South by Southwest is abundant with activations, parties, film premieres, and other events, which means marketers and event producers have to be more creative to captivate festival attendees. Keeping in line with this year’s decidedly more curated and focused approach, this meant more low-key executions, from CNN's simple fruit theme and Sony’s hovering clouds to color-coded areas from M&Ms, Diet Coke, and Bumble.
Here’s a look at the best event design ideas from the Austin festival.
Dubbed the "Dreamscape," the main stage area of Sony's Lost in the Music setup was flanked by hovering cloud formations for an ethereal feel. Ralph Creative Agency and the communications company Mission worked on the event.
Warner Bros. and creative agency Giant Spoon drew inspiration from the 1980s and video games for the activation for the feature film Ready Player One. The entry tunnel featured a mirrored tunnel with neon lights, a wall of glowing cassette tapes, and 1980s props like a giant bust of the Iron Giant and the DeLorean, as well as a replica of the floating disco with mirrored floors.
The footwear company put together a tasteful poolside barbecue party at the South Congress Hotel. The color direction came from the 574 sneaker, which meant grays everywhere, from charcoal-based cocktails to tacos wrapped in newspaper print to gray linens on seats. The event was produced by Crush & Lovely, with the hotel providing the all-gray catering.
Contrasting linens and textures, along with black accents, kept the gray color scheme from being repetitive.
The concept for the candy bar’s music activations and showcases was musical duos, including the rap duo Outkast. Other interactive stations highlighted the duos Simon & Garfunkel, the White Stripes, Daft Punk, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Each station was built using red and yellow milk crates.
Diet Coke’s activation was split into sections based on the soda company’s new flavors. An orange area included a photo booth with an orange pool float background and props, the ginger/lime area hosted the DJ and dance area, and the mango area featured a hot sauce tasting.
CNN's SXSW house had an apple theme. The front of the building was covered in vines and apples, the stage backdrop featured apples pained in an ombre design, and the fruit also served as centerpieces. Elsewhere, to emphasis the basic cable news channel's “Facts First” mission, decor included pillows with the blunt slogan: “This is a pillow.” CNN worked with Advoc8 and Pink Sparrow to produce the event.
The petcare branch of the candy company kept it simple with the photograph backdrop at the Leap Lounge party during SXSW, featuring arranged pet toys on AstroTurf from IRL Productions.
The dating and networking app’s sprawling SXSW space was split into three sections reflective of the different uses. Each had its own corresponding color theme, but were united by honeycomb details and sleek fonts, built out by design company Preacher. Production company Pen and Prue Productions produced the event.
For the music portion of SXSW, Mars created sections nodding to the different colors of the candy. The green lounge featured leafy walls and comfortable seating. Attendees were encouraged to pick up and play the hanging instruments in the yellow section. Tucked away in the back was the orange room where people were encouraged to hide out and mix their own sounds.
Bold graphics in a muted color palette helped attendees navigate the miniature convention within Palm Park. The activation even took advantage of the already-existing playground equipment, encouraging people to swing and slide.
A massive floral wall was displayed at Starz’s activation for the show Sweetbitter as part of the scent section of the venue. Production came from Activation Pro and Civic.
Soccer was the focus of Fox Sports’s SXSW activation, which promoted the documentary series Phenoms about young soccer stars trying to earn a spot on their countries’ World Cup team. The event at the Hangar Lounge included a World Cup-theme 360-degree photo booth and coasters featuring famous soccer players. The event was produced by Gilt Edge Soccer Marketing.
Floating above Under Armour’s domed space were moving red and white sphere lights.
For the Austin premiere of film Sorry to Bother You, Annapurna Pictures and SXSW gave volunteers working at the screening giant earrings with the logo of the film, much like one of the main characters in the movie.
