Vidcon 2015: What worked onsite for brands

I just returned from Vidcon 2015 in Anaheim, California. This annual convention is the best produced convention that focuses on social media platforms and their creators of content for those platforms. Over 20,000 people attended.

Fans pack the panels to hear from their favorite YouTube and Vine stars

What makes this convention special is that it is concurrently both a trade show and a consumer show. The first floor is for the fans and features an exhibit hall and multiple stages where fans could listen to panels with their favorite stars from YouTube, Vine, Instagram, SnapChat and Twitter. There are also fan meet and greets.

an industry session where you learn about making great videos

The upper floors are all business with the second floor being devoted to creators (those who paid for or were comped a special pass) and those in the industry on the third floor. These are great to learn the latest trends in social media marketing with topics like "Mastering the New World of Content Windowing" and "Effective strategies to create and promote on Twitter."

Key takeaway for any brand to be there is to ask themselves, why do we need to be here and who are we targeting. The answer to these questions will guide how you will activate. 

First things first, there is rarely anything during the convention that is not officially associated with Vidcon. Vidcon is a very professional run convention similar to CES and E3.  I have to give Kudos to the planners for never overcrowding the convention with too many people.  It seemed that everyone who wanted to attend a panel was able to attend a panel.  The exhibit floor never felt too busy or overwhelming.  So the attendee experience seems to be a priority.

Vidcon has a stand up convention sales team that provides you with a menu of options. They are also open to creative ideas on your end if something doesn't quite fit your goals. 

Consumer Facing

a fan takes a selfie with Vine comedy stars Alex Ernst (@alexernst) and David Dobrik (@daviddobrik)

Booths, both inside the convention center and outside in the plaza are the order of the day. You can also sponsor stages, activities and a myriad of other things. If you are targeting the teens that love their social media stars, here are some ideas that worked, and a few that didn't.

Booths that had their own social media creator experiences worked great. Maker Studios hosted a stage where their talent in addition to the official programming did signings and mini panels. This booth was designed and built by NVE: The Experience Agency.

Instagram's booth featured a ball pit which you use for an Instagram post. Very popular (and should look familiar to anyone who attended the Lipton Sparkling Ice Tea Lounge at Sundance). Video and photo friendly booths were popular as well as booths that gave out free t-shirts and swag.

I thought this was a clever activation. Taco Bell created a "Viewseum" featuring props from famous YouTube and other social media personalities.

Vine had a visually interesting booth featuring video of their stars, both established and up and coming. This is Gabbie Hanna (@thegabbieshow) who has 4.3 mm followers on Vine.

Branded locking charging stations were a hit. If you stopped by the Panasonic booth, they gave you a card to use these stations. You could lock up your phone to charge it.

However, some booths felt recycled from other trade show conventions. I would stay away from feeling to too corporate on the exhibit floor. I didn't really see much interaction here. In fact, if they were targeting creators, they should have been on the second floor, not the main consumer-facing exhibitor hall.

A big miss was the Kia Parents Lounge (where you didn't need a badge for) which looked a little like parents prison.

Industry and Creator Facing (B2B)

The second floor featured some outside booths in the lobby and plenty of creators lounges (both open to anyone with a creator badge and invite only lounges).

Defy Media Creators lounge featured games, videos, soft drinks, snacks and a daily 2-hour open bar happy hour with food. They also had a photo booth and a private meeting room. This lounge and the Collective Digital Studios lounge were where plenty of YouTube and Vine talent were hanging out. There was also a super secret Instagram VIP Creator lounge backstage in the green room for panel speakers.

YouTube's creator lounge felt extremely cavernous but featured a very large video screen and coffee.

Panasonic's creator lounge was the most detailed and thought out. This small lounge featured massage chairs, beauty stations, and many other Panasonic products on display as well as a photo booth. The daily beer and wine happy hours were welcome. Unlike the other creator lounges, this was open to anyone with a creator badge.

On the third floor was an industry lounge, that had some signage, free soft drinks and food, but looked pretty basic. 

