Slim’s Presents Brand
// Slim’s Presents
The live music and concert production company wanted to increase ticket sales at Slim’s, a live music venue in San Francisco’s SoMA neighborhood.
Role
One of the first projects I received as Marketing Manager at Slim's and Great American Music Hall was to redesign each of the club’s websites, which hadn’t seen a refresh since the late 90s.
Strategy
After a few days of concepting ideas for each of the sites, a crazy idea hit me - an idea that would not only change the scope of the project I’d been assigned, but would change the face of the company itself going forward.
The company owned and operated a portfolio of small venues and events in San Francisco as well as an annual music festival that was the largest of its kind in the US - the problem was that nobody knew it. They operated all of these businesses independently under different names with no public connection between them, some seeing more success than others. I proposed tearing down the fourth wall and adopting an all-encompassing brand identity that put the behind-the-scenes team at the center, rather than a specific space or location. Elevating the talent bookers, managers, chefs, bartenders, and most importantly - the music - above all else.
It was a bold proposal and one the company did not simply take at face value. The boss told me I had to convince one of their main investors first, who just happened to be the CEO of Omnicom Digital, Jonathan Nelson - an incredibly intimidating presentation for a young marketer. As I sat across from him for the first time, I still remember feeling like I was getting absolutely grilled by this guy for a completely half-baked idea - there wasn’t a single thing he didn’t challenge me on, and admittedly there was a lot I didn’t know yet, but by the end of the meeting he was reluctantly convinced.
The new brand, Slim’s Presents, was born - bringing together the punky, rock n’ roll spirit of Slim’s, with the timeless beauty and history of the Great American Music Hall, and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the largest free festival in the US, into one local music powerhouse.
The official launch of the brand coincided with the release of its new website, where fans could browse shows across all venues, but side by side with the shows was a slate of original content to drive discovery, engagement, and loyalty.
Outcome
Focused on building a reputation as the only local, independent music institution in direct competition with the major corporate players that were taking over the landscape, Slim’s Presents gained immense support from the local music scene as the launching pad for local bands and the only place in the city you could still see your favorite artists in an intimate, non-corporate setting.
The brand’s venues went from struggling to keep their doors open to hosting some of their biggest shows ever, inking partnership deals with major brands like Converse and Eventbrite, and expanding its services to consult with other clubs, restaurants, and venue spaces on marketing and operations strategies. By the time I left the company in 2016, Slim’s Presents had become synonymous with “local independent music” in the Bay Area and remained the last independently-owned and operated midsize venue in San Francisco while all others were folded into massive corporate portfolios.