Dell expands music tie-ins on festival circuit
NEW YORK (Billboard) - At the Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival in Texas at the end of September, sandwiched between a stage and a small recycling center stood a white dome decorated with colorful cloud patterns. Inside the air-conditioned structure, visitors could get customized T-shirts, temporary tattoos and a mixtape of songs by artists performing at the festival.
It was computer maker Dell's Summer Rocks Dome, which the company also parked at other rock festivals as part of a push to bolster its brand's ties to live music.
Dell has been a presenting sponsor on the festival circuit for years, but 2008 marked the first time that the company had established such a prominent physical presence on-site. In addition to ACL, Dell erected its dome-like pavilions at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in San Francisco, the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, Bumbershoot in Seattle and the Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver.
It is all part of Dell's efforts to expand its toehold in the consumer products market, which accounts for less than 20 percent of its global revenue, the lion's share of which still comes from direct sales to business customers.
"Our consumer business is still growing, and because we were direct for so long, we didn't have these indirect ways to connect with customers," senior manager of communications Bob Kaufman said. "We've now hit this stride, where we can connect with customers how they want."
An expected addition to Dell's consumer product line would be of particular interest to music fans. The just-concluded festival promotions come at a time when the Round Rock, Texas-based company is believed to be preparing the launch of a new line of portable music players. Dell pulled out of the market in 2006, after its hard drive and flash players failed to gain traction in an arena dominated by Apple's iPod.
Dell's announcement in August 2007 that it had agreed to buy Zing, a Mountain View, California, technology company whose software enables handheld devices to receive streaming audio and video feeds wirelessly, spurred speculation that the company was considering a return to the music player market. Press reports began emerging during the summer that Dell was preparing to unveil new digital music players late this year or early next year.
Dell representatives declined to comment on specifics, but expectations are high that the company has its sights set once again on the digital music market. "I think it's fair to say that it's part of the 'personalization' story that we're interested in helping customers get the content that they want," Kaufman said.
Dell, which sponsored part of Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour in 2007, has been focusing recently on grassroots marketing.
Dell held a band competition during the summer that culminated in Austin band the Steps performing at a Dell-sponsored stage during ACL. The company's other recent music tie-ins have included its sponsorship of the Plug Independent Music Awards and a partnership with Paste magazine to present music videos at its Dell Lounge Web site.
Reuters/Billboard
