Rolling Stone Super Bowl Party

(EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW) TALENT RESOURCES THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET: ROLLING STONE WILL BE AN “INDOOR COACHELLA,” “THE BEST EVENT OF SUPER BOWL WEEKEND”

No one, including the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, wants to win at the Super Bowl more than David Spencer. The Director and Co-Founder of Talent Resources Sports sat down with Super Sunday HQ in a no-holds-barred marathon of an interview, which is more of a primer on how to throw a star-studded Super Bowl Party during the biggest weekend of the year in sports.

Kicking off February 6th at 9pm, Rolling Stone’s fifth annual Big Game Bash, Rolling Stone Live: San Francisco, will be held at The Galleria within the iconic San Francisco Design Center, located in the heart of the Design District. The luxurious event space will host top celebrities, athletes, and influencers in town for the weekend, and feature special performances by today’s hottest artists. Tickets have been spotted everywhere, but the best price we found, with NO service charge (Vivid has charged as much as 25% added-on), from a source that has an email for questions is HERE. CLICK HERE TO GET TICKETS. “We are excited to bring Rolling Stone Live to San Francisco this year during the big game weekend and showcase incredible musical talent for our guests,” says Michael Provus, Publisher, Rolling Stone. “We look forward to once again partnering with TOAST, Bookem Danno and Talent Resources Sports.”

Don’t forget to keep track of all the Super Bowl 50 Parties and events. Make sure you visit Super Sunday HQ and get the mobile app, where you can scroll through all the star-studded parties, add Super Bowl events to your calendar, see exclusive party photos, and connect with other Super Bowl 50 partygoers and VIP’s. Follow the links to get the #1 Insider’s Guide to the Super Bowl:

AppStore: Super Sunday HQ App
Google: Super Sunday HQ App

 THE INTERVIEW

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: ​Hi Dave, talk about the evolution of the Rolling Stone Party as well as Talent Resources’ role in producing Super Bowl parties for big brands.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ We’ve been in the Super Bowl space for about 8 years. We started with creating the Axe Lounge where the brand wanted to have a seat at the Super Bowl table. We started in Miami where we booked Drake, Diddy, and J Lo. Since then we’ve evolved tremendously, so we’ve gone from working with a consumer brand to partnering with a global media entity.

​The first time we showcased our ability was with Playboy in New Orleans where we had B.O.B. perform; we helped produce that event. We identified and procured the venue a year in advance. Due to our detailed oriented mantra and our presence in the celebrity and influencer space we were a value-add to the event. Talent Resources Sports got a taste of working with and partnering with lifestyle outlets, which was an incredible experience and we felt value in having that sort of asset behind us.

​In 2014 Super Bowl came to NY (where we’re based). We went above and beyond and did a two-night event for Maxim, because of the increase in demand where we catered to an EDM audience and then to a mainstream/hip-hop crowd. That was when we worked with Dirty South and Kendrick Lamar. That was a tremendous experience and we had a number of different brands associated with us as well. Fiji, Patron, Wonderful Pistachios, Touch, and a number of others. It was very celebrity-driven as all of our events are.

​After Maxim we set the stage in Arizona this past year (2015). Because of our reputation in the event driven marketing space we were fortunate to team up with Rolling Stone.  Rolling Stone is a magazine that’s been around since 1967 and now it’s adapted to our culture where many publications have had trouble adapting to a digital platform. It’s a publication that has an unparalleled reputation and is regarded as the premiere source for music, lifestyle and news in our culture. We found this to be important as events during Super Bowl weekend represent an intersection of Sports Entertainment and lifestyle.  We found that to be a great fit with us because Talent Resources (Sports) deals with the lifestyle marketing world on a daily basis throughout the year. Rolling Stone understood the value of having big-name talent to help drive attention to the event and the brands we work with. Brands with products and services in their portfolios come to Talent Resources to help execute celebrity and influencer based marketing campaigns.

​Rolling Stone has been at the Super Bowl space since 2012 (Indianapolis and featured Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, LMFAO, Lupe Fiasco, and I think James Addiction )and it was the first year and they really established their event and it was for about 2000 people.

