Great marketing initiatives at SXSW

The South By South West (SXSW) conference is full of interesting marketing initiatives. Here are some of my favorite initiatives from this year:

LEGO MINDSTORMS Hackathon.
You take a LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot and then you hack it! At the MINDSTORMS hackathon you build a robot and steer it with your android tablet on a obstacle course. For the second time Google and LEGO MINDSTORMS had a hackathon at SXSW and it was a huge success again this year. Google had literally rented a whole street where all the fun was going down and the Hackathon was held at a packed Developers House. The hackathon was live-streamed on Youtube and had over a million viewers at one time. Check out the event in Wired Geekdad.

LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots getting built

Hootsuite bus
We've all seen a bus wrapped in foil advertising something, but the Hootsuite shuttle bus was something special. Check it out - what a awesome creation. Out of the box! ... Yes, that a huge own on top of the bus!

 

Amex discounts
Who doesn't like a good discount? I most certainly do and I had plenty of opportunities to get 10 % off my purchases at the shops in Austin during SXSWi. Amex promoted their new Twitter-based discount program by giving 10 percent off in local shops when using an American Express card. Furthermore Jay-Z performed for all American Express holders with a SXSW Badge - unfortunately I did not hear about this event in time to get a ticket - that would've been sweet!