Cheetos, Porsche, Meta and WarnerMedia show how brands do SXSW

If SXSW is known for anything, it’s the installations from the brands brave enough to engage with this all-too-cool crowd. But it turns out this crowd is not too cool for Cheetos, Batmobiles or neon sci-fi art projects. Here is a look at some of the most popular branded exhibits at this year’s SXSW in Austin, which ends March 20. Cheetos lair When people think of tech, they don’t usually think of Cheetos, but this is SXSW, so everything is tech-related, even cheesy snacks. One of the more popular exhibits at this year’s Austin festival was the “hands-free” Cheetos House, which saw throngs of people lining up to get in on Day One on Saturday, and the crowds kept coming throughout the weekend. “Our return to SXSW is super exciting for us as a brand,” said Melody Macaluso, marketing director at Cheetos, which is a part of PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division. Cheetos hadn’t been to SXSW in about five years, Macaluso said. There were hundreds of people waiting for the doors to open on Cheetos House on its first day. It turned out to be an artful exhibit of a mock pad for Chester Cheeto, where all the furniture was white, which makes it more difficult to eat Cheetos and touch anything. So, Cheetos highlighted hands-free tech powered by Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. The tech was, at points, a little impractical. There was a whole counter in the kitchen dedicated to a hands-free blender that only worked with Cheetos, turning them into mozzarella sticks, and then there was an automated step for baking them. The crowd was a mix of SXSW-goers and serious Cheetos fans. Busses full of “influencers” were hauled in to take the tour. “We just got the word out via social media,” Macaluso said. “We did a few out-of-home placements, and we have a moving truck [promoting the space.]"Also read: Cheetos' 'cheetle' featured in an Art Basel exhibit The hands-free house fits with Cheetos broader marketing push. Numerous ads revolve around a similar theme of what to do when your digits are crusted with the orange dust the brand affectionately calls "cheetle." Batman’s wonderful toys If anyone at SXSW passed by a lone person with a clipboard, standing outside an alleyway, they might have missed the Batmobile, because it was intentionally guarded. Warner Media’s DC kept this latest iteration of the Batmobile tucked away in a garage off off Lavaca Street in Downtown Austin, and let eight people in at a time. The car was one of a handful used in the filming of “The Batman,” the latest Caped Crusader movie, which stars Robert Pattinson. Related: Oreo serves up bat-embossed cookies in partnership with 'The Batman' The Batmobile exhibit was part of a series of programs that Warner Media hosted at its SXSW house at the Riley Building, from Friday through Sunday. Tweety, the Looney Tunes character celebrating 80 years in animation, was popular, too. The Warner Media House exterior was decked out with comic representations of DC characters like Peacemaker and Harley Quinn. Meta’s 9/11 doc Meta, the company that used to be Facebook, had an installation that featured a virtual reality documentary about 9/11 called “Surviving 9/11: 27 Hours Under the Rubble.” There were a lot of critics online saying the exhibit looked to be in poor taste with SXSW attendees putting on VR headsets to sit back and experience a version of 9/11. The exhibit showed the teaser poster for the VR documentary, with the famous photo of the lone steel shards of the Twin Towers, clouded in dust after the terrorist attack. “Look, if you're not going to SXSW to relive the horrors of 9/11 by putting on some VR glasses in a Meta booth for an immersive documentary viewing experience about surviving in rubble and ash, why are you even going?” one Twitter commenter said. So yes, Meta really has a “Surviving 9/11” experience at #SXSW. It’s quite popular. So many people have signed up that I had to be put on the waitlist. pic.twitter.com/jD7bJvzoZp— Ben Bergman (@thebenbergman) March 15, 2022 There have been VR advocates who encourage the exploration of immersive content as a way to give people a chance to see what it’s like to endure tragedies. The 9/11 documentary is about Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the last person found alive under the ruins at Ground Zero in 2001. Andy Stone, Meta’s policy communications director, responded to the Twitter criticism this week. “We think this is an important story to be told,” Stone said. “After surviving the collapse of the North Tower, Genelle Guzman-McMillan was the last person rescued at Ground Zero on September 11.” Spaced out Spatial opened a “holodeck” in the heart of Austin for what could best be described as a “trippy” experience. Spatial worked with Meow Wolf, the arts and entertainment company, to erect the installation. There were lines to get in until the closing bell for this exhibit, which featured David Cronenberg-style creatures, and “Dr. Who”-like art projects. The Spatial Holodeck had the feel of New Age, techno-futuristic happening, with neon lights and QR codes, which led people to more information about the tech. There was a tech component to all the madness. Spatial was promoting 3D soundscape powered by the Spatial Studio. The idea was to get creators to start thinking about immersive audio. More cars Cars had a place at SXSW with Porsche Unseen, showing off concept cars, like Sally Carrera, a character in Pixar’s “Cars.” The real-life version of the Sally car was auctioned for charity, to support Ukraine war causes and Girls Inc. There was also a version of the Porsche Formula 1 racing car the Vision Gran Turismo. Porsche Unseen was meant to show off how car engineers come up with concepts for cars, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. Meanwhile, Volkswagen showed off an electric bus at a small installation called the ID Buzz Stop. Volkswagen was demonstrating its new electric vehicle, VW ID5. It’s an electric version of the classic VW bus.

Cheetos, Porsche, Meta and WarnerMedia show how brands do SXSW

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