversations among friends. As a result more companies are joining the conversation by organizing consumer house parties centered around their brand.

For a technology brand with the word “invent” as its slogan an early foray into the world of virtual events may not seem like much of a stretch. It was Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard after all who first staked out territory in Silicon Valley in 1939 founding one of the most successful high-tech companies in the world out of a one-car garage and bringing to market over the next 75 years industry firsts like calculators handheld devices email programs laser printers and touchscreen PCs.

Ross Burton credits media training with giving him confidence whether he’s working behind the scenes at awards shows like the Academy Awards hosting a consumer make-up event or fielding a reporter’s questions. And although he comes across as self-assured and comfortable with the press Burton says that wasn’t always the case.

Some companies only pay lip service to event marketing seeing it more as an add-on than a key part of the marketing strategy. Others see it as a tool to be used sparingly because they don’t know how to measure the ROI. Then there’s Bliss. The spa brand (owned by the Starwood Hotels chain which also owns the W Hotels brand) dedicates about 25 percent of its entire marketing budget (including sampling) to you guessed it experiential marketing.