How We Were Challenged

Pandora is a leading music and podcast discovery platform, providing highly personalized listening experiences to its nearly 70 million monthly users. Their goal is to enrich their audience’s lives by delivering effortless personalized music enjoyment and discovery. People are at the center of their purpose and everything they do.

However, the competition in the on-demand music streaming space is growing, with companies like Spotify taking the largest stake in the share. In such a crowded category, it’s become increasingly difficult for Pandora to retain their consumer base and generate advertising revenue. To compete with the newcomers, Pandora launched Pandora Premium, its very own on-demand music streaming service. Positioned for loyal Pandora fans and those first entering the streaming space, Pandora Premium makes it simple to discover and enjoy new music.

With a launch date of March 2017, Pandora was looking to drive consumer awareness and draw attention to their new on-demand streaming service, Pandora Premium.

How We Made A Splash

One of Pandora’s best tools for generating buzz and engaging with their consumers is through experiential activations at music and arts festivals all over the country. A regular sponsor at Austin Texas’ famous South by Southwest, an annual conglomeration of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences, Pandora wanted to take it to the next level for 2017. Perfectly timed to the launch of their premium streaming service, Pandora wanted to do something big for their sixth year back at SXSW. So big, in fact, that it would take up three city blocks of Downtown Austin.

South by Southwest is the premier destination for fans to discover new music,” said Nick Bartle, Pandora’s chief marketing officer. “We are so excited to welcome this year’s diverse lineup of talent to the Pandora at SXSW stage, and continue helping emerging artists find their fans and grow their careers.

Three city blocks of Austin, TX downtown converted into the Pandora activation for SXSW 2017

With plans to showcase and live stream 42 bands over the course of the four-day festival, Pandora secured over 300,000 square feet of real estate on Austin’s famous 6th and 7th Street. With big engagement goals in mind, the Pandora events team utilized the services of Stoelt Productions for the third consecutive year to create an immersive experience that would leave fans with lasting memories for years to come.

Here is how Stoelt Productions developed one of the largest experiential footprints at the country’s biggest entertainment festivals to help Pandora drive loyalty and audience engagement for its new on-demand streaming service, Pandora Premium.

Pandora sxsw 2017 stage.jpeg — At A Glance:

Client: Pandora
Type: Music and Interactive Festival
Location: Austin, TX
Sponsors: FedEx, Ashley Home Store, Clorox, Simple Mobile, McDonald’s, Advanced Auto Parts, GM National Harbor
Our Role: Full event production and execution

How We Built from the Ground Up

To take it up a notch for 2017, the Stoelt Productions team had just four days to build out the entire three-city block footprint from scratch. In years past, there were an extra two days of set-up leading up to the music portion of SXSW, but 2017 was an entirely different ballgame. The team was challenged to transform the 300,000 square feet of blank space into its own music festival, complete with a fully custom stage, immersive sponsor activations, and a first-rate artist village, all amid the ongoing SXSW Interactive programming in the very same location.

With little time to waste, Stoelt Productions got to work designing and building out every aspect of the festival. From unloading trucks to building staging, fencing, tenting, walls, and more, each physical element had to feel cohesive, align with the brands’ vision, and remain in good condition throughout the entirety festival.

For the interactive portion of SXSW on March 11th -12th, Stoelt created a Pandora brand moment inside The Gatsby, an old-home-turned-bar. For the first time in SXSW history, Pandora had a branded indoor space for fans and Pandora staff – designed and furnished with a meeting room, dining room, living room, and kitchen. Decked out with synced neon signage and speakers pulsating music throughout the house, the interactive space was the perfect place to capture fans’ attention and generate buzz before the music festival.

Exterior of The Gatsby House, the popular venue Stoelt Productions transformed into the Pandora Interactive space

Meanwhile, Stoelt Productions was loading and building out the adjacent lot in preparation for the Pandora music festival starting the very next day.

The Pandora step-up structure made for the perfect Instagram moment

It was critical that every element of the festival felt cohesive and interconnected, from the signage to the sponsor activations. Stoelt stayed true to Pandora’s brand identity by focusing on colorful and hypnotic shapes and designs that fit the aesthetic, had purpose, and were worthy of an Instagram-able moment, like the Pandora step-up structure. Branded signage was strategically placed around the festival grounds with phrases that fans could associate directly with Pandora’s brand, such as “Find The Music You Love”.

