SXSW Interactive 2015 was bigger than ever. How can brands and audiences connect amid the chaos? In this presentation, we identify 8 common pain points for attendees and brands, and highlight the experiential work produced by PBJS for PayPal and Salesforce, plus other buzz-worthy brand activations around the Austin Convention Center.

1. Presented 3.26.15
Experiential Marketing
at SXSWi 2015

2. Who Attended SXSWi
Source: SXSW Marketing Deck 2015 2
AGE HH INCOME
INTEREST IN SXSWJOB FUNCTION
Under 21
21-34
35-44
45-54
54-64
65+
1%
49%
32%
13%
4%
1%
Under $25K
$25-49K
$50-74K
$75-99K
$100-$149K
$150K+
6%
11%
15%
13%
22%
33%
Sales/Marketing
Creative Development
Business Development
Management
Communications
Other
17%
22%
7%
22%
10%
22%
Industry
Fan
92%
8%
32,798
Interactive
Conference
Participants
2,377
Interactive
Conference
Speakers
Photo: Jack Plunkett AP
41%
Female
59%
Male

3. Brands That Showed Up
3

4. Pain Points
For Attendees

5. People EVERYWHERE
It’s not a joke when we say there are crowds
of people around you at all times during
SXSW.
As we noted last year, the festival’s
attendance rates have risen astronomically
in recent years – and we’re just counting
Interactive. In 2014, there were 32K+
attendees concentrated in downtown Austin
for SXSWi.
Festival attendance on this scale makes for
extra long lines, a lower probability of getting
into the sessions you want to go to and
ultimately the need for someplace to unwind.
5
Photo: Adweek

6. Limited Battery Life
Between email, note-taking, tweeting, taking
pictures and checking your schedule, SXSWi
can drain your devices like nobody’s business.
Sponsors do their best to provide attendees
plenty of charging stations and other battery
solutions, but it seems like there are always
people crowded around an outlet.
Battery life is always in demand and is
something that will only increase in
importance as more technology is created
to keep us connected.
6
Photo: The Guardian

7. Fear of Missing Out
FOMO is inescapable. There’s always
something exciting going on during SXSW
to keep you busy, but that doesn’t stop
the little tick in the back of your mind from
reminding you of all the other cool stuff
happening somewhere else.
Attendees will often find themselves in a
scheduling dilemma and wishing they
could be in multiple places at once.
7
Photo: Berkley Beacon

8. Fatigue
SXSW is exhausting. When you’re juggling all
the sessions, meet-ups and parties, all while
being bombarded with marketing messages
– it’s hard to walk away feeling 100 percent.
From a brand perspective, the best thing you
can do is focus on creating positive
experiences for attendees.
Sometimes, though, the best remedy for
attendee fatigue is a brief digital detox or
finding the perfect spot for a power nap.
8
Photo: Variety

9. Pain Points
For Brands

10. Reaching Your Audience
SXSWi attracts the world’s top innovators,
technologists, marketers, entrepreneurs and
celebrities. The right people are here, the hard part is
getting them in your doors.
It’s critical for brands to deeply understand who their
target audience is so they can determine if their
activations should be open to the general public, or
just Interactive, Music and/or Film badge holders.
To target industry-specific consumers, the best
activation formats might be work lounges, meeting
rooms, open houses and networking events, while
brands looking for maximum publicity should
consider hosting a lounge in tandem with guerrilla or
street activations.
10
Photo: Campaign Live
Photo: UMich

11. Finding Prime Real Estate
Location scouting is essential when it comes to
SXSW. It can be tough to find the perfect spot for
your brand’s activation. The process is highly
competitive and can feel a bit like battle of the
brands.
Brands with official SXSW sponsorships usually
have the option of activating inside the
conference center, giving them optimal foot
traffic and access to attendees.
Outside the conference center, brands compete
to find venues in close proximity to downtown.
Trinity Street, Sixth Street and Rainey Street are all
popular locations for activations.
11
Photo: Venturebeat