​In this day and age we prefer to keep our events more intimate. While I understand the value of having a large scale event, our events are “over-the-top” and we like to have a more intimate setting where people feel like they’re part of an experience rather than a member of the crowd. What we’re trying to do this year is really put on a scaled music festival. We have Elle King, who’s one of the biggest upcoming artists now (Blues / Rock and Roll singer) who’s got a hit song out that’s a Top 10, which is called “Ex’s and Oh’s.” Then, to cater to more of a Hip Hop driven crowd, we have Travis Scott (who we secured almost a year ago) who represents a Hip Hop and hipster driven lifestyle and he has a great celebrity following. We love his music. There’s an amazing song that people love called “Antidote” and he’s the type of guy that in a year from now, everybody will be wild about.

​That’s one thing that we’re really proficient at is identifying talent on the rise and we did the same thing with Kendrick Lamar where we booked him a year in advance because we saw his potential. I compare Travis Scott to the same type of situation we had with Kendrick in that we’re really identifying talent on the rise.  That goes the same with Elle King as well, and then to cater to more of a mainstream EDM crowd, which we think is very important for not only San Francisco but to maintain relevancy, and EDM is such an important segment of the music market, we went with the best and most followed DJ in the world, and that’s with Avicii.

​Aviici’s got 3.1 million followers, more than any other DJ and a lot of other music acts out there, and this is going to be the 1^st time he’s performing in San Francisco since 2012. He also hasn’t performed in the past 6 1/2 months, and he’s coming back to debut a live performance with us. So we really curated this list of performers specifically to cater to everybody that will be at Super Bowl, so there’s a little taste of everything for everyone.

​In addition to that we have DJ Irie who has a tremendous celebrity and athlete following. He’s the official DJ of the Miami Heat, (NBA team), so we really wanted to mix everything up and sprinkle a little bit in there for everyone.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: ​Tell us more how this will be more of an experience, instead of just a concert?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ ​What we’re doing is, we’re bringing the best elements of a nightclub or traditional Super Bowl party with table/bottle service and combining it with the best of music, to deliver the best hospitality experience of going to a concert. A concert well attended by celebrities and media.

​We have first class audio visual. Our AV is incredible and it has to be because we’ve got the best artists out there and we want that music to translate to every single guest. The audio that we’re using is first class and it’s what they use for the Grammy’s and award shows. Our objective is to  showcase the talent of the artists and combine it with a first class hospitality experience for the attendee who wants an unparalleled experience that maintains intimacy.

​When I say “intimate”, it’s an event that’s private and it’s only about 1200 to 1300 people when everything is said and done.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ:​ Are there lasers, like laser shows and things like that?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Yeah, we have over the top production and using the best producers in the business with TOAST. We just actually added to the budget and went on the full-blown LED light ball with unique surprises that no one else is going to have at Super Bowl. The size and dimensions I can’t even discuss, but compare it to an indoor Coachella, so it’s a music festival essentially that’s at the most interesting venue in San Francisco in that it’s an open air atrium, it’s 4 floors, we’ve got 60 foot high ceilings and people can get different vantage points. The great thing about this is that every single attendee that walks in the door will have a sight line to the performer. That I can’t guarantee for any other venue, but for ours I can.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: What are some other features of this event?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Obviously, other than the music and our partner Tao group (Strategic Group), they’re incredible at what they do. They’re the best in the business from a nightlife and hospitality standpoint. We have the best talent and then we have the best nightlife partners. Strategic group owns and operates who venues across the planet from Australia to New York, L.A., Vegas … they’re responsible for venues such as Lavo, Marquee, Avenue…

​Strategic Group just wrapped up a  Pop Up at Sundance, and they’ve got a tremendous, tremendous following and is really composed of celebrities and influencers . It’s a real good partnership that we have with them, and then another great reason is we’ve just got the best brand partners. Moet Hennessy, which has the best champagne in the world and it is a premium luxury brand … That includes Belvedere, Veuve Clicquot. Moet, Hennessy and we brought in Heineken for our beer drinking guests. So we’ve got the best to deliver to our guests, not only from an entertainment standpoint, but from a consumption standpoint.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Is that available to all attendees? What are the differences between the table patrons, VIPs, etc.?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​​ All is available to everybody who walks in the door.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: What’s the table experience? What are some of the benefits of getting a table versus just walking in the door?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Any patron that has a table is entitled to walk the red carpet/ press line.

