Social media and concert history were made this week as Tiesto, Twitter and HP teamed up at CES 2012 to deliver a live stream of the Dutch DJ rocking the a VIP crowd from the booth. And the event was a great opportunity to continue or live concert brand exploration.
The private, invite-only set also marked the launch of another social media initiative for the man his friends call Tijs: “In The Booth,” a 10-part video series meant to document Tiësto’s fast-paced, globetrotting life, is set to premiere on the artist’s YouTube channel on January 17. Produced by Believe Entertainment Group – the digital content company behind Lebron James’ animated Web series “The Lebrons” – the documentary was also underwritten by HP and Intel, and features Tiësto prominently using the brands’ products.
As Mashable reports, the folks at Twitter were excited about the opportunity and the possibilites that it presents beyond 140 characters:
“We have offered streaming on the site before, but this is the first-time ever that the site will feature a live concert,” Rob Pietsch, Twitter’s director of West Coast sales, told Mashable. “HP came to us with the idea and we couldn’t be more excited to hear how the company and Intel will be using their Twitter brand pages to reach out to the public and become destination sites.
And What About The Fans?
This is all very exciting and boundary-pushing, but we must ask: what’s in it for the fans?
We must ask if the fan experience is really be considered, or if the fans are just playing the role of social media marketing targets?
As we’ve seen with our other brand experiments and explorations, telling or celebrating the fan experience isn’t always the first priority or a priority at all.
And with this new HP/Tiesto partnership it still remains to be seen how much of the fan experience HP is interested in celebrating.
Is This Really Anything New?
Not really. We know that using DJs, hip hop producers and the increasingly popular mainstream live dance music trend is nothing new for marketers to capitalize on. For example, Diplo has been the spokesman for Blackberry and Dr Dre has been used by HP in the past.
And, unfortunately, the list is short when it comes to brands that actually deliver on creative fan-centric social media marketing campaigns that don’t even feel like marketing at all.
In case you’re looking for evidence, these Rolling Stone/Dr. Martens, Scion, Sennheiser, and Pitchfork Don Q Rum experiences are some recent examples of brands doing it right or at least headed in the right direction.
That said, we’ll have to wait and see how the “In the Booth” videos turn out before we officially decide if HP has genuinely integrated and celebrated the fan experience.
Will HP & Tiesto Innovate and Document the Real Stories?
Like we explored in the wake of Lollapalooza, there’s a lot of possibility for brands to deliver truly groundbreaking experiences while telling the brand AND the fan story at the same time.
I know I’m looking forward to seeing how HP’s does it this time and if they will creatively weave in amazing Tiesto fan stories like this one.
Tiesto has also been at the center of several ongoing controversial stories and it’ll be interesting to see how much HP documents those.
The history-making 2012 CES concert steaming footage was only available for 48 hours after the show, but it’ll be available on the HP Facebook page Tiesto tab after January 17th.
What’s Your Tiesto Concert Story?
Is this HP partnership cultivating a genuine sub-community of Tiesto fans, or is this just another timely marketing opportunity for HP? How would you make the fan experience a creative part of the “In the Booth” videos?
What did you think of the Tiesto Twitter concert? Got a Tiesto live show story? Share your concert experiences and thoughts in the comments below, on Twitter @livefixmedia, on Facebook or call the concert fan hotline at 773-609-4341, and we’ll include them in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.