Texas A&M’s takeover of Austin-Bergstrom Airport features more than 70 digital and print ads and runs through March 24.
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Texas A&M Takes Over Austin-Bergstrom Airport

Texas A&M kicked off its presence at SXSW Interactive Festival early with an ad takeover of Austin-Bergstrom Airport.
By Sam Peshek, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications February 26, 2019

SXSW attendees from around the world will be greeted with a splash of Aggie maroon when they land in Austin-Bergstrom Airport as Texas A&M University gears up for its March 10-12 return to the interactive festival.

Texas A&M’s takeover, which features more than 70 digital and print installations throughout Austin-Bergstrom, runs from Feb. 25 to March 24.

The City of Austin reported that Austin-Bergstrom’s total passenger traffic for March 2018 reached more than 1.3 million, a 13 percent increase from March 2017. Total enplanements for March 2018 reached more than 640,000, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

Amy B. Smith, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing & Communications Officer in the Texas A&M Division of Marketing & Communications, said the takeover will showcase the university’s research and ingenuity, and hopefully leave a lasting impression on many of the 280,000 people expected to travel to Austin this year for SXSW.

“The airport takeover is an exciting way for us to share with not only Texans, but national and international visitors, just how proud we are of our university, while showcasing our ideas and innovations, and inviting them to visit us at SXSW,” Smith said. “It seems especially apropos since Austin-Bergstrom is named for an Aggie: Air Force Captain John August Earl Bergstrom, Class of 1929. We think he would get a kick out of seeing his alma mater represented at the Austin airport.”

Texas A&M announced earlier this month that it would return to SXSW for its third year to host three days of interactive experiences at Texas A&M [Power] House March 10-12 at Flemings in downtown Austin.

Panel programming at SXSW features guests that include Army Futures Command, Pixar Animation Studios, EA BioWare, PepsiCo and Verily.

  • Reimagining Public & Private Partnerships – Monday, March 11 at 11 a.m.
  • World-Building Creativity & Technology– Monday, March 11 at 3:30 p.m.
  • Brand Masters On Building The Brand– Tuesday, March 12 at 11 a.m.
  • Plugging Into Rural Healthcare Solutions– Tuesday, March 12 at 3:30 p.m.

Additional details about Texas A&M programming at SXSW is available at sxsw.tamu.edu.

Funding for Texas A&M at SXSW was made possible through brand licensing revenues, without the use of tuition dollars.

Media contact: Sam Peshek, 979-845-4680, sam.peshek@tamu.edu.

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