South by Southwest remains a big draw for attendees as well as brands, and its 2016 edition proved such, particularly with the addition of high-profile keynotes from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
This year's festival, which took over Austin, Texas, from March 11 to 20, saw a massive brand takeover, with events from new sponsors including Bud Light and Samsung, new activations from returning brands like The Fader and Pandora, and an uptick in promotions for TV shows like Game of Thrones. Here's a look at 25 notable experiences you may have missed from the tech, music, and film programs of SXSW 2016.
View Slide Show
The business magazine hosted its sixth annual event at Cedar Door from March 11 to 15. Sponsor Hewlett Packard Enterprise showcased various interactive experiences related to accelerating progress through data, including a light installation that gave guests an inside look at the company's distributing mesh computing technology.
The Game of Thrones activation returned to SXSW Interactive for a third year from March 11 to 13. In addition to photo ops with set props and costume displays, the event allowed guests to have their faces appear in the "Hall of Faces"—a promotional element for the fantasy series' upcoming sixth season and part of a major storyline in the previous season. Visitors could take their photos on a tablet app, which then rendered the images and displayed them on a giant digital version of the hall.
HBO's effort also included a Realfiction Dreamoc holographic display case, which was designed to mimic another element of Game of Thrones—looking into flames to see the future—by showing a clip from the upcoming season.
Sponsor Delta brought its immersive social media experience, Social Soul, to the event. Using mirrored tiles, the activation allowed guests to find their "Social Soul Mate" by surrounding them with images and audio of their Twitter feed—and then transitioning to another attendee's Twitter feed. Participants could then hang photos of themselves taken inside on a growing art installation and interact with their matches in person.
Mobile accessory company Mophie returned to SXSW for a second year with its signature St. Bernards, which delivered chargers to attendees with dying phones. This year, as part of Mophie's new partnership with Indian Motorcycle, the dogs traveled on motorcycles from the activation's hub, "Bad to the Bone Bar."
Partnering with marketing agency MKTG, the sports drink took its newest innovation on the road with an interactive brand experience that gave guests the chance to make their own personalized Gatorade by creating a "sports fuel" pod that they could add to water.
First-time festival sponsor Bud Light transformed Brazos Hall into the Bud Light Factory from March 16 to 19. The music showcase featured 33 performances and debuted the brand's new can design. Attendees could win prizes at an interactive touch screen swag wall created by Float Hybrid Entertainment. The swag wall also served as a photo booth by featuring backdrops created by festivals artists, which guests could pose in front of and share their photos as animated GIFs on social media. Mosaic produced and designed the activation alongside Live Nation and Mediacom.
The factory featured an interactive wall with a massive interactive DJ controller that brought guests together to remix popular music live. The wall was also on display with a different illustration at the Austin Convention Center from March 11 to 19, as part of the Bud Light Uncharted Studio.
USA Network partnered with Civic Entertainment Group to bring its Golden Globe-winning psychological thriller Mr. Robot to life with a 100-foot version of the Coney Island Ferris wheel and arcade featured in the show. The experience was on display from March 11 to 14 in a Congress Avenue parking lot.
For the world premiere of AMC's supernatural drama-comedy Preacher, which is based on the comic book of the same name, the network brought the show's promotional imagery to SXSW with an upside-down church. The installation, produced by InCharge Entertainment Marketing, was on display March 11 to 15 on the corner of Red River and 4th Streets.
The consumer lawn and garden company showed off its new "smart yard" app Gro at Icenhauser's from March 11 to 13. The event showed guests how the app—which offers instructions on a variety of gardening practices—worked in miniature branded garden displays.
The brand's logo appeared throughout the venue, including on a wall as floral signage.
Aloft Hotels and Wired partnered to bring attendees two festival experiences: the Re:charge and RVIP Experience. From March 11 to 16, the lounge on East 6th Street provided festivalgoers with mobile charges, live acoustic performances, and breakfast tacos. At night, guests could hop on a custom hot pink RVIP bus for a karaoke experience on wheels.
The greeting card company partnered with ad agency MullenLowe and creative design agency Guild to give attendees a break from the endless digital experiences during the festival's interactive portion. The initiative encouraged guests to ditch their smartphones and get creative with old-school ways of communication. The three-day event transformed a 6th Street dive bar into a nostalgic space that evoked analog technology and featured a coloring wall made from more than 2,500 shredded greeting cards.
The experience featured vintage typewriters, vinyl records, and custom greeting cards that attendees could mail out using mailboxes, which were also part of the event's decor.
Virginia-based artist and designer Michael-Birch Pierce was on site to stitch guest selfies onto fabric cards.
An extension of SXSWi's food program, FYI network hosted its first culinary activation at the Driskill Hotel from March 12 to 14. Along with a "Quesoff" competition and a station that gave lessons on Instagramming food, the event featured an edible wall installation. Designed by food typographer Danielle Evans, the wall—which spelled out "Feed Your Imagination"—included local eats from Voodoo Doughnut, Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, and Whole Foods.
The Fader celebrated its 15th year in Austin by expanding its program to six days with two events: the music magazine's annual performance showcase presented by Converse and the all-new Arcade presented by Toyota Prius, which focused on innovators, artists, and brands that converge music, technology, comedy, and artistic creation. The event, which took place March 14 to 15, featured music performances, standup sets, and interviews, as well as original art pieces including emoji portraits created by rapper and online personality Yung Jake.
SXSWi sponsor Samsung had a large presence at this year's tech portion of the festival, with its first-ever Galaxy Life Fest music event and the Samsung Studio. The consumer hub allowed guests to purchase products, attend panels, and test out the brand's virtual reality experiences. The hub also featured the Samsung SmartThings Airstream pop-up, which invited visitors to view demos and interact with SmartThings products.
Earlier this month, Kodak Alaris launched a new app, Kodak Moments, which turns photos into visual stories by providing its users with options like appealing text, block quotes, and layouts. The company partnered with artist Marcos Lutyens to create a physical version of the app, the Memory Observatory, which was on display at the Austin Convention Center from March 12 to 15. The installation provided attendees with a multisensory experience that involved turning a photo into a story using color, smell, and sound.
Best Damn Brewing Company hosted its outdoor lounge at the Brazos Hall parking lot from March 11 to 15. The space offered attendees the chance to test out its new beer-drinker-approved office chairs, sample its root beer and cherry cola flavors, and try a root beer floats made with local Lick Honest Ice Creams. Outdoor games for guests included giant Jenga that featured branded blocks.
Festival sponsor Pandora hosted its fifth annual Discovery Den at the Gatsby from March 16 to 19. The event featured a diverse lineup of 39 performers and was live-streamed via sponsor FedEx's custom booth.
Event sponsor Scotts Miracle-Gro activated a tent that allowed guests to play games including life-size chess and watch the performances in a lawn-style setting.
For SXSWi, the online radio brought back its headquarters, Pandora Powerhouse, as a space for guests to play ping-pong, tour the Stoelt Productions-produced Connected Home, eat snacks, and drink music-streaming-theme cocktails.
Major festival sponsor Marriott Rewards partnered with Universal Music Group to turn the JW Marriott Austin into a concert venue for badge holders and rewards members, with concerts from artists like Ryan Adams and the Avett Brothers and events including the Universal StyldBy Gap poolside party. Artist Yoon Hyup—who created a hotel window illustration of Austin for the hotel takeover—created live mural paintings during the party.
