After 176 years in business, Gorton’s Seafood is no stranger to evolving with the times and keeping up with changing consumer habits. So for 2025, it tried something different by activating at SXSW for the first time. While the Gloucester, MA-headquartered brand had previously dabbled in experiential marketing with small-scale food sampling events, this was its biggest activation yet.
Popping up at Parlor Room on Rainey Street, March 8-9, Gorton’s Shrimp & Cocktail experience brought the spirit of New England to Austin, TX, and celebrated all things shrimp in honor of the brand’s new Coconut Shrimp and Double Crunch Shrimp products launched this year. Gorton’s iconic yellow was splashed across the space, from the giant ship wheel arch at the entrance to the bar’s street-facing exterior wall that was painted yellow just for the activation.
“What I am really focused on is continuing to make this 176-year-old brand relevant to the next generation, and so we wanted to bring the brand to life and meet these younger consumers where they are but also in a way that’s a bit unexpected,” says Susie Siegel, senior integrated marketing manager at Gorton’s. “The fisherman logo is iconic. Outside of my office, we see people pull in, jump out of the car, take pictures with the sign and go on their way. We’re trying to capture all of that goodness and show consumers this might be the brand of fish sticks that you ate growing up, but we’re so much more than that.”
Local bands, djs and musicians from around the world came in to entertain attendees while they enjoyed shrimp po’ boys, shrimp street tacos and shrimp bites with signature dips and sauces from Austin’s The Peached Tortilla, which, of course, used Gorton’s Shrimp in the dishes. The brand designed a drink menu with craft cocktails and mocktails that paired with the shrimp plates, including the Maritime Marg with a Tajín rim (shrimp tacos), Seaside Smash (Southern Style Shrimp) and Trust the Gorton’s Fisherman (Beer-Battered Shrimp).
While samples were available inside at the Shrimp Shack, the bar’s Yellow Room featured nautical décor and a photo booth that dispensed Gorton’s-branded photo strips. Phrases like “Ahoy, cowboy” and “Giddy up, sailor” helped fuse the Gloucester and Austin settings together. In the backyard, a boat-shaped shelving unit with blue cocktails on display served as a “Shrimp Check!” photo op backdrop. Attendees could also pose in a face-cutout photo op of a fisherman and oversized shrimp.
Outside, food influencer and longtime Gorton’s partner Shay Spence led live cooking demos using Gorton’s Shrimp and shared tips for preparing it at home. The merch table was designed to look like an ice-filled glass seafood display case with Gorton’s t-shirts, fish stick-patterned bucket hats, caps, can coolers, sunglasses straps and tote bags. Participants spun a wheel to decide which merch item they’d come away with; extra food and drink tickets were also in the mix.
“People stood in line for merch for way longer than expected, which was a very nice compliment,” Siegel says.
Over two days, 3,500 attendees were lured into Gorton’s Shrimp & Cocktail. The brand posted about the activation on its social channels and worked with influencer partners to generate buzz. Gorton’s also plastered teaser posters around the city, and yellow fisherman-suited brand reps drummed up additional excitement for the pop-up. Word “spread like wildfire,” according to Siegel, as the line to get in stretched down Rainey Street throughout the run.
“There were times where I would just look around and see all these people gather with a drink in their hand and food in the other, and they were bopping to the music. And I was thinking, this is exactly what we wanted,” she says. “I don’t think we would have gotten that energy anywhere else besides South-by, and so that is certainly something that we will keep in mind as we look to decide where we go from here. We wanted to bring the sea to Austin. We did that, check. Now we need to continue bringing that to everyone else.” Agencies: Connelly Partners; Collide.
Spin Through the Gorton’s Shrimp & Cocktail Experience:
Photos: Courtesy of Gorton’s Seafood
