 Hi, I'm Emily Yoshida. I'm the entertainment editor at The Verge, and I am at South by Southwest. Most people think of South by Southwest as a three-tiered festival. You've got film, you've got music, you've got interactive. But the glue, the special sauce that holds it all together, that nobody quite gives enough credit, is brands. So, while as entertainment editor, I'm mostly out here to check out the best film and music the universe has to offer, I also can't help but be curious about these brand activations. I want to see how detailed they are. I want to see how they're engaging with us socially. I want to see what kind of stuff they're giving out. And, you know, I just want to see what a brand activation is and how I, myself, can get activated into the den of brands. Brands. When I walked into South by Southwest, it was pretty much in what you might call an event space or an art space. Just sort of an empty hall that maybe one might have a bat mitzvah in. For the most part, it looked a little bit slapped together. I wasn't too impressed by the optics at this activation. But considering that there was a vending machine that basically forced me to tweet hashtag Game of Thrones so that I could get a prize, I mean, they did a pretty good job of making sure that some kind of social action came out of this activation. The prize ended up being a pretty crappy iPhone 6 case, which I just pawned off on Brian Bishop and he promptly lost. So to wrap up, Game of Thrones South by Southwest shows. Not my favorite activation here. Didn't get too activated, except when I was actually forced to tweet something in order to get not the best prize in the world. It was sort of hard to explain, a little abstract with the interactive sword game. I'm going to give this one a pass. Ready to get out of here? Yeah. Sorry. Done. Can you tell me what a brand activation is? A brand activation? Brand activation? Oh, no bad! Brand activation, get it started, get it going, let people know. I don't know, introducing a new brand into the market by giving it to consumers? I don't know. Brands. So I walked into this booth, and it wasn't really clear exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I got a few prompts with some vague questions about what I would like to see in the future of music festivals. And then suddenly, my picture came up on it and I was supposed to record a message. A message about what? I'm not really sure. Wait, what am I supposed to do? Yo, music festivals. Maybe you're supposed to confess. Let's be real, I'm not even going to bother to critique this one. It was a disaster. I did not know what I was supposed to be doing there. This was a massive fail. I have no idea what just happened. That's it. Can you tell me what a brand activation is? A brand activation? What do you think it is? It sounds like something that, I don't know, it sounds like... So can you tell me about brand activation? Brands. So that's to say I've been a little bit disappointed by the brand activations at South By so far this year. Haven't felt very activated to be honest. But I got an invitation tonight to stay at the Bates Motel, which of course is famous from the A&E television show, Bates Motel. And this is my hotel for the night. What the f***? This is the most activated I have felt the entire time I've been at South By Southwest. This is the gold standard of brand activation here at South By Southwest. Okay, it's a freaking motel room. Okay, there's like an actual bed, a crappy fan in the corner, artwork, everything that you would find in a real motel is here. Look at all this stuff they gave me. I got an Italy espresso. I got a brownie of some sort. I got hot sauce. I've got a hot sauce. I've got so much vodka. So we've seen a lot of brands here at South By Southwest try and fail to get activated. Seen a lot of different methodologies, different philosophies of activation. And I think that there's one thing that we can learn from the Bates Motel activation provided by A&E is that it's really not that hard. All you have to do is give people a place to sleep. Let people sleep in your brand. People love to sleep. Speaking of, it's been a long day. I need to get some shut eye, catch up on some work. So other brands, take note. I'm about to get activated.
 Hi, I'm Emily Yoshida.
 I'm the entertainment editor at The Verge,
 and I am at South by Southwest.
 Most people think of South by Southwest
 as a three-tiered festival.
 You've got film, you've got music,
 you've got interactive.
 But the glue, the special sauce
 that holds it all together,
 that nobody quite gives enough credit,
 is brands.
 So, while as entertainment editor,
 I'm mostly out here to check out
 the best film and music
 the universe has to offer,
 I also can't help but be curious
 about these brand activations.
 I want to see how detailed they are.
 I want to see how they're engaging with us socially.
 I want to see what kind of stuff they're giving out.
 And, you know, I just want to see
 what a brand activation is
 and how I, myself, can get activated
 into the den of brands.
 Brands.
 When I walked into South by Southwest,
 it was pretty much in
 what you might call an event space
 or an art space.
 Just sort of an empty hall
 that maybe one might have a bat mitzvah in.
 For the most part, it looked a little bit slapped together.
 I wasn't too impressed by the optics
 at this activation.
 But considering that there was a vending machine
 that basically forced me to tweet
 hashtag Game of Thrones
 so that I could get a prize,
 I mean, they did a pretty good job of making sure
 that some kind of social action came out of this activation.
 The prize ended up being
 a pretty crappy iPhone 6 case,
 which I just pawned off on Brian Bishop
 and he promptly lost.
 So to wrap up,
 Game of Thrones South by Southwest shows.
 Not my favorite activation here.
 Didn't get too activated,
 except when I was actually forced to tweet something
 in order to get not the best prize in the world.
 It was sort of hard to explain,
 a little abstract with the interactive sword game.
 I'm going to give this one a pass.
 Ready to get out of here?
 Yeah.
 Sorry.
 Done.
 Can you tell me what a brand activation is?
 A brand activation?
 Brand activation?
 Oh, no bad!
 Brand activation, get it started, get it going, let people know.
 I don't know, introducing a new brand into the market
 by giving it to consumers?
 I don't know.
 Brands.
 So I walked into this booth,
 and it wasn't really clear exactly what I was supposed to be doing.
 I got a few prompts with some vague questions
 about what I would like to see in the future of music festivals.
 And then suddenly, my picture came up on it
 and I was supposed to record a message.
 A message about what?
 I'm not really sure.
 Wait, what am I supposed to do?
 Yo, music festivals.
 Maybe you're supposed to confess.
 Let's be real,
 I'm not even going to bother to critique this one.
 It was a disaster.
 I did not know what I was supposed to be doing there.
 This was a massive fail.
 I have no idea what just happened.
 That's it.
 Can you tell me what a brand activation is?
 A brand activation?
 What do you think it is?
 It sounds like something that, I don't know, it sounds like...
 So can you tell me about brand activation?
 Brands.
 So that's to say I've been a little bit disappointed
 by the brand activations at South By so far this year.
 Haven't felt very activated to be honest.
 But I got an invitation tonight to stay at the Bates Motel,
 which of course is famous from the A&E television show, Bates Motel.
 And this is my hotel for the night.
 What the f***?
 This is the most activated I have felt the entire time I've been at South By Southwest.
 This is the gold standard of brand activation here at South By Southwest.
 Okay, it's a freaking motel room.
 Okay, there's like an actual bed, a crappy fan in the corner,
 artwork, everything that you would find in a real motel is here.
 Look at all this stuff they gave me.
 I got an Italy espresso.
 I got a brownie of some sort.
 I got hot sauce.
 I've got a hot sauce.
 I've got so much vodka.
 So we've seen a lot of brands here at South By Southwest try and fail to get activated.
 Seen a lot of different methodologies, different philosophies of activation.
 And I think that there's one thing that we can learn from the Bates Motel
 activation provided by A&E is that it's really not that hard.
 All you have to do is give people a place to sleep.
 Let people sleep in your brand.
 People love to sleep.
 Speaking of, it's been a long day.
 I need to get some shut eye, catch up on some work.
 So other brands, take note.
 I'm about to get activated.