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Paul Pacifico

Career Diversity: Crafting Saudi’s Music Future

Paul Pacifico’s journey to becoming the CEO of the Music Commission of Saudi Arabia is a tale of diverse experiences shaping an ideal role. With a background that spans from banking to music, Paul’s multifaceted career has perfectly positioned him for this unique challenge. He mentions, “It requires all of the expertise from everything I’ve ever done in my life. Whether that’s from music or outside music,” highlighting the value of a varied career path in reaching such pivotal roles.

Vision 2030: Reshaping Saudi’s Cultural Scene

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing a seismic shift in its cultural landscape, driven by Vision 2030. This ambitious plan aims for economic diversification and a vibrant societal overhaul. Paul elaborates, “Music pushes change, pushes the envelope, but it also brings people together.” Music’s dual role in challenging norms and uniting people is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s transformative journey, making it a cornerstone of their cultural revival.

Saudi Arabia: A Land of Unexpected Diversity

Paul highlights the vastness and cultural diversity of Saudi Arabia, often surprising to many. He compares the country’s size to Western Europe, emphasizing varied landscapes and a fast-growing, predominantly young population. “70 percent of the population is under 35 years of age,” he notes, pointing to a digitally enabled and ambitious generation driving change.

Building a New Music Industry from Scratch

The Music Commission’s task of constructing a new music industry is both daunting and exciting. With no existing infrastructure, they are at liberty to design systems reflective of a future-facing economy. Paul delves into the complexities, “with everything we know about the history of the last 200 years and the evolution of technology from paper cards to blockchain, what would we like to do?” This blank slate approach offers a unique opportunity to innovate without legacy constraints.

Human Insight: The Core of Music Industry Evolution

Amidst the discussions about technology and infrastructure, Paul underscores the importance of the human factor. He argues that technology like blockchain is not a panacea, but rather a tool that needs to be used judiciously. “What you need is the data in the system,” he says, emphasizing the necessity of accurate and comprehensive data for effective management and distribution in the music industry.

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Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

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