Big misses in the creator lounges were lack of places to charge your phone. I'm not kidding. This seems like a basic thing: buy a power pack and create either places to plug in your charger or have all sorts of mobile phone cords ready to charge. Dead cell phones are your enemy at events like this. Only the Panasonic chargers were available outside the creator lounges, but you couldn't use your phone while your phone was charging in them.

Evening Parties

Vidcon hosts plenty of consumer parties for the attendees including a Vidcon Prom and some live concerts. Great to reach consumers.

There were also plenty of VIP parties, mostly held at the host hotels of the Hilton and Marriott. They had varying degrees of build out -- from nothing but a DJ to some more elaborate set ups. The most elaborate set up was YouTube's party with decent event production, but a very difficult invite list. Better was the Collective Digital Studios party that went off-site renting out the House of Blues at Downtown Disney for a very large event. It had a ton of stars of You Tube and Vine.

Another group, Rise9, decided to take Vidcon to a whole different level -- by copying the mansion parties of Coachella (specifically the NVE produced Nylon Magazine Midnight Garden party). First, this was the metal ticket/invite:

?The party at a huge mansion in Anaheim Hills, about 20 minutes away from the convention. No address was given, you met at the convention center where you were shuttled away to the mansion. 

The theme was supposed to be Willy Wonka but with mermaids, crazy photo booths, art installations, circus performers, live music, DJs, brand experiences, multiple gift bags, etc., it was a little lost in the translation. This party was pretty successful, but with some hiccups. It was little too busy with too many small sponsors vying for attention, but the party was a highly coveted invite. My only notes were more shuttle buses were needed -- it took 40 minutes for a shuttle bus to pick us up. When we left, most people were looking for an Uber back to Anaheim as the shuttles were about on an hour rotation. 

Also, a little flexibility with the guest list -- be smart about it. There were a few top vine stars (and huge ones at that) that were seeking invites that were never answered. The party was never at capacity because the mansion grounds were massive. The smart talent wranglers in Hollywood know that if a huge star is not on the list, but comes up -- you let them in. This party and the YouTube party didn't understand that.

However, some of the VIP parties looked phoned in. Niche's party featured a banner in a bowling alley. Fancy!

I also heard stories of the NeoReach party at a Hilton Ballroom on Thursday night that had a cash bar. If they were budget strapped, there are plenty of nearby venues that would have been less expensive where they could have opened the bar and done it right. Or you do something more intimate like a dinner.

Another note generally for all these parties, traditional party media was missing. There were step and repeats, but no wire service photographer or press line. A big missed opportunity to grow your audience. The Chosen, a film that premiered on Thursday had a press line. The Rise9 party had a step and repeat, but was only doing a single video interview that were taking too long. Most of the talent skipped it.

Opportunities for 2016

For 2016, look to the Hilton for brands to activate in if targeting creators. While creators lounges inside the convention are great, I think creating invite only lounges inside the Hilton, where all the talent stays, can be even better. The meeting rooms and ballrooms could be secured for talent. These can also be great places to build media lounges, especially for trades.

Another idea is to ask Vidcon to be able to empty a hotel room on the secure talent only floors (you had to have a special Yellow badge to enter the floor so fans can't stalk you in your room) and create your experience in there. This would be great for a hair care brand to do a styling and blowout mini lounge. You would still pay a sponsorship fee to Vidcon, even having the opportunity for a booth on the exhibitor floor for a consumer activation as well.

For consumer, activating outside might be a real winner as you get all the people who are attending the convention as well as people who didn't score badges. You could do Comic-Con sized activities here. Here is what AwesomenessTV did with an outdoor stage. 

What brands should be here? Beauty, Cell Phones, Videogames, Mobile Apps, Fast Food, Beverages, Movies, Television Shows, Electronics, Fashion, Snacks, Health, School Supplies, Toys, Hair Care -- all would fit in this convention. 65% of the convention attendees were teen girls.

Budgeting for 2016: Expect to pay Vidcon anywhere from 20k - 250k+ for your official sponsorship. Your experiential budget should be 95k - 500k not including staff travel. You should also consider amplifying your message by buying a campaign with these social media stars for onsite. It will give you some guaranteed ROI. Most have a 50k minimum to do a campaign.