Half Eaten Donut drives record results for SXSW Sydney 2025

Independent Australian digital marketing agency Half Eaten Donut has delivered record-breaking results for SXSW Sydney 2025, achieving the event’s highest-ever registration numbers and spearheading landmark collaborations with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and Sydney Contemporary.

As SXSW Sydney’s appointed digital media buying partner, Half Eaten Donut led the event’s end-to-end digital strategy – spanning campaign development, creative direction, audience strategy, performance optimisation and post-event analysis.

Founder Robin Stafford says the achievement reflects the team’s deep expertise in event marketing and their commitment to measurable growth: “Our goal from day one was to deliver SXSW Sydney’s most effective campaign yet – connecting creativity, data and community at scale. Seeing growth year on year in both awareness and ticket conversion shows what can happen when strategy, creative and data are fully aligned.”

Half Eaten Donut also facilitated key collaborations between SXSW Sydney and two of its long-term cultural clients – the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and Sydney Contemporary – strengthening connections across Sydney’s creative landscape.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA): A cross-promotional campaign aligned the final weekend of MCA’s Winter Exhibition with SXSW Sydney’s Saturday program, resulting in increased MCA visitation, visibility, branding and contributing to broader event attendance of SXSW Sydney Unlocked that day.
Sydney Contemporary: The partnership connected two of Sydney’s flagship creative events, driving new audiences between both festivals and boosting tickets for Sydney Contemporary to achieve their best ever result.

Says Sam Saunders, Head of Marketing at SXSW Sydney: “We selected Half Eaten Donut based on glowing recommendations from industry clients who operate in this space. Their track record in event marketing, combined with a data-led, audience-first approach, made them the right fit to help drive both awareness and ticket sales for SXSW Sydney 2025.

“Half Eaten Donut has contributed to SXSW Sydney registering significantly more passes and tickets year on year and enabled meaningful collaborations with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Sydney Contemporary. These partnerships have helped strengthen the brand, increase visitation and boost registrations across all three events.”

The success builds on Half Eaten Donut’s growing reputation as one of the event industry’s most effective performance agencies. The team was recently recognised as Best Supplier – Digital at the Australian Business Events Awards (ABEA), celebrating their innovation and return on ad spend (ROAS) across more than 450 event campaigns globally.

Says Claire Johnson, Marketing Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia: “We’ve worked with Half Eaten Donut across six major international campaigns. Their strategic and creative thinking consistently delivers results that elevate both brand and audience engagement.”

As the agency continues to expand, Stafford says Half Eaten Donut is now investing in AI-powered tools designed to help event and creative organisations “turn attention into action” scaling smarter and connecting with the right audiences across every channel.

For more information on Half Eaten Donut, visit here: https://www.halfeatendonut.com.

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