PBS
context
PBS came to us for creative support for a 20' × 20' branded activation at SXSW’s Congress Avenue Block Party, looking to create a memorable experience that would connect with the festival’s highly engaged, culture-driven audience. They brought us in to develop the creative concept and bring the experience to life—from the overarching idea and storytelling to the spatial layout, visual design, guest interaction, and branded takeaways.
interactive experience design | art direction | design brand activation | event | on-site creative direction
Featured in: TKTK
the ask
PBS was looking to create a high-impact brand experience on South Congress near the Capitol, with the goal of creating an experience that would feel meaningful and engaging within the festival environment. We were tasked with developing the concept, theme, spatial layout, visual identity, interactive experience, and physical takeaways from the ground up, while ensuring the activation felt authentic to PBS and relevant to a curious but highly overstimulated SXSW audience. We also needed to design the experience with flexibility and portability in mind, as the activation would be repurposed just a few weeks later for PBS’s annual meeting.
the solution
We rooted the concept in one of PBS’s most recognizable brand phrases, “Viewers Like You,” and gave it an unmistakably Austin twist: “Viewers Like Y’all.” The idea reframed the familiar tagline around the people themselves—because of viewers like y’all, PBS is what it is today—turning the audience from passive viewers into the heart of the brand story. From there, we transformed the 20' × 20' footprint into a participatory experience where guests stepped into the iconic PBS silhouette, received a Polaroid, personalized it with a handwritten message, and added it to a growing wall of faces that became a living portrait of the PBS community. The activation extended beyond the event through 4,000+ Polaroids, 1,040 T-shirts, and 1,800 posters. The captured content was also designed to become scalable digital assets for social, animation, and post-event storytelling, allowing a simple physical interaction to continue building the PBS narrative long after SXSW ended.
