When Melinda Gates was hired at Microsoft, she was the only woman in her hiring class. During orientation, a new colleague picked a fight with a vp at the company–Gates later learned that colleague had been advised to be more aggressive–and that moment, which Gates shared during her keynote at South by Southwest in Austin…
This year’s South by Southwest has been a world filled with over-the-top brand activations, surprise visits from Elon Musk and plenty of new products. Quartz took advantage of the atmosphere of the festival and released Quartz for Messenger on March 8. With its new chatbot, Quartz hopes to deliver the news and other content to…
Less than a year ago, agency vet Matt Britton rejoined influencer marketing platform Crowdtap as CEO to help brands make sense of creators and user-generated content. Now he wants to get out of influencer marketing and into data. Britton founded Crowdtap in 2009 when it was incubated inside his Publicis-owned agency MRY. After leaving MRY,…
Gatorade made its SXSW activation slightly deceptive. When attendees walk into the space they enter into the G-Store–a somewhat small pop-up shop filled to the brim with any and every possible Gatorade product you could imagine, from protein powder to classic Gatorade drinks. Attendees are given iPads as soon as they enter the store and…
Is SXSW Interactive still a tech conference? Has “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” sparked a new appreciation for outdoor advertising? Can you actually make your NYC apartment bigger through interpretive dance? We tackle all these questions and more in the newest episode of Adweek’s podcast, “Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad.” You can stream the new…
Dropbox aims to inspire the world to unleash its creative energy–and it’s staying on brand at SXSW this year with three co-created murals (no, not quite Three Billboards-style) from up-and-coming artists. With the activation, Dropbox wants to “tell our story about helping people to collaborate, find flow and work together in a meaningful way,” said…
Ahead of its season two debut, the Bravo series Imposters is getting the SXSW treatment. Fans of the show, which follows the story of Maddie, a persona-shifting con artist and the trio of her recent, heart-broken victims. In Austin, Bravo partnered with Priv to give fans make-up touch-ups and manicures. Guests can also take photos…
For its 2018 activation at South by Southwest, Facebook is showcasing its products-Instagram, Oculus, and Messenger-in a way that will help educate marketers on how best to navigate them all. Working with agency Magnetic, Facebook set up a series of experiences for marketers in its Austin office, including three mini sets where marketers can create…
Towards the end of an hour-long Westworld panel at SXSW, Elon Musk dropped by for a last-minute talk with Jonathan Nolan, the creator of HBO’s Westworld, to discuss the future of transportation and how far off private trips to Mars will be. Musk and Nolan worked together to create a two-minute trailer from the recent…
Bumble, the three-year-old dating app where women make the first move, created a space to empower and educate women this weekend at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The app is one of a number of digitally native brands using SXSW as a way to connect with consumers in real life but with a focus…
Manicures, custom t-shirts, candy, pins and tunes; these are just a few of Starz’s favorite things for its activation at South by Southwest. Created to promote the network’s two new shows, Sweetbitter and Vida, the Starz Sensory House focuses on the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch and sound. The network worked with all-female vendors…
If you’ve ever stepped into a drug store or specialty shop for makeup, you know how daunting it is to find the right foundation shade to match your skin tone. The colors are only made to match a sampling of skin colors, and are often too dark or too light. L’Or?al is aiming to change…
The Handmaid’s Tale is stirring up a major resistance at SXSW as part of a marketing stunt for the upcoming season of the Hulu show, by setting fire to the oppressive red and white costumes that the handmaids wear. Well, sort of. In partnership with LeadDog Marketing Group, Hulu set up seven art instillations across…
For a company whose slogan is “Doing Things,” Outdoor Voices couldn’t have picked a better weekend with great weather to promote its new augmented reality app. Outdoor Voices encouraged consumers and Austin residents (where the company is headquartered) to leave the convention center at South by Southwest and instead head to a nearby park to…
The city of Atlanta has a new marketing tool that it hopes will help them court milennials to live and work in the city. ChooseATL, an initiative launched by the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2015 to get more millennials working in the area, decided the best way to accomplish that was to launch its own…
It’s impossible to look away from Kristen Lepore’s peculiar yet therapeutic film, Hi Stranger. The animated short, which has been watched 2.4 million times, features a tiny claymation man speaking softly to you about life, how difficult it can be to create things, and a what a gorgeous sunset can do for the soul. Now,…
Under Armour wants its customers to hover-literally-at the brand’s South by Southwest activation. One interactive portion of the “Hovr House,” named for the brand’s new smart running show, includes jumping on a trampoline and taking a photo of the moment. Since launching the Hovr line in February, Hovr House has toured in Shanghai and Los…
In 2015, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina got major buzz from a sneaky promotion it ran on Tinder at South by Southwest: Attendees who encountered a woman named Ava on the app soon found that she wasn’t a potential match at all but a way for you to learn about the film. It’s fitting, then, that…
In 2015, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina got major buzz from a sneaky promotion it ran on Tinder at South by Southwest: Attendees who encountered a woman named Ava on the app soon found that she wasn’t a potential match at all but a way for you to learn about the film. It’s fitting, then, that…
In 2015, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina got major buzz from a sneaky promotion it ran on Tinder at South by Southwest: Attendees who encountered a woman named Ava on the app soon found that she wasn’t a potential match at all but a way for you to learn about the film. It’s fitting, then, that…
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