Google is well known for attending events and having quite outlandish stands; their Mobile World Congress stands used to reign supreme with an Android themed slide, but they pulled their MWC stand of late. The outlandish stands are back though, with the Google Store intending to have a giant bubble-booth/Claw Machine at pop-culture and entertainment event South-by-Southwest (SXSW) which starts later this week.
The South by Southwest festival is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music events held in Austin Texas in the US. Google has been attending the festival in some capacity for the last several years with Sundar Pichai even the subject of interviews on-stage. This year, there will be a focus on the Google Store.
The I’m Feeling Lucky – presented by Google Store @ SXSW event has shown up on Google+, running from Friday, 11th of March,until Tuesday, 15 March and looks like there will be some giveaways that include Nexus devices, Chromecasts, Android Wear and well, who knows?
The description for the event says:
Feeling lucky?
We’ve got something big in store for SXSW this year. For the first time ever, we are launching “I’m Feeling Lucky” Experience presented by Google Store! Test your luck (and skills) on the claw machine to win Google Store products including Chromecast, Android Wear, or even a shiny new Nexus!
Step into our bubble-booth and snag a selfie inside the claw machine itself! And don’t forget to share your experience using #GoogleStoreClaw .
Not at SXSW? You can still get in on the action online. Follow @GoogleStore on Twitter during SXSW to learn how you can participate in the “I’m Feeling Lucky” Experience with the claw machine from your computer. Simply follow the instructions on Twitter and we’ll use Periscope to live-stream your submissions every day at 7:30pm CST through @GoogleStore- and you might just clench a Chromebook!
Google Store is the new online destination for Google devices and accessories. Buy Chromecast, Android phones, tablets, Chromebooks, Android Wear and more.
As above, there will be giveaways on Twitter and while it doesn’t say it’s US only, the majority of Google’s online social media promotions are invariably US-only. There doesn’t appear to be any terms and conditions attached to the event but we can remain hopeful it will be an international giveaway but remain skeptical. We’ve reached out to Google to see if they can enlighten us.