The Austin City Limits Music Festival turned 15 this year, and celebrated with two jam-packed weekends of programming in the Texas capital. About 75,000 fans flocked to Zilker Park each day to see big-name headlining acts such as Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar, and LCD Soundsystem. Running September 30 to October 2 and October 7 to 9, the festival from C3 Presents also focused on the fan experience, with sponsors including Samsung, HomeAway, and MillerLite finding ways to keep crowds comfortable and engaged. Here’s a look at how the brands—and the festival itself—catered to the crowd.
About 75,000 fans flocked to Zilker Park daily to see headlining acts such as Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar, and LCD Soundsystem.
Within the Artists Village, clothing company Aviator Nation built a teepee for its pop-up shop. Inside, guests could buy specially branded ACL apparel—including trucker caps, T-shirts, and tank tops—at a discounted rate, or decide to play one of several instruments for an impromptu musical session.
New to this year’s festival grounds were the ACL Bodegas, convenience stores of sorts that sold fruits, snacks, and other essentials from $2 to $5.
As part of the vacation rental company’s backstage area, HomeAway used furniture from West Elm to create a lounge for those wishing to relax while watching the concerts. Scattered around the space were signs directing guests to specific rentals though the website.
Austin Tiny Homes built a custom house in the area that guests could explore. People were encouraged to take a nap in the lofted bedroom, which had mattresses and bedding provided by Casper.
To help the home improvement company appeal to a younger generation, Lowe's open-air lounge offered cozy seating, shade, and Wi-Fi to festivalgoers. Guests and the artists who performed acoustic sets within the space were encouraged to sign the giant Texas Star, which will be on display at Lowe’s headquarters in North Carolina.
Mixing music and home improvement, Lowe’s also created a paint drum station. As visitors struck each drum, different colored paints splashed up within giant tubes. The harder they hit, the higher the paint would jump. Guests could also pose with instruments for 180-degree gifs.
Miller Lite offered a game hall with shade to guests. For fun, there were branded games from arcade video games to foosball, all free to play. The centerpiece of the Miller Lite’s hall was the giant ACL mural made up of the beer cans. MAC Presents produced the activation.
Guests also scribbled their theme song picks onto a wall. Keeping guest comfort in mind, tables at the activation had a condiment-holder filled with an array of sunscreen lotions and sprays.
Samsung's public lounge, #GalaxyLife, showcased its products and offered a vending machine accessible through the company’s phones. Throughout the festival grounds were Samsung’s wireless charging stations.
Within the separate Samsung Lounge, available to Samsung-owners who waited for wristbands, guests were able to experience the sensation of riding Six Flags’ Magic Mountain roller coaster with its special virtual-reality product using Oculus Rift. Users sat in chairs that moved and vibrated during the ride. For those not attending the festival, Samsung also partnered with Red Bull TV to offer essentially a live stream virtual-reality experience of select concerts using the energy drink brand’s live broadcast combined with Samsung Gear powered by Oculus. Users were able to immerse themselves in the show with a 360-degree experience with their phones and the app.
Guests also posed in the lounge’s photo booth using Samsung's Gear 360 camera inside a festive reflective space.
State Farm’s #HeretoHelp lounge offered attendees a place to cool down in an air-conditioned area with comfortable seats and televisions screening the live stages. Guests could scan their festival wristbands for giveaways.
Outside the State Farm lounge were free lockers for people to place items for safekeeping. Additionally, the insurance company encouraged guest to use the hashtag for lost or found items and general help.
Lines were very long for Tito’s Plinko board, where people contended to win potential prizes like coveted fanny packs, book bags, and bandanas.
Next door, people were able to pose with the local vodka company’s version of Austin’s iconic mural, “I Love You So Much.” Tito’s will donate $1 to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with every photo published on social media using the hashtag “lovetitos.”
Since Lyft and Uber left Austin earlier this year, Honda partnered with the new personal driving app Ride Austin to offer free rides to festivalgoers. Participants were able to open the app on their phone and select the Hail-a-Honda option. The CR-Vs came from the Central Texas Honda dealerships, and were outfitted with bandanas and water for riders.
New to this year’s festival was the dedicated wine-on-tap bar featuring local wineries. To honor the fresh selections, one of those wineries, Troublemaker, created a giant wine bottle version of a mechanical bull dubbed the Trubull. Participants could sit on the bottle and pose for photos.
