This document summarizes experiential marketing activations at the SXSWi conference in 2014. It describes several brand activations including Spotify House, Mashable House, Samsung Music Lounge, American Express Serve Station, Oreo Trending Vending, Subway, 7-Eleven #gimmepizza, Nespresso, The Strain transformation station, 3M idea exchange, Chevy test drives, gaming expo with Mario Kart, guerrilla tactics, and after parties. It also outlines potential pain points for attendees like crowds, lines, transportation, phone battery life, FOMO, and tech overload. Opportunities for brands are suggested like transportation shuttles, mobile charging, curated tours

1. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Experiential Marketing
at SXSWi
Presented 3.19.14

2. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Who Attended
Source: 2014 SXSW Marketing Prospectus
30,000
people who
look like
this.
Under 21 1%
21-34 47%
35-44 34%
45-65 18%
65+ 0%
AGE
1st Year 52%
2-4 Years 31%
5-9 Years 11%
10+ Years 6%
YEARS ATTENDED
International 20%
Domestic 80%
GEOGRAPHY
Under $25k 5%
$25-50k 10%
$50-75k 14%
$75-100k 13%
$100-150k 23%
$150-200k 35%
HH INCOME
Industry 75%
Fan 25%
INTEREST IN SXSW
Sales 10%
Marketing 15%
Biz Dev 8%
Creative 22%
Management 23%
Other 22%
JOB FUNCTION

3. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Who Showed Up

4. MSLGROUP | PBJS
MAKING AN
MAKING
There’s a FINE LINE...
NOISE And
IMPACT
SXSW ACTIVATION HIGHLIGHTS

5. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Spotify House
• Location was outside of usual SXSW
activations with both indoor and outdoor
spaces
• Interactive
– Touch-screen music trivia game
tables (we lost every time)
– Listening stations
• Photo booth created playlist mosaics with
your photo. Large display outside of
“booth” and the playlist was emailed to
you
• Signature free drinks & food truck
• Outdoor concerts & indoor DJs

6. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Mashable House
Partners/Sponsors:
• Friskies – Grumpy Cat Photo Opp
• Mastercard – Priceless Surprises Twitter Vending
Machine
• HBO Silicon Valley – Juice Bar and Nap Pods
Other experiences:
• Giant projection of real-time content with #MashSXSW
by Mass Relevance
• Mashable Gallery
• The Easter Egg, hidden speakeasy

7. MSLGROUP | PBJS
SAMSUNG
Music Lounge
• Customized juice drink based on mood (tablet with questions)
• Use Galaxy tablets to design a t-shirt
• Free swag for interactions/Samsung owners
– Speakers, headphones, sunglasses, etc.
• “Rent” a device for 24 hours
– Phones, tablets, smart watches
• Yoga & Crossfit classes on the roof
• Vine video booth
Other
• Tweet #poweron for battery swap anywhere around SXSW

8. MSLGROUP | PBJS
American Express Serve Station
• Consumers tweet for a treat at station: Daily “good” included:
10-min massages, juice, blow out & shaves
• Each #ServeSomeGood tweet = $1 donation to United Way

9. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Trending Vending with Oreo
• Using the same technology as 3D printing,
custom orders were created to order based
on trending topics on Twitter
• Activation space was created using a
shipping container, and included the
vending machine, a milk bar and a DJ
• Cookies took about
two minutes each to
make, which created
a long line – and a
lot of buzz

10. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Subway
• Subway had two footprints – one inside the Convention
Center and a larger footprint outside
• Inside, they hosted a game that tested your concentration
by “measuring brain waves” and pitted you against an
opponent in a mental tug of war
• Outside was a more standard space where they hosted
content, like Zac Efron and Seth Rogan to talk about their
upcoming movie
• While neither activation was
amazing, the locations were great
and the fact that they pointed to
each other was smart

11. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Spredfast Girl Talk Concert
• Spredfast (a B2B social media management company)
hosted a Girl Talk concert at Stubb’s
• SXSW’ers could win tickets by
– Entering a Twitter sweepstakes
– Attending an open house at Spredfast’s downtown
office
– Spotting their street team and getting a token
• Good mix of online and offline promotion and content

12. MSLGROUP | PBJS
7 Eleven #gimmepizza
• 7 Eleven delivered pizzas to SXSW
attendees that tweeted @7Eleven
using the hashtag #gimmepizza
• The pizza box included instructions to
post a selfie
• Pizzas were baked in two food trucks
that were debuting the newest flavor
of Slurpee, Diet Coke
• “This was the best thing that
happened at SXSW, ever.” – Brad
Murrell

13. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Nespresso
• Created a high-end coffee bar
feeling within a dome tent shaped
like their new pods
• Touchscreen experience guided the
user towards the coffee that was
right for them
• Brand ambassadors dressed as
baristas prepared the coffees –
created in clear, disposable cups so
attendees could see the foam

14. MSLGROUP | PBJS
THE STRAIN
• “Transformation Station” to tease the
upcoming show
• Included branded energy drinks, water,
and an alarming number of eerily calm
brand ambassadors
• “Nap pods” could be reserved online
for 20-minute intervals where
attendees could lay down and watch a
sneak preview of the show

