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In a sea of waste-heavy and formulaic activations at South by Southwest (SXSW), The Delta Lounge—one of the 2024 festival’s buzziest experiential marketing installations—aimed to buck some of the trends that have shaped brand activity at the event in recent years.
With its focus on delivering a luxury experience to all SkyMiles members, new and old, and opting for a more sustainable version of what’s become a cookie-cutter model for in-person brand activity, Delta Air Lines drew thousands of visitors to its five-day activation in downtown Austin, Texas.
While it represents a small step toward true sustainability—trailblazers like San Francisco’s Outside Lands are light-years ahead—the popularity of The Delta Lounge demonstrates that people are craving a shift away from the status quo, both in terms of sustainability and brand experience.
“If we’re going to be anywhere, then it has to be really meaningful, and it has to be very connected,” chief marketing officer Alicia Tillman told ADWEEK at The Delta Lounge. “If we can put ourselves in all of these different moments, then you start to see Delta as much more of a lifestyle brand than primarily as a company that just gets you from point A to point B.”
The plastic-wrapped status quo
Over the past several years, a formula has emerged for experiential marketing at SXSW. A brand will take over a bar, restaurant or hotel, building out the space with on-theme colors, props and a few simple, interactive games. Contractors sling swag and drinks in disposable cups, aiming to get branded, short-lived, often plastic handouts into as many hands as possible.
There are endless sustainability concerns associated with this model, from the disposable cups to the structures built to last only two or three days of the annual, 37-year-old event. After one brand is done, dumpsters roll up to gobble up the used materials, and the next brand gets to work covering the space with its own mascots, imagery, swag and activities.
It must be acknowledged that although Delta has promised to reach net zero emissions by 2050, it is still an airline that requires jet fuel to power its planes, resulting in 43 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2022.