12. Staying Relevant In The Chaos
It’s a jungle out there. Every year, brands
launch new products, rebrand, or roll out new
apps and product features. If a brand is going
to activate at SXSW, it’s important to have
something relevant to talk about.
The tech space is already saturated with
marketing messages and brands usually use
SXSW as a platform for amplification,
contributing to more noise and clutter.
In order to stand out from the crowd, brands
need to find a way to be different. Successful
activations are simple, fun, clever, beneficial
and easy to share.
12
Photo: SXSW
Photo: GQ

13. Consumer Retention Post-SX
One of the biggest challenges for brands that
activate at SXSW is holding the attention of
consumers after they leave Austin. As noted in
the previous slide, it’s hard enough for brands
to even be noticed during SXSW.
There are several things that brands can do to
engage consumers long after they’ve left.
Brands can turn consumers into brand
advocates simply by keeping up the
conversation on social media and using data
capture during your activation as a direct line
to your audience after the festival is over.
13
Photo: USA Today

14. PBJS Work
At SXSWi

15. PayPal
The PayPal Social Media Lounge was a
warm and inviting space tucked away inside
the convention center for SXSWi attendees
to relax and recharge.
Attendees could order complimentary
coffee and other beverages through the
PayPal app from the Coffee Shop, as well as
purchase must-have SXSW items like
chargers, T-shirts, umbrellas, notebooks,
hangover kits and postcards from the PayPal
Store through an offer in the app.
The main space also had work stations for
attendees to charge their devices.
15

16. PayPal
To provide on-stage content, PayPal hosted
a variety of guests in the lounge including the
cast of Undateable, Robert Kirkman and
David Alpert of The Walking Dead, Colin
Hanks and Sir Mix-A-Lot.
The lounge hosted Happy Hour every day,
providing attendees free food and drinks.
The Duel Contest with Daymond John
drew a large crowd on Saturday, March 14,
when two companies were flown to SXSW to
pitch their products for a chance to win
funding provided by PayPal and coaching
from Shark Tank’s Daymond John.
16

17. Salesforce
17
Salesforce took over the Brass House in
downtown Austin to host a lounge for two
days during SXSWi, with PBJS responsible for
production and some creative.
We hosted fireside chats with American
Apparel, Lucchese, Phillips and Cedar Hill, as
well as a speakeasy-themed party on Friday
night for VIPs.
Inside the lounge, guests who completed
our interactive texting challenge could get
a T-shirt from our custom T-Shirt Press and
sales reps were always on-site for meetings
during the event.

18. Activation
Highlights

19. 3M
Using materials invented by 3M, the 3M
Life Lab showed consumers how the
brand’s several product innovations are
improving everyday life.
Inside the tent, consumers could play with
3M products like the Post-It Plus app, Dry
Erase surfaces, a tote bag personalization
station and have their picture taken in the
“Dazzle Booth,” a reflective photo booth.
In partnership with MTV, DJ TokiMonsta
also performed in the space.
19

20. Mophie
Consumers tweeted screenshots of their
phones’ low batteries to potentially
receive a Mophie battery pack
delivered by a St. Bernard.
In addition to the on-demand service,
consumers could visit the dogs at the
Mophie Rescue Lodge, as well as enjoy
an open bar and purchase Mophie
products.
The St. Bernards in the lodge were from a
local shelter and were available for
adoption.
20

21. Buzzfeed
The Buzzfeed #BFFClubhouse was a physical
manifestation of social media and digital
communication IRL.
The clubhouse featured everyone’s favorite
form of expression – Emoji – in an Emoji Fortune
Telling booth, where guests were revealed their
fortunes based on their most recently sent
Emojis. Guests could also wear Emoji masks in a
GIF booth onsite.
The 7-Eleven Slurpee Truck, complete with a
candy topping bar, was onsite and made
perfect subjects for the ‘Foodstagram’
platform Buzzfeed had specially made for
SXSW.
21

22. A&E Bates Motel
To promote the A&E show, a single-wide
trailer was planted next to the
convention center and transformed into
a functional replica of the
Bates Motel from the series.
Consumers could tour the different rooms
and enter to win a night’s stay at the
Bates Motel during SXSW.
The space featured props, décor and
audio/visual footage from the show, as
well as a Bates-themed GIF booth.
22