​They’ll walk up to the venue. They’ll be greeted outside at a special private entrance that’s fast tracked and private. It’s only publicized to the patrons of the table.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: ​Incredible.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ The guest can walk by the press line and the red carpet. They can engage with the photographers if they so choose … Then they’re greeted in the 50 foot lobby with soaring ceilings by a host who, depending on the location of their table, we have a special glass-enclosed private elevator just for table patrons for their arrival, so depending on their table location whether it’s on the ground floor, 2nd, 3rd or 4th floor, where they’re able to get a panoramic view of the entire venue.

​Upon their exit of the elevator they are greeted with a glass of champagne and escorted to their private table. Once they get to the table where everything is preset and laid out, they’re seated, introduced to their server for the evening and introduced to security in the area who will be escorting them to the restrooms upon demand, and their table.  Depending on the client, some of them may be fortunate enough to get a meet and greet with the artist.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Wow, that’s awesome. How do they get around all these different 4 levels and somebody’s way across from you and you can’t zipline over to them. How does that work?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​​ Well, what we do is, we know exactly who’s coming to this event and it’s not something that we just throw together. We’ve been working on this for the past year, so we’re very strategic with where people sit and we want to create a networking environment so we have people that come in year in, year out and we always have new guests. We always try to plan and we make a conscious effort to place people near each other and make introductions to our brand partners, to talent or to other CMO’s and other people in the marketing business. We create and curate the environment rather than jumble people together.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Nice.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ What we’re doing and this is the first time we’re doing this this year … That Talent Resource Sports is going to be hosting their own section within the event, almost an event within an event … a networking area. An area where our brand partners, our celebrities that we work with on a yearly basis and our celebrity/influencer and athlete following, and people of the media will be able to congregate. We’re going to be hosting an area for those specific clients to come in, pop by and say hello to us and say hello to one another. We’d like to avoid that sort of type of environment where it’s a just a party. The most important people in the marketing world come to Super Bowl. Every brand wants the visibility at Super Bowl because the whole world is watching. We’d like people to have an incredible experience and if they’re productive it’s even better…Our brand philosophy for our company and what’s in our DNA is connecting the dots, and that’s what we want to do at this Talent Resources Sports area.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Is there a middle VIP level between general admission and tables?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Yes, the general admission is going to be for the ground floor which is right in front of the artist.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Right, like the pit.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​​ Yeah, it’s like being on … It’s like standing-room only right in front of the artist, and keep in mind the venue is intimate.  There is no bad spot in this house, but the general admission guests will get the opportunity to be up close and have a direct view to the artist.

​After that, it really escalates in terms of the level of engagement of our partners where their placement is and who’s going to be attending. We even have some tables that are going to be on the stage with the artist, so you’ll be able to be on stage with Travis Scott having a glass of champagne while he’s singing 5 feet away from you.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Seems like if there’s something that someone for everyone, you guys will pretty much make it happen.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Absolutely, and just to re-iterate … When I say general admission, I don’t consider a general admission ticket a general admission ticket because it has a basic connotation. Every experience in every attendee that comes to this event is going to experience a premium event. They’re going to be sipping and drinking the best alcohol. They’re going to be part of an experience with the most important people at Super Bowl weekend and most importantly it’s going to be best and unparalleled event at the Big Game Weekend.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: You say Tao group is coming in from a hospitality end, but like I’m noticing trends where it’s a mostly male-driven weekend. A lot of guys are around and they have the hall passes for the weekend and they want to go party, and they love the girls. I know Rolling Stone’s about the music. It’s about the high-end premium spirits and I know Tao Group is coming in and bringing some really cool celebrities and influencers, but we still haven’t heard anything about the ratio and that’s important to these guys. They want to have a little fun and see a lot of beautiful women it seems like.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ So here’s my philosophy on that. While every party has it’s things to add to the mix, ours is the most well-rounded event. There are some events out there that people have the assumption that they’re going to walk in to a bevy of beautiful women because of the type of event they’re going to. People will go to a men’s magazine event expecting to see a number of women, but what happens in the end?

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: What does happen in the end?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​   Everybody’s going with the same philosophy. We’re changing it up this year. Most people don’t realize that when an account for half of all Super Bowl viewers… So that segment of the market is somebody that we have catered to in the past and will continue to cater to moving forward.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: You know, let’s face it. I mean, there’s some couples too that might want to have a good time at the Super Bowl and where can they party? If you really do want to treat your wife out to an experience of a lifetime … Where are you going to go? To a men’s magazine party or the Rolling Stone party. It sounds like you’d go to the Rolling Stone party.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ You’re coming to Rolling Stone event.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Yeah. It’s intimate so it’s different.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​​ Exactly. It’s a different thing. We’ve been in the business long enough to know what we’re doing, and we know what the environment and the landscape look like at a typical Super Bowl, so everything you’re telling me is completely true in that some event have a strong male driven audience and they end up going to an event and expecting to see something that never happens. We’re trying to change that outcome up a little bit this year.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Nice.

