Inside Paramount+’s SXSW strategy: can an installation help win the streaming wars?

The drum with Marketing Michelle Garcia is attached to SVP in SXSW to hear how the sign builds the brand loyalty in the long term in a saturated market.

Paramount Lodge in SXSW is a ray. A mixture of those familiar with the industry, the pioneers of the curious festivals and the fans who are measured, through an overwhelming experience designed to do more than just display Paramount+-it’s here to convert visitors to subscribers to pay.

Michelle Garcia, SVP Marketing at Paramount Streaming, at the top of this batch. “We are not only promoting the content,”, she told me from an angle of brand activation. “We create a material entry point in our world.” Installation-a mixture of interactive exhibits, exclusive infiltration paint and brand partners-aims to convert SXSW noise into a long-term loyalty to seeds that are still fighting for its place in a saturated market.

But is this enough? Broadcast wars are brutal. The market is confused with giants like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video and even well -backed new arrivals. Paramount+ has an enviable library – “No one else has a higher pistol, Star Trek and Spongebob under one roof,” Garcia reminds me – but converting distinctive privileges into fixed digital growth is another story.

A retail battle in wholesale works

Media analyst Ivan Shapiro was an audio about an arduous battle. “The broadcast is a great work,” recently told Hollywood Reporter. “It is retail. You don’t only deal with a handful of Execs anymore; you sell to millions of individual consumers, all with different needs and expectations.”

Garcia does not differ, but she sees Paramount+as an opportunity to turn this challenge into an advantage. “We are not trying to be everything to everyone,” she says. “We look at our fans and their passion and what makes them deeply involve.” SXSW Installation is an example of one example – an attempt to build emotional contacts directly with consumers instead of relying only on traditional ads or content drops.

The strategy extends beyond festivals. Partnerships with Walmart+ and Delta, for example, Bake Paramount+ in daily habits. “We find ways to make subscriptions feel irrational. If you are flying Delta, then why don’t you want the Yellowstone flow for free?”

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Building a trademark in light of the giant

However, there is an elephant in the room: Paramount+ may own some of the most famous privileges in entertainment, but its commercial brand is much lower than its competitors. Unlike Netflix, who was pioneer in space, or Disney+, which carries a century of cultural weight, Paramount+ is still an identity.

Garcia recognizes the challenge but sees the strength of the legacy. “These are stories that people really love,” she says. “Our mission is to remind them that the best place to try it is with us.” This means taking advantage of Fandoms, tasting nostalgia and making sure that new versions appear to be cultural events instead of just a decrease in other content.

Some gaps in the plan

Not every question has a clear answer. When you click on how to distinguish Paramount+ himself outside his IP address, Garcia rotates to his library. When I ask about the sustainability of the broadcast model in the era of budget discounts and monotheism, it deviates. When he brought the challenge of challenging the joint (brutal fact for all the essence), it wanders in discussing the upcoming publications.

The truth is that no one in the industry may completely crack these problems. Shapiru’s criticism waving on the horizon: the expensive broadcast, unpredictable and chaos. The content of the content has ended in the cable package and relying on stable revenues. Now, each of the signs in the trenches, fights for the monthly renovation of one shared at one time.

Judgment: Good offer, but is it enough?

There is no doubt that Paramount+ pulls all stations to make an effect on SXSW. Brand activation is a spot, strategic partnerships and content selection packed with favorite fans.

But the broadcast is a long game and SXSW is just one piece of the biggest puzzle. Will these efforts be sufficient to sculpt a permanent space for Paramount+ in the constantly changing broadcast scene? If there is nothing else, this proves one thing: in a world where the content is king, Paramount+ is ready for the battle.