The theme of the Mashable House was #BreakTheInternet. The venue featured a photo op where guests could climb into a giant replica of singer Katy Perry’s “liger” from this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
New to the IFC Fairgrounds this year was the giant human sticky wall. Participants donned velcro suits and tossed themselves against the tall sticky wall. The channel's activation was produced by LeadDog Marketing and ran during SXSW's music portion.
Hype Hotel switched venues to a bigger space at the Fair Market for its music showcase, which allowed sponsor Taco Bell to create a storage container restaurant in the outdoor space, complete with a taco storefront and patio.
At National Geographic’s interactive scavenger hunt game, participating teams entered a shed-like space and had to solve puzzles in order to escape the cold during SXSW Interactive.
Taking over the Gatsby, Pandora created a meeting-friendly connected home during SXSW Interactive. Produced by Stoelt Productions, the activation included five rooms featuring different devices, including iPad Air, Google Chromecast, and TiVo.
To teach attendees about the storied history of the vodka distillery, Ketel One designed a long history wall at its two-day event at the Fair Market during SXSW Interactive. Elements included fruits depicting the origin countries of the liquor’s three flavor profiles, interactive four points of quality testing, and a cocktail personality quiz. There was also a living green wall comprised of herbs typically used as cocktail garnishes.
Tumblr teamed up with artists to create projected installations for the musical showcases at the Tumblr IRL residency during the music portion of SXSW at Ironwood Hall. Different bands were paired with different artists, such as Twin Shadow with photographer Milan Zrnic.
To celebrate the launch of TV network Palladia's Instagram account at its music party at the Cedar Door, guests were able to use the event’s official hashtag to share photos through Crowd Reactive as well as print mailable postcards with the images. The event was produced by BMF Media.
Fader Fort hosted local Austin artists to create unique custom designs for guests wearing Converse shows during the music portion of the festival. The Fort also handed out 100 pairs of sneakers to random attendees.
During SXSW music, Neiman Marcus transformed a bungalow into an inspiration house where each room had an inspired-by theme. The music room featured hanging headphones playing music from presenting artists. Guests were invited to help fill out a pointillism mural in the art room.
Friskies took over Cafe Medici on Congress Avenue to create the Haus of Bacon for two days during SXSWi. The cat food brand teamed up with artist Jason Mecier to create portraits of famous Internet cats using bacon, cat kibbles, and Friskies’ packaging.
For more low-key fun, Brooklyn Brewery hosted Tiny Tails to You, a local traveling petting zoo, for a day at the Grackle. This included a petting zoo and tortoise races.
BuzzFeed's BFF Cluhouse featured an emoji fortune-teller for the day. By looking at guests’ most recently-used emoji on their smartphones, the fortune-teller picked the person’s fortune, including an emoticon to use more.
During SXSWi, 3M LifeLab was created using the company’s products, including Dichroic glass films, aluminum tubing, 3-D printed joints, and Scotchlite reflective fabric panels.
First-time sponsor McDonald’s created a comforting lounge with free food, Wi-Fi, and plenty of seating for attendees. The space was open throughout the musical portion of SXSW.
Fox created a food truck version of the convenience store from the cartoon The Simpsons, coordinated by Jordanah Events, and handed out free slushie drinks, or “Squishees,” to guests for two days during SXSWi.
The Pursuit of Equinox classes at the Fast Company Grill at the Cedar Door highlighted the newest cycling class centered on data tracking during SXSWi. In the class, bikes pedaled by participants sent out data that was visualized on a screen in front of the room. BMF Media produced the Fast Company Grill.
During mornings, the music-focused Spotify House held cycling classes by SoulCycle with a live DJ and simultaneous dance classes.
As part of the exploration on what makes barbecue delicious during SXSWi, Serious Eats hosted barbecue sauce workshops where participants were able to create their own flavors using a base sauce and additional condiments, which could be taken home in vials.
The Ipsos Girls’ Lounge made the trek out to SXSW, offering a female-friendly space for networking, panel discussions, exercise sessions, and more, during SXSWi.
Ponchos were dispensed to passersby and attendees of Comedy Central’s one-day Kegs and Eggs at Pelons & Bar during the music segment of SXSW, just in time for the rain.
As part of Dr. Martens’s Stand for Something campaign during SXSW music, the shoe brand let attendees complete the phrase “I Stand For” on free T-shirts.
Flood magazine, formerly known as Filter magazine, scaled back its music showcases at SXSW this year. The simple event featured big bands and artists like Spoon and Run the Jewels performing at the open-air space at Cedar Street Courtyard.
Animal Planet’s Next Cat Star Party featured hanging balls of yarn and giant cut-out cat cardboard figures for decor and photo booth props. The network also passed out promotional cat ear headbands to guests.
Patrón’s branded train parked at the Austin Amtrak station hosted several dinners and happy hours helmed by local chefs and bartenders throughout the festival. On March 18, Rolling Stone partnered with the tequila brand to screen a documentary about Austin-based musician Gary Clark Jr. Vases and planters from halved bottles of the tequila were scattered on tables. There was also the taste wall, where guests could try different types of tequila.
For the span of SXSWi, CoverGirl ran the makeup bar at Cosmopolitan’s lounge at the JW Marriott, giving free makeovers to guests.
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.
“With JT at the helm as creative director for the show, we worked very closely on translating his vision of the 20/20 albums, which he described as ‘visual music,’ into a very sensory live experience,” says New York-based stage and scenic designer Josh Zangen, who drew inspiration from modern art, futuristic environments, electronic dance music visuals, and even a fly’s eye for the stage design. The largest and most technically challenging element of the production, Zangen says, was the bridge: a 120-foot-wide piece of the stage that extends out over the audience, 250 feet above their heads, to the opposite side of the arena. Developed with Tait Towers, a stage set supplier based in Lititz, Pennsylvania, the bridge allows Timberlake to “connect with as much of the audience as possible in a completely new way”—without wires or flown elements. The 20/20 Experience World Tour wrapped up in January.
DirecTV brought back its private Super Saturday Night party on January 31, and CL22 once again designed the 7,000-guest event. The affair took place at the Pendergast Family Farm and featured entertainment from Rihanna and Kanye West. The brand used Platinum Rye Entertainment to book the talent.
Catering at TEDActive included deconstructed takes on bloody Marys served in shot glasses.
The Pageant of the Cosmos offered carnival games with an Adult Swim–inspired twist. For "Balloonicorn in Space," participants donned a unicorn hat and had to pop as many overhead balloons as they could.
Soho House Chicago opens on August 11, but the property hosted a preview party for musicians and select members of the press on Saturday. The event offered Grey Goose vodka cocktails, samples of the Soho House menu (including herb-filled bream and peach crumble), and a surprise performance from Jon Batiste & Stay Human. During the acoustic set, the band strolled around the venue and performed on bar tops.
