It is hard to rally 20,000 people around one moment. EMPIRE did it in the heart of San Francisco. For its 15th anniversary, the Bay Area label staged a free, four-hour concert downtown, blending international stars with hometown heroes and turning Civic Center Plaza into a block party for the city’s comeback.
Shaboozey headlined and ran through fan favorites like “Last of My Kind,” “Drink Don’t Need No Mix,” and “Good News” (now No. 1 at country radio). The lineup also featured Larry June, Fireboy DML, Red Leather, and Inayah, with surprise cameos from P-Lo, Berner, Mistah F.A.B., and Poco Lee. Offstage, fans explored food vendors and brand activations, including a Levi’s custom Airstream for personalized denim.
In a surprise moment, EMPIRE founder and CEO Ghazi presented Shaboozey with an RIAA Diamond plaque for “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
“One of the greatest things you’ve done, humbly, is put your belief in another person,” Shaboozey said to Ghazi on stage. “We gotta believe in each other.”
"I'm a big believer that access creates culture," Ghazi later told CBS News at Empire's San Francisco headquarters. "I don't want to inhibit any cultural moments. I want everybody to experience what the company is about. I want everybody to experience what's beautiful about San Francisco. And I felt like there was no place better to do it than at Civic Center in front of City Hall.”
In the lead-up to the event, EMPIRE routed TikTok, Instagram, and search traffic to a Laylo signup page built for one-tap RSVPs (email or phone) and automated reminders. The result: 33,000+ RSVPs captured and added to EMPIRE’s first-party fan list. For paid conversions, CPC on every channel came in below $1.
“Laylo is helping us move into the fan data era, away from spray-and-pray ad strategies and making sure that we're not back to square one every time we want to market our artists. We now have this audience that we can reuse for multiple campaigns and it will keep driving value for EMPIRE,” shared Ethan Sacré, Sr. Director of Digital Strategy at EMPIRE.
How they reached local fans:
With EMPIRE’s pixel connected to Laylo, every RSVP was attributed back to its source, turning a free community celebration into a measurable engine for future releases, merch, and live shows.
The concert drew 20,000 attendees to San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza and earned coverage from The SF Chronicle, CBS News, and KTVU. And more wins came after the confetti: EMPIRE now has a Bay Area-sized list of verified fans it can activate again and again.
“We’ve got 15-20 thousand people out here. Let’s go San Francisco!”
— Mayor Daniel Lurie
Watch the full clip
“Using Laylo for EMPIRE 15 helped us turn San Francisco’s diverse population into one connected community—converting 34% of all ad clicks into RSVPs and bringing 20,000 people together in real time.”
— Serena Woon, Digital Marketing Coordinator, EMPIRE
With a fresh verified Bay Area fanbase and a strong signal between ad spend and real-world turnout, EMPIRE can now apply their same RSVP playbook to upcoming concerts and events. Each campaign now builds on the last: proof that in 2025, capturing first-party fan list data isn’t just a smart talking point. It’s how you build an owned audience of fans ready to move every drop.
33K+ RSVPs
20K fans in attendance
34% click-to-RSVP on ads