How We Lit It Up

To get fans excited from the very beginning of the experience, Stoelt erected a 4' x 60' 4mm LED marquee in front of the venue that featured custom daily content, including the daily artist line-up, social media tags and handles, and the concert live stream URL.

As day turned into night, the crowds became larger, and the lights became brighter. In order to illuminate the streetscape, Stoelt Productions cantilevered over 140’ of LED lighting 12’ over the sidewalk on 6th Street that created the event parameter. There were over 20 massive LED fixtures that bathed the exterior of the venue in bright, inviting light, illuminating the custom dye sublimated cloth banners and new-to-the-party 100’ by 12’ branded scrims – an element designed and executed by Stoelt to capture consumers before they even stepped foot into the festival.

LED marquee erected on The Gatsby house featured custom daily content

Illuminated nightly streetscape to excite fans in line

Suspended from the west wall facing Waller Creek and on the backdrop of the stage, Stoelt designed and implemented two custom 8' neon Pandora logos with integrated 4mm LED screens and LED lighting. Comprised of LED tiles and framed into the Pandora “P”, the logos featured custom content controlled by the Pandora team.

Custom-built Pandora logo frame fitted with LED tiles to display changing content and designs

How We Activated Our Sponsors

The Stoelt team was challenged to not only produce a flawless event and stage production but also to design, develop and execute all sponsor activations for the festival. With an understanding of critical festival elements, Stoelt knew each activation had to have a strategic role and purpose, while also following a branding aesthetic.

Simple Mobile

As the sponsor of the wristband pick-up, Simple Mobile was there to greet fans upon arrival. Stoelt built out the Simple Mobile branded check-in area and water wall, adorned with branded water bottles to ensure guests would be hydrated throughout the festival.

Clorox Scentiva

To create a more elevated festival restroom experience, Stoelt designed the Clorox Scentiva executive washrooms. Hawaiian-themed, the Clorox washrooms gave fans the feeling of being in a tropical paradise during a music festival.

Ashley Home Store

After a full day of jamming out, fans want to find a moment to relax, recharge, and beat the heat. Decked out with a huge LED wall, festival-goers could sit down and watch the performances live from the shaded Ashley Home Store viewing area in the sponsor lot. Complete with phone charging stations, a giant Jenga, and corn hole, fans could take a break from the crowds without even having to leave the festival.

McDonald’s

Smile, Snap, and Share! Stoelt designed and created the McDonald’s green screen photo booth for fans to capture the moment. A perfect opportunity for brand exposure, fans snapped and shared their McDonald’s photos with their friends, family, and social networks.

Advanced Auto Parts

Exhausted from dancing all day? Advanced Auto Parts has it covered. Stoelt designed a custom Advanced Auto Parts rickshaw for the festival to transport fans safely and efficiently throughout the experience.

FedEx

A new element for the SXSW 2017 was Pandora’s live stream. If fans couldn’t join the festivities in person, they could now tune in from home to watch their favorite artists perform live during the festival. As the live stream host, Stoelt set FedEx up with a branded live stream booth that allowed them to run and control the live stream on-site.

Pandora Genome Dome

To round out the sponsor activations, Pandora had to create something memorable. With a focus on Pandora’s music discovery initiative – the music genome project – Stoelt designed and fabricated the Pandora Genome Dome. Equipped with 6 custom iPad kiosks with built-in TVs, fans could input their music preferences and discover new artists and songs right there in the dome.

pandora sxsw 2017 artist village — How We Transformed The Artist Village

Ensuring that artists performing at the Pandora music festival would be taken care of, Stoelt Productions built out a new and expansive artist village, covering 14,000 square feet of the festival grounds. Fitted with custom-built Edison walls, a content capture trailer, a lush outdoor lounge, and two hospitality tents, Stoelt ensured artists had the perfect place to rest, relax, and unwind during their time at Pandora.

How We Crushed It

Fans enjoyed 42 artists & bands at the Pandora festival at SXSW 2017

In four short days, Stoelt Productions transformed three city blocks into an immersive experience that helped Pandora show up and show out for SXSW 2017. By managing every component and element in-house, from strategy, concept, and design to logistics, production, execution, and post, Stoelt Productions was able to break through the noise and build out one of the largest experiential footprints at SXSW to date. This immersive music festival experience helped Pandora bond with their consumers and introduce their new premium on-demand streaming service in the biggest and best possible way.