Toolbox Studios Account Manager, Chase White, recently traveled to the Sundance Film Festival and reports back on social media trends...
I just returned from the frigid whirlwind of movies and marketing that makes up the international phenomenon we know as Sundance Film Festival. Each January, the small ski town of Park City, Utah crams in the best up-and-coming independent films, film buyers, actors, agents, corporate sponsors, the media and the public. This year at Sundance, I observed a particularly effective use of both emerging and established digital mediums that reached fans long before, and after, the festival itself.
Before I even left for the airport, I was already connected to the festival through Sundance Facebook, Sundance MySpace, Sundance Twitter, and of course the Sundance Web site. I used them to familiarize myself with the event’s happenings, hot spots, news and film information. However, once I got there, the Sundance tweets were by far my favorite to follow in order to stay updated on when and where to be while I was partaking in the festival’s revels. To boot, the Sundance tweets were efficiently widgeted into nearly all of their social media sites… Well played, Sundance. However, when out and about (navigating the flocks of people and traffic), no tool was as efficient as my trusty iPhone, which nicely displayed the incandescent glow of the Sundance iPhone Site.
Digging deeper into the festival, I signed up for Sundance’s e-mail program and SMS Mobile Short Code program. Both of these systems alerted me to events from the festival’s sponsors such as Brita and Nalgene’s FilterForGood campaign, which distributed 50,000 complimentary Sundance Nalgene bottles to Sundance visitors, which could be refilled at any and all Brita Hydration Stations around the festival. The goal of the program was (and continues to be) to reduce water bottle waste and help promote the use of sustainable filtered tap water systems. Co-op at its finest for a great cause.
On location, the party scenes were plentiful and very generous (once you manage to get in, of course). Of the finest, the 2009 House of Hype/Island Def Jam events produced by Spin Shoppe Canvas Media Group were unsurpassed. From their daytime hospitality lounges to the nighttime ultra lounges, they were planned and executed with good style in a very cool atmosphere—compliments to all involved. My advice to readers: if you can ever make it to a Spin Shoppe Canvas Media Group event… go. You won’t regret it.
All in all, the festival was very impressive. From the music, to the media, to the movies (my personal favorite), Sundance continues to ride the leading edge of the technological marketing movement. Furthermore, congratulations to all the film winners at the festival, I hope I am fortunate enough to attend next year (likely to drool over the rumored downloadable 2010 Sundance iPhone app).
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