15. MSLGROUP | PBJS
3M idea exchange
• Highlighted innovative ideas from
different industries
– Packing tape artist
– Post-It Notes and EverNote
partnership
– 3D Multi-touch displays
• Charging stations
• Daily happy hour with free cocktails
and cupcakes

16. MSLGROUP | PBJS
CHEVY
Test Drives
• The latest Chevy models were onsite and
available for test drives
– I drove the Volt, which was cool but
SXSW is not the best place to test drive
a car since there’s tons of traffic and
pedestrians
– Free t-shirt for test driving them
Catch a Chevy
• Offering rides to people between sessions

17. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Gaming Expo
Real-Life Mario Kart by Pennzoil and Nintendo
• Pennzoil set up a go-kart track where attendees could
play a four-lap, real-life version of Mario Kart, including
“power ups”
• Also offered a Go-Pro video of your actual race to share
on Facebook and other social networks
DIY Drones
• Booth that demonstrated the processes and materials
needed to build an airborne quadcopter
• Participants were even able to take the drones out for a
trial run

18. MSLGROUP | PBJS
GuerRilla Tactics
• SXSW is really strict with what non-official
sponsors can do, so most guerrilla tactics were
limited to strangely dressed brand ambassadors
yelling at people
• Photo opps were big. And not always rational.
Here’s what preceded this photo.
– “It’s a rock and roll gorilla. Will you hold it?”
– “Umm...OK.”
– “Great. Here’s where you can collect your
picture.”

19. MSLGROUP | PBJS
After Parties
• SXSW hosts a variety of parties often
offering free drinks and live performances
• Brands often use social media as a way to spread
the word and offer VIP pass giveaways and contests
• Parties offered well-known artists, Photo opps &
swag (glowsticks!)
• LINES! LINES! LINES!

20. MSLGROUP | PBJS
AWESOME
Oh yeah,
and there were these
PBJS WORK AT SXSW
ACTIVATIONS

21. MSLGROUP | PBJS
• Took over popular downtown Austin restaurant
• Created space to relax, recharge and refresh
• Space included charging stations,
complimentary drinks and a healthy snacks
• Each afternoon, ExactTarget energized
attendees and the Orange Oasis with a Happy
Hour compete with DJ
Photo
Photo
Photo
ExactTarget Orange Oasis

22. MSLGROUP | PBJS
PayPal Social Media Lounge
• PayPal partnered with TechSet to sponsor the Social Media
Lounge inside the Convention Center
• The space offered work stations, refreshments, content, and
daily acoustic performances
• Consumers were encouraged to download the PayPal app in
order to order coffee and swag within the space

23. MSLGROUP | PBJS
PAIN POINTS
sxsw attendee
POTENTIAL BRAND OPPORTUNITIES

24. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Mo’ People, Mo’ Problems
Attendance at SXSWi has tripled in
five years – and this is just the
numbers for the interactive portion.
This influx of people causes:
• Long lines for everything
• Gross bathrooms
• Traffic
10,741
14,251
19,364
24,569
30,621
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Year by Year SXSWi Attendance
OPPORTUNITY: Android offered its users
branded line-placeholders, who they could text
and ask to stand in line for them.

25. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Transportation
Short-distance transportation needs are addressed
with branded pedi-cabs, but since people have to stay
miles from downtown Austin, any kind of
transportation to and from the Convention Center is a
nightmare.
Cabs are impossible to get, and the official SXSW
shuttle can take up to an hour to complete its loop.
OPPORTUNITY: Branded shuttles that can
be reserved and scheduled online before
SXSW begins.

26. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Phone Battery DEATH
Many sponsors offer charging stations within
their activation space, but everyone’s phones
are still at 10% battery for much of the time –
in which case they are desperately looking for
an outlet.
OPPORTUNITY: Charging stations. Mobile chargers as
giveaways and/or prizes. Samsung will deliver extra phone
batteries to people who tweet that they need them.

27. MSLGROUP | PBJS
FOMO
There are so many sessions, and so much to see and
do, that you feel as though you are almost always
making the wrong choice.
This is made worse by the fact that anything with buzz
around it has exceptionally long lines – which means
that to be in that session or eat that 3D-printed Oreo,
you must forego other experiences.
OPPORTUNITY: Curated tours of SXSW with reserved times to see specific
activations. App that makes session recommendations based on interest.

28. MSLGROUP | PBJS
Tech Overload
Warning: Andy Rooney-like rant below
Technology, as it turns out, can bring out the worst in
us. I started keeping track of the number of people
who walked directly into me while on their phones.
Total: 9. People waited for hours to get into sessions,
then spent those sessions staring at their phones. By
the end, I wanted nothing more than to throw my
phone out a window. But then how would I tweet
about my decision to give up technology?
OPPORTUNITY: Digital Detox Lounge where attendees can schedule
meetings or just come in to relax – but must surrender all phones and
computers (to be charged) at the door.

29. MSLGROUP | PBJS
THANK YOU