23. Mashable
The main mission of the Mashable House was
to “Break the Internet.” It was filled with an
Emoji temporary tattoo parlor, several photo
opps and was home to the always-popular
MashBash party. Several celebrities made
appearances at the house over SXSW.
Guests had the opportunity to pitch their
business ideas on the MasterCard Elevator
Pitch booth, pose on one of Katy Perry’s
Super Bowl “Roar” lions, take a photo in a
Windex-sponsored selfie mirror, jump in the
Silicon Valley 180 degree radial photobooth
and have a few photos snapped at the
Tomorrowland movie premiere photo opp.
23

24. Nat Geo Life Below Zero
To promote the show Life Below Zero,
National Geographic transformed a parking
lot into an Alaskan oasis featuring a bar with
signature drinks, an immersive gaming
experience and a sharable photo opp.
Game participants were given 20 minutes in
the simulated “Alaskan wilderness” to solve
puzzles and escape the cold. To win,
participants needed to work together to find
clues and problem solve.
It was the most popular activation at SXSW,
boasting a 2+ hour wait time.
24

25. Google Fiber
The Google Fiber location in Austin hosted
Virtual Reality Demonstrations, Happy Hours
and speaker sessions on specific topics
throughout the day.
As part of the VR demos, Google created a
flight simulation over San Francisco using
Birdly and provided guests with Google
Cardboard to play with.
The activation area provided guests with
Google Fiber Customer Service, a photo
booth with instruments and a wall of
streaming that showcased the speed of
Google Fiber.
25

26. Samsung
The Samsung Studio returned for another
year and was located across the street
from the conference center.
The activation featured a juice bar, a
GIF booth, a station where consumers
could design their own hats, T-shirts and
bags using Samsung products, a VR
experience in partnership with the movie
Insurgent and exclusive interview
content and programming in the
lounge.
Samsung products were prominently on
display throughout the space.
26

27. McDonald’s
McDonald’s made its first appearance as
a super sponsor at this year’s SXSW with a
large footprint in and around the
conference center.
At each activation site, the restaurant
chain gave consumers free food and
drinks, from “Wi-Fries” to Shamrock Shakes
and coffee.
The McDonald’s tent and outdoor stage
featured live music performances and
consumers could take selfies with Ronald
McDonald.
27

28. Game of Thrones
28
HBO’s Game of Thrones returned to SXSW
with an interactive exhibit dubbed
SXSWesteros, as well as several social media
sharing opportunities and branded city
buses, hotel key cards and pedicabs.
The exhibit featured an interactive sword
fight that created a portrait of your face
using a collage of swords, feathers and
antlers based on how many rocks you hit.
Guests could tweet a custom hashtag to get
a free prize in the GOT vending machine, as
well as have their picture taken on the
coveted Iron Throne.

29. Esurance
The Esurance Access booth inside the
convention center distributed badges to
SXSW attendees that could be scanned daily
for a chance to win iPads, Beats headphones
and gaming consoles.
The brand encouraged attendees to post on
social media using the hashtag
#esuranceaccess for a chance to win tickets
to a VIP concert and party.
In addition to the booth, Esurance had a
juice bar and recharging lounge on 5th &
Trinity downtown.
29

30. Thanks!

31. ABOUT PBJS:
PBJS is an experiential agency within the Publicis Groupe
network, with headquarters in Seattle and Chicago and
satellite offices in New York, St. Louis and San Francisco.
PBJS creates “Ideas That Stick” for clients like eBay,
PayPal, Microsoft, Samsung and BMW. These ideas come
to life as brand strategies, live events, digital experiences
and video content — imagined and executed by our
integrated creative and production talents.
CONTACT:
Lindsay Rowe
lindsay.rowe@pbjs.com
375 Hudson St. 14th Floor
New York, New York 10014
646-500-7673
www.pbjs.com
OFFICES:
PBJS Seattle
424 2nd Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119
PBJS Chicago
222 Merchandise Mart Pl.
Suite 2100
Chicago, IL 60654
PBJS New York
375 Hudson St.
14th Floor
New York, NY 10014
PBJS St. Louis
1435 S. 18th St. Suite 142
St. Louis, MO 63104
PBJS San Francisco
100 California St.
9th Floor
San Francisco, CA 9411