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ Not only did we curate the performers because of their incredible talent but it’s also about their following too.

​We run analytics. We run metrics on influencers social media and we have different formulas that we use. We know what audience, what performers … what type of following they have.  We’ve really mixed it up this year and we’ve really diversified our talent.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Do you think it will be way more than we’ve seen in the past out of any Rolling Stone party?”

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ ​This is going to be the biggest Rolling Stone event  that’s ever happened. It’s going to be the biggest one in San Francisco. Period.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: That includes celebrity turnout and caliber?

Talent Resources Sports and we’re aligning with the best in the business.

SUPER SUNDAY HQ: Which celebrities are going to be available who follow those people? You’ve actually reached out to these people who are big fans of these artists and they’ve indicated they want to be there?

SPENCER (TALENT RESOURCES):​ We have an incredible relationship with talent because we’re constantly pairing talent and brands.

​We’re working with influencers on a day-to-day basis, 52 weeks a year, so we know who wants to go to the Super Bowl and because we’ve built up a following over the past 8 years, we have incredible relationships that are direct to the celebrity.

 THE ARTISTS

Avicii

Avicii has become one of the most prominent Pop/EDM/Dance artists in the world. In 2014, he was ranked by Forbes as one of the top 3 highest paid DJs, behind Calvin Harris and David Guetta. Millions of pop and dance fans will know his major hits “Levels,” “Wake Me Up,” and “Hey Brother.”  In 2013″Levels” was nominated for the Best Dance Recording at the 2013 Grammys.  Watch this electric performance from Tomorrowland.

Travis Scott

Travis Scott, rumored to be dating Rihanna, is a hip-hop artist and producer best known for his anthem “Antidote,” which has over 64 million views on Youtube. Though has appeared on several mixtapes, he debuted his album Rodeo on September 4, 2015. Watch this post-BET Awards performance to get an idea of what to expect from a Travis Scott performance.

Elle King

Singer and songwriter (and occasional actor) Elle King was born Tanner Elle Schneider in 1989 in Los Angeles, the daughter of London King and Rob Schneider (the Bay Area actor and comedian and former cast member of Saturday Night Live).  In 2015 King released her debut album, Love Stuff, featuring the single “Ex’s & Oh’s,” which reached the top of Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.

Rolling Stone Super Bowl Party Tickets

Since this event is invite-only, the aftermarket is the source for tickets. We researched ticket prices, and compared the top 3 sellers for you:

Our Pick: CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE

General Admission: includes an open bar and passed hors d’ oeuvres
Lowest Priced GA Ticket We Found: CLICK HERE FOR THE SOURCE: Lowest Out-The-Door Price: $1,100 ($1,100 for the ticket, No Service Charge) (as of January 16, 2016)
Compare to: Stubhub $1172.50 after service charge; Vivid Seats: $1,392.14 ($1,100  plus $277.19-About 25% Service Charge, plus $14.95-Delivery) (as of January 16, 2016)

About Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone has been the leading voice of music and popular culture for more than 47 years. The multi-media brand features the latest in music reviews, in-depth interviews, hard-hitting political commentary and award-winning journalism across many platforms including magazine, digital, mobile, social and event marketing. Rolling Stone provides “all the news that fits” to over 40 million fans of the brand every month. Owned by privately-held Wenner Media, which also owns and publishes Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone is headquartered in New York. For more information, please visit www.rollingstone.com.

About Talent Resources Sports

Talent Resources Sports (TRS), a business entity within Talent Resources, facilitates a wide variety of athlete engagements including product placement, personal appearances, and long-term brand endorsements. TRS works with corporate clients to integrate athlete-driven campaigns into an overall marketing strategy. TRS partners with properties and lifestyle brands like Rolling Stone to create fully integrated programs that bring brands, athletes, celebrities and audiences together. TRS center’s these events around big conversations to maximize exposure and participation. We exist at the intersection of sports and entertainment.