It takes a lot to impress the SXSW crowd. Thousands of media specialists, tech gurus, and creatives descend on Austin, Texas all looking for inspiration and connection. It’s a tough gig.
Beyond the talks and the panels there’s a staggering range of brand experiences and activations, with advertisers big and small from Prime Video to La Croix leveraging the festival’s equity, each targeting a very specific demographic. With brand experience close to our hearts, here are a few thoughts on what worked, and frankly, what didn’t…
Some activations hit the mark. Others fell short, lazily settling on a sales pitch rather than a magical stand-out brand experience built on tight customer journeys with clear benefits.
On a purely practical level – given the hordes of time-poor media-savvy creatives queueing up, crowd control and guest flow were critical to success. But often strangely overlooked.
Some experiences with inspired activations at their core were let down by limited explanation or signage – so the pay-off missed its mark or relied heavily on Brand Ambassadors to step in and repeatedly explain the twist – by which stage you’d lost the room.
Lewis Pugh, the famous endurance swimmer, nailed it when he said: “If you get the basics right, everything else falls into place.”
Unsurprisingly, a broad range of brands showed up. Some felt obvious (Prime Video), some unexpected players invested heavily and reaped the benefits (Just Works), some felt slightly out of place (Tide washing powder??). Some sponsors didn’t seem to activate their presence at all.
Here’s our Collaborate pick of the crop, based on our some of the most inspired, human experiences we saw:
The Audible brand experience journey and navigation was strong and brought all the rational, emotional and product benefits to life. Positioned as a ‘Carnival’ it drove intrigue and attraction from a distance as soon as you saw the giant colourful Ferris wheel. Brand ambassadors worked hard to manage and motivate the queue. Once inside, a series of fun carnival games expressed either brand content or sneak previewed its new stories. Finally, the Ferris wheel itself previewed new shows with different sound showers in each carriage. Framing all of this with stilt walkers, drag queens, and themed food and drink was a great way to bring an old school entertainment theme to the modern entertainment platform.
Sharpie went in hard on creativity by simply letting the product speak for itself in many ways. The playful space avoided upselling or scripted brand content in favour of good old creative fun – customisable giveaways, plenty of photo ops, hang-out spaces and free drinks (if you drew your drink of choice with a Sharpie first!).
Paramount+ commandeered a three-storey bar, called it ‘The Lodge’ and packed it full of game-based activations to promote content as varied as Star Trek: Discovery to Law Man: Bass Reeves (other shows without colons are also available). Doubtless signature drinks across the three floors helped drive engagement, for what – arguably – had one of the longest dwell times of any of the activations.
Netflix’s activation reinforced its reputation for incredible production values. It took over a huge corner-site at the centre of the Austin action, and during primetime Friday night crowds projected a visually stunning hologram to launch flagship new series 3 Body Problem. Perhaps not unique, but brilliantly executed tech and media buying. Right time, right place, right medium.
Just Works, a tech workforce management brand, stood out as one of our favourites for sheer fun factor. Hosting a ‘Sunday Service’ to up-end notions of traditional ‘work’ it took a low-fi but highly effective approach – an 80’s themed afternoon party in a space below its downtown office! Staff networked and shared stories with guests without being heavy handed, the ’80s theme ran strongly through everything (from the old-school arcade games to the ubiquitous selfie prop), and the event was crowned by the superb covers band The Spazmatics.
Our Key Out-Takes
• Never lose focus of the consumer journey and maximise navigation
• Event context really does matter. For instance: SXSW people need food and drink. Hospitality is key to success (especially to drive dwell time) – some brands got it, others didn’t
• Context of the Expo floor is key – stands and brands may achieve cut through when talking to their own category – but for a broader SXSW audience messaging hierarchies and experience design must be completely different
• It’s all too easy to overlook, but shareability is everything – especially with this crowd.
All of this simply reinforces some of our core beliefs for creating magical, memorable brand experiences.
After all, If you’re investing the money, make it work as hard as it possibly can. The potential payoff to accelerate brand growth is there to be had. See you there next year?
