Getting folks turned on at South by Southwest

The annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin takes place later this month, giving out-of-home advertisers a chance to get in front of large crowds of young and influential people.

Last year more than 80,000 people attended music events at SXSW, while more than 16,000 attended the film portions of the festival, 30,000 attended interactive sessions, and more than 150,000 attended other related exhibits or parties.

As with almost any OOH campaign these days, an advertiser’s success isn’t determined solely by the audience at the festival, but rather the viral buzz a stunt can create.

The crowd is very tech-savvy, meaning almost everybody is taking photos and videos and sharing them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as other hipster corners of the web most of us haven’t even heard of yet.

The most successful out of home stunts can create huge buzz during the 10-day festival, and all of the online views, shares and likes can help the campaign live on for months or years to come.

Here a few of the funnest and most creative OOH stunts from recent SXSW history.

TaskRabbit takes the streets

Sometimes an OOH stunt has nothing to do with the brand, product or service being promoted but simply aims to get people talking.

That was the tactic used by TaskRabbit, an online marketplace that allows users to outsource small jobs to others in their neighborhood, in 2013.

TaskRabbit rolled around Austin in a customized “Taskvan,” a van designed to look like a rabbit (TaskRabbit, get it?), including furry exterior paneling, big floppy ears behind the passenger and driver’s side doors, a pink nose at the end of the hood, and two teeth poking out where the front bumper would be.

Anywhere the van went, people flocked, touching the fur and snapping pics, which of course gave the TaskRabbit crew opportunity to chat up the service.

A ‘Late Night’ with Shake Shack

In a dual promotion at last year’s SXSW, NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” enlisted a food truck to drive through downtown Austin between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m., passing out free burgers and fries to the masses.

The truck was completely wrapped, branded with images from the late-night talk show, and it also had video screens airing the latest episodes of the then-newly launched show.

The food came from the fast casual restaurant chain Shake Shack, which was opening a new location in Austin at the same time.

The gimmick worked because everybody loves free food, and in this case attendees came away more aware of both “Late Night” and Shake Shack.

Snoop Dogg pitches for AirBnB

AirBnB is an online service that connects people who want to rent their homes to travelers visiting their town. At last year’s SXSW the company showed what it might be like to rent a place from a musical artist.

It set up a park that included customized Kithaus homes, or prefabricated living spaces, decorated by three musical acts: the musician Allen Stone, indie duo Capital Cities, and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Each space was designed to reflect the artist’s tastes. For example, the Snoop Dogg home included a gold mailbox decorated with shiny gems, gold walls, and a huge living room sign that read “BO$$.”

AirBnB also included other attractions to draw people in, such as live music and spa treatments.

AT&T Teleporter

During the 2013 SXSW, AT&T gave visitors to one of its exhibits the chance to experience the city of Austin, all without leaving a climate-controlled lounge where they could also charge their phones.

To do so the company created a “teleporter,” a half-sphere video screen giving users a view of wherever they wanted to go.

Visitors stood in front of the teleporter and selected a destination in Austin using a tablet. The teleporter screen then “transported” the user by showing an image of the selected location, giving them an immersive sense of actually being there via the domed screen.

While the stunt didn’t have anything to do with AT&T’s products or services, it was a cool way to get people talking while they relaxed and charged their mobile devices.

Tags: advertising sxsw, OOH, out of home, out of home advertising, south by southwest, sxsw, sxsw advertising