Ad content shops helped get the five-day South By Southwest (SXSW) proceedings underway with the 2015 South By Kick Off Party held last Friday night in Austin. More than 600 industry insiders and tastemakers made the scene, which included agency folks from shops like GSD&M, JWT and Deutsch.
The event was co-hosted by a quintet of players in the creation and production of advertising content: Synthetic Pictures, the L.A., New York and Austin-based production company; Yessian Music, the Detroit, New York, L.A. and Hamburg, Germany-based original music and sound studio; Apache Digital, a recently launched color grading boutique in Los Angeles; Laundry, a design, CG and visual effects studio; and Union Editorial, a bicoastal creative editorial and postproduction house.
The party took place at Rattle Inn, the rambunctious honky-tonk in downtown Austin that’s home to live music and numerous rollicking private events. Entertaining the guests was a mix of artists reflecting the diverse tastes and styles that SXSW attendees have come to expect. The talent lineup was headlined by the hip-hop artist Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5) & the Funk Hunters and included the Austin-based blues-rockers Leopold and his Fiction, the electro-rock group Flashclash and the indie folk band The Lonely Wild.
Co-sponsoring #SXKO were SHOOT; the Austin-based Deep Eddy Vodka, maker of a line of small-batch artisanal flavored vodkas; SHOOT; and Guitar Center, the musical instrument and audio gear retailer.
Kicking off at 8 and running into the early hours of Saturday morning, #SXKO acknowledged the growing importance of the festival to the advertising, marketing and media industries. “Our clients know that SXSW is the place to be this time of year,” said Synthetic founding director Justin Corsbie. “Given our Austin roots here at Synthetic–this is where we first opened our doors back in 2002–it just made sense that we co-host a bash like this for our many friends in the business.”
Michael Yessian, partner/head of production at Yessian Music, said SXSW’s pre-eminent role in defining new directions in pop music made it the perfect venue for a Yessian-sponsored event. “People look to companies like ours to know where tastes and styles are headed, and this is the nexus of influencers and tastemakers,” he said. “That’s what makes #SXKO such a great party. You pick up such great vibes here, and bring back creative resources that make you better at what you do.”
This is the third year Synthetic and Yessian have teamed with other production and post houses to host a kick-off event for the SXSW Conferences and Festival, and Synthetic’s sixth year overall as either host or co-host of the kick-off bash.
