Nat Wittstruck
Senior Creative Director
March 2016 /// Vince Young Steakhouse /// Austin, TX
In March 2016, the city of Austin was once again transformed by brand activations during SXSW Interactive. One of the most impactful, hosting over 9k attendees and generating 35.6M tweets, was also one of the most unexpected: IBM.
Through strategic guidance of our client, IBM left the tradeshow floor of years past, in favor of executing a full venue takeover which transformed the Vince Young Steakhouse into the IBM Cognitive Studio.
For 5 days. IBM repositioned itself with SXSW badge holders, youthful developers, c-level professionals, and the public at large. With a vast host of solutions and offerings to share, success at Austin's social-sharing festival relied on telling a singular IBM story: Welcome to the Cognitive Era.
The attendee journey began by reimagining the ever persistent lines at SXSW. We engaged the wait by registering attendees via tablets with staff staggered throughout the line. This yielded audience capture with effortless, elegant profiling, which was palatable through whimsical questions rather than cold data fields. This data was paired with individualized NFC wristbands that granted guests entry and fueled the pervasive, personalized engagements they would encounter inside the Cognitive Studio.
Entering the space, guests were greeted by not only Austin's iconic Longhorn bull but IBM's cognitive robot Pepper. Whether engaging in conversation or simply snapping a robo-selfie, Pepper's welcome wagon reverberated throughout social media.
On the porch, guests found VR biking stations, where their profile drove a recommendation for one of three bike vignettes: City, Trail, or Pro. Using 4D VR, we told the story of David Hasse, a professional cyclist who uses Watson to coach him during his Race Across America. By analyzing live biometrics, landscape typography, and weather tracking data, IBM Watson advises our rider on pace, course and daily goals to maximize racing efficiency. This physical challenge was felt by attendees as flywheels provided resistance in parallel to the rider's progress along their virtual ride. In the VR HUD, Watson prompted riders to change speed and direction to maximize their riding experience and complete the virtual course.
Continuing the personalized experience, guests thronged the Cognitive Cocktail Bar where libations were selected based on the individual’s profiles rather than their orders. As guests approached the bar, they had only to tap their NFC wristbands to trigger Chef Watson to recommend a cognitive cocktail of choice. As free drinks are expected at SXSW, our cognitive experience resonated with guests evidenced by social streams awash with photos of the entire experience: Wristband + Scanner = Cocktail.
Deeper inside guests were encouraged to lend their voice by the analog interaction of pen to paper. With a series of prompts ("Cognitive is...", "Weather can be...") guests filled in responses and pinned their cards on the perception wall. From their, local artists Mollie Tuggle and Sophie Roach selected guest responses and translated them into paint and brush stroke, filling a massive, 24'x15' mural that evolved and was completed over the 5-day event.
Capitalizing on taking over a restaurant, IBM staged a Cognitive Cook-off between the steakhouse's Chef Phil Brown vs Chef Watson. With a film crew in the kitchen, the cook-off was live-streamed to all the monitors in the Cognitive Studio, while the recipes became grab-n-go tacos served to all guests.
In the Dev Playground, guests experienced Watson’s AI through accessible, analog experiences. Guests were invited to battle in Rock Paper Scissors against IBM’s Marvin robot, who uses Watson to analyze, predict and ultimately defeat all opponents. Guests were also enticed to don a brainwave scanner, to drive Bluetooth BB-8 droids. Touch tables continued the personalized experience, with guests swiping wristbands to showcase IBM apps filtered w personalized content, and push-to-mail, opt-in content.
The IBM Cognitive Studio was a sea change event for IBM whose robust offerings were not only told succinctly but resonated holistically with attendees and media alike. Medium's John Battelle writes: "I’ve been wary of marketing’s increasingly strong grip on SXSW, but kudos to IBM for creating a place that everyone I spoke to felt added true value to the event. I hope many more take a cue from Big Blue at SXSW next year."