SUNDANCE or BRAND-DANCE?

Most of us movie fans know the Sundance Film Festival as the event started by Robert Redford to showcase independent filmmakers. But there’s a festival behind the festival that cinema civilians rarely hear about. Welcome to Brand-dance.

“Brand-dance” is marketer slang for the promotional blitz that has become as much a part of Sundance as the film screenings. The festival, which is taking place in Park City, Utah through January 27, reportedly has upwards of a hundred companies sponsoring giveaway “lounges.” And we’re not just talking key-chains. Electronics, jewelry, clothing, high-end handbags, even a $25,000 diamond-encrusted iPod® case are among the swag items that celebrities and film directors snag. If that weren’t enough, in addition to the official sponsors who get their names at the head of film trailers and signage in the major hotels, unauthorized “ambush marketers” show up in droves to ply their wares to anyone they can successfully accost.

Some insiders insist that the swag-a-palooza has become so rampant that some attendees come only to collect the goodies and never even set foot inside a screening room. So much for Sundance being “dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences,” like their website says. Maybe it’s time for “Brand-Dance: The Documentary,” brought to you by [insert Corporate identity HERE!] Where’s Michael Moore when you need him?

Libby Gill, founder of Libby Gill & Co, is a former Hollywood studio PR and Communications executive and now a noted expert of Personal Branding in Life & Career. You can read more of Libby’s work in her lifestyles column for Dallas
Morning News or listen to her advice live on KarmaAir talk-radio.
Contact Libby at www.libbygill.com