Through the use of these elements, I went out amongst the crowd of SXSW 2016 armed with twenty-seven wooden clothespins, a Post-It note pad, and a team of three to see if I could make twenty-seven clothespins get as much or more media attention than other corporate advertising budgets. Core Elements of a Streetwise Activation 1. A simple message A point you are trying to get across to the public. Whether it’s an item, service, or even a social movement you have to have a message. 2. A strong emotional hook. Give the public something to care about. That is the key to having a strong emotional hook. How does your campaign benefit them? Does it provide a service they strongly need? A movement they want to support? Is it appropriate for the whole family? These are all things to keep in mind. The reason people come to these events is to have fun, try to keep the mood light and entertaining. 3. A visual icon (the bigger the better) In this experiment, we simply used 27 clothespins, a Post-It Note pad, and a hashtag. You want something that catches the eye. An item, mascot, or something that can double as a prop for the public to take pictures with to help spread your word. Something that can be easily recognizable. You could also you something completely different, like a clothespin. People are curious by nature, they will try to figure out what that “thing” they keep seeing is. 4. A team of personalities on the ground A ground team needs to be chosen carefully. You want a team of people that are of all walks of life. Different people are drawn to different personality types and physical attributes. You don’t want people that give off an intimidating vibe, but rather someone who seems easily approachable, fun, and outgoing. Finding the perfect mix of these attributes will make things smooth as events go on. 5. A documentarian (video, tweets, etc) Having someone to follow around your group of representatives on the ground and take pictures, videos and operates the social media feeds as the day goes by helps to share your campaign real time, as the event goes on.