As we wander around Austin during SXSW we love to spot unique marketing stunts brands activate. One such stunt comes to us courtesy of Syfy Channel. Reacting (in a way) to the lack of housing available during SXSW, the cable channel erected a pop-up hotel. Constructed out of containers (those big ones you see on ships and behind 18 wheelers), the “hotel rooms” were decked out in as posh-like a manner as is possible with, well, a metal container.
Located on San Jacinto and 4th Street, the pop-up hotel was called Defiance Cntainer Village and was created to promote the channel’s upcoming futuristic drama Defiance debuting April 15. It’s the first time Syfy has had a presence at SXSW.
The hotel, which did not charge guests to stay, included blogger Curt Johnson, Defiance actor Jessie Rath and Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici. Rooms were not available until around March 10, at which time SXSW had already began and most people would have already found a place to stay. So it wasn’t exactly a solution to the housing crunch but, hey, it’s just a marketing stunt after all so we won’t hold it against them.
