In the middle of a tradeshow with flashing lights and loud music to promote new websites, video games and startup ideas, Domtar set up a wireless venue that made people halt, spurred them to step inside and quickly became one of the most…
In the middle of a tradeshow with flashing lights and loud music to promote new websites, video games and startup ideas, Domtar set up a wireless venue that made people halt, spurred them to step inside and quickly became one of the most popular features: the Paper Hotspot.
The SXSW Interactive Festival describes itself as “an incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity.” This is where Domtar chose to set up the Paper Hotspot as an oasis. It had comfy couches, a rug, a fireplace and bookshelves filled with books, magazines and sketchpads. People were encouraged to unplug for a moment, to sit down and interact with paper, which some of them did for as long as 30 minutes.
“We wanted to be at South by Southwest, because that’s where you always see some of the most creative ideas from some of the sharpest minds, and it was interesting to see how people responded to the Paper Hotspot,” said Paige Goff, Domtar’s vice-president of sustainable business and brand management. “No matter what people were working on, and no matter how fast they were working, this reinforced the studies that show whether you’re an executive or a millennial, people prefer to read on paper and it’s faster to read on paper.”
You can see a video of what the Paper Hotspot looked like as well people’s interactions with the space here.
The Paper Hotspot is part of Domtar’s PAPERbecause campaign (www.paperbecause.com) that showcases the effectiveness and sustainability of paper. “We thought the Paper Hotspot would be a fun, new way to highlight a key message,” Goff said. “Even after 2,000 years, paper has a place, even more so in a digital age — it remains a purposeful, personal and environmentally responsible communication medium.”
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