The Best App Marketing Happening at SXSW 2016

Editor’s Note: Appboy’s Director of Business Development, Dave Goldstein, joined the 72,000 people at SXSW and documented the apps he used most while in Austin, the brands that impressed him most, and the app marketing that stood out from the crowd. Take it away, Dave!

I was mobile all day, every day, and so was everyone else at SXSW. Folks in Austin were walking around with heads down in their mobile devices.

If you’re a newer app trying to get some traction in Austin, gimmicky street teams tend to be the way to make a splash (check out an example in the slides below).

If you’re a more established business with an app, I imagine some proactive marketing via push, email, and/or in-app messaging would help you to be top of mind at SXSW.

Apps that capture location should be targeting every person in Austin for the week of SXSW and run creative marketing programs around the event (like we saw with Lyft Weird).

Most importantly, your app better be in great working shape that week, as apps providing a poor experience will be easily cast aside in favor of an app with a smoother experience. One thing is for sure: people talk at SXSW, and that talk (good or bad) will be amplified.

These are the apps I used during my trip, the experiences and marketing that got my attention, and my own best of SXSW awards: