While 26,000 attended the 2012 SXSW conference, many more were unable to make it. We saw this as an opportunity to design the Proxybot, the first robot to stream live video for 12 hours/day of the SXSW experience. We built a site to house the video stream, updates and conversation in real time.

Then we called for controllers to dictate the Proxybot’s actions and location via Twitter, virtually attending panels, parties and more. In less than 3 weeks total we had a Proxybot on the ground in Austin, controllers lined up and a worldwide audience following along online.

In just 5 days, the Proxybot racked up 2,400+ mentions on Twitter, appeared in blogs from New York to Japan and was interviewed on television and radio, resulting in 16m impressions. For 4 out of 5 days, it was the most talked about agency promotion.

LiveStream reports viewers from around the world tuned in, many for hours at a time. Our controllers were grateful to be able to attend the conference from afar, catching panels and asking questions they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Ultimately, the Proxybot successfully turned the interactive conference into an interactive experience.