AUSTIN, Texas — Tech conference veterans call it Stuff We All Get, or SWAG. But a more accurate name might be Stuff We All Get — And Never Use.
Companies typically give swag away to media and other attendees. Socks, hats, T-shirts, ponchos — most of the freebies end up in the attic, if not the trash. But one tech company at SXSW has cleverly turned the custom on its head. In the process, they up with one of the most provocative innovations we've ever seen at the interactive festival.
See also: Startups to Watch at SXSWi 2014
Instead of adding to the pile of useless giveaways, a Palo Alto company called Medallia partnered up with the Austin-based Foundation for the Homeless to collect swag from conference attendees. Then they'll take those donations and give them to Austin's homeless.
The project isn't just a stunt. Volunteers say they collected 15 pounds of clothes on Saturday, their first day in front of the bustling Austin Convention Center. On Sunday, the swelling festival will likely only increase the rate of donations.
"People have been saying, 'Oh, let me run back to my hotel real quick!'" says Andrew Nunnelly, a staff writer at Medallia, which is a business-to-business software company. "People are loving it. One guy was like, 'I don't have any swag, but you can take my hat.'"
More than 2,300 people are homeless in Austin on any given night, according to the city website. Up to 50% of the city's chronically homeless population — those who have been homeless for at least a year or four times in the past three years — are considered at "high risk of imminent mortality."
Austin's homeless population has been a topic of conversation at SXSW before, most notably in 2012. That year, however, a startup's plan to outfit real people as so-called "Homeless Hotspot" for wifi access provoked a wave of controversy.
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