On September 21, the touring “Toyota Sessions Powered by Pandora” concert series took over a barge in San Diego. A custom Instagram printer encouraged social media engagement.
The watch fair ran for eight days in March in Basel, Switzerland. Four stories tall and decorated with bold pop artwork by Kevin T. Kelly, the Breitling booth was custom-built in Japan and featured, most conspicuously, a massive aquarium that housed more than 1,000 species of jellyfish within its half-foot-thick methacrylate windows.
The Hermès Basel space, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Toyo Ito, was meant to emphasize lightness and openness. Easily assembled and dismantled, the two-story box covered 11,194 square feet total, doubling last year's space. The steel framework was clad with 624 wooden strips—some straight, some curved—to form an outer mesh that appeared to move in the wind.
The benefit took place at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum on March 28. At a D.I.Y. photo booth, guests used selfie sticks to take their own photos. The activation was designed by sponsor Henry’s Photography.
Though it may seem obvious that Reebok would promote its new ZPump running shoe with a run, there was nothing predictable about the brand’s three-mile jog down a shut down section of Sunset Boulevard on March 24. Reebok invited 100 participants, including media and influencers, to take part in the run while dressed in the brand's gear and new ZPump sneakers. Runners and fans who joined the group followed behind a flatbed truck as Kendrick Lamar performed.
Delta Air Lines brought the words of author Pico Iyer to life at an unusual installation at the TED Conference in Vancouver March 16 to 20. Working with MKG, Delta invited conference attendees to sit inside a “stillness capsule” to capture their most calm moment. Before stepping inside the capsule, each guest received a silicone orb that had an LED sensor and lights inside. After the experience, the lights pulsed at the same pace as the guest's lowest heart rate. Delta invited them to take the orb with them as a reminder of their "stillest moment."
The largest annual electronic dance music gathering in the world, Winter Music Conference celebrated 30 years in Miami from March 24 to 28. At the Red Bull Guest House, which took over the Sagamore Hotel, the Breakfast Sessions buffet served munchies including Pop-Tarts with dipping sauces, mac 'n' cheese, chicken-and-waffle sandwiches, and Twinkies. The buffet was offered as a late-night snack.
BMF Media hosted the 808 Music Lounge curated by SiriusXM at W South Beach. The space served as a site for live broadcasts, DJ sessions, games, and more. In a novel twist on creating a guest list, the lounge was open to the first 100 fans who joined the DJ Kaskade for a morning jog through South Beach.
Universal Pictures celebrated the release of its action flick Furious 7 with a world premiere event on April 1 in Los Angeles. Universal set up display cars outside the TCL Chinese Theatre. The cars had been used in films from the Fast and Furious franchise.
On March 31, the eve of the 2015 New York International Auto Show's first media day, Cadillac premiered its new flagship CT6 sedan at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen gave introductory remarks on the CT6 sedan, laying out his brand's new vision and direction. Projecting mapping against six large areas allowed his words to be complemented by crisp, large images that could easily be seen from any vantage point in the 35,000-square-foot space.
HBO’s SXSWesteros house promoted the cable network's hit series Game of Thrones and featured an interactive sword-playing game where attendees used Bluetooth-enabled swords to hit targets on a screen. Before the activity, participants posed for photos that were then incorporated into the game.
Samsung housed the “Insurgent Shatter Reality” virtual reality experience. Using Samsung VR technology, guests could visit the realm from the Divergent film series.
A large interactive table at the center FX’s Fearless Factory showcased the television channel's mobile app. Smaller tablets were built within side tables, too.
At the premiere party for the CW’s iZombie hosted by BuzzFeed, Emotiv headsets were provided to guests who were able to see their brain activities in response to eating different types of 3-D-printed candy made on the premises. Guests were allowed to email themselves a copy of their scans.
At the fifth annual Fast Company Grill, sponsor Toyota unveiled an Oculus Rift distracted driving simulator. Participants donned the device and sat in the driver’s seat of a Toyota and replicated a drive through an active and noisy street.
Users entered the Bose Southbooth, covered in mirrors and disco balls, and chose a single song to add to the official Spotify SXSW playlist.
Boffin’s Lab featured a demonstration of Leap Motion headset technology, where guests were taken on a virtual reality through a forest.
The department store featured a Twitter mirror in the artist area at its Make Some Noise house. Users were able to take photos of themselves, add additional content like text and drawings, and then tweet out the image through the brand’s Twitter account.
At General Electric's BBQ Research Center, participants put on color-coded brainwave scanners to see how their brains reacted while eating different barbecue cuts and sides.
Yahoo showcased the brand’s digital magazine content through projections on a cube set up near the entrance of the venue during the daytime. For evening events like the Community and Sin City Saints parties, images from the shows were shown.
Mophie helped rescue attendees with dying phone batteries by sending out St. Bernards with a Mophie power reserve unit within a barrel attached to the dog’s collar. Those seeking help had to take a screenshot of their dying battery screen as well as their location, and tweet at the brand. The St. Bernards were housed at the MophieRescue Lodge, where the products were showcased. The organization also worked with the St. Bernard Rescue Foundation to raise awareness of adoptable St. Bernards across the country.
Extending its Made by You initiative, Converse photographed professional portaits of attendees’ sneakers in the style of the ad campaign. The images were then displayed on screens in the space. For those who weren’t wearing the brand, lucky guests were given free shoes at random.
The premiere party for Unfriended, which was screened at SXSW, featured live streams of the current event throughout the space, alongside a Twitter feed of the party’s hashtag, mimicking the film’s plot centered on live video chats.
HBO’s Silicon Valley returned to the Mashable House with several activations, including Scheimpflüg’s Time Slice 360-degree photo booth, the images from which guests could email to themselves.
Looking for an unusual act to book? Like a harp on steroids, the strings of the oversize musical instrument Aerial Harp are suspended across several feet and are illuminated to grab the audience's attention. Booked through Talents & Productions, the United States-based act charges about $9,800 per event.
