For Levi's and Urban Outfitters' "Secret Generator" series, free concerts—powered, appropriately, by generators—take place in public locations. To find the venue, guests go to Urban Outfitters' blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account, where pictures provide clues as to where the concert will take place. A few days before the show, the company releases a final announcement with all the when-and-where details. The Chicago concert, which offered a set from indie rock band Deerhunter, took place on September 25 just outside the Tribune Freedom Center South.
Seattle-based marketing and event production firm 206 Inc. oversaw logistics. The event's "concept and execution were designed to reflect and authentically represent two pioneering brands," said the firm's principal, Kerry Murphy. (The brands' relationship: Urban Outfitters sells Levi's products.) With "no crazy stage design, no special lighting, just some amazing musicians and their fans and friends," the concert was meant to "strip a live music show down to its essence," Murphy said.
The event drew a crowd of 1,100; the target demographic was males and females between 16 and 35. "Embracing social media was core to the success of this campaign," Murphy said. "Instead of putting up flyers or using a phone chain to generate buzz, we built our buzz solely online through media and social media channels." The publicity efforts were anchored, Murphy added, by "Urban Outfitters' social media and digital assets," including a blog, a base of text subscribers, and email.
Though the concert had a purposely bare-bones look, "in visual keeping with the scrappy-roots idea of a pop-up, generator-[powered] show," Murphy said that its execution still required all the traditional production efforts of a large concert. Logistical challenges included finding a public, easy-to-stumble-upon venue that could hold more than 1,000 guests, and then negotiating with property owners and securing permits for all production elements.
