The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade: Micro site and App. Pitch work

The brief was to enhance the user experience and maximize the enjoyment of the biggest Chinese New Year Parade outside of China. This was implemented in two stages. Pre event users access a micro site. This has everything they need to organize their night out. Access the site and they're flown over downtown San Francisco. The fly over comes to a rest and a graphic of the parade route is superimposed over the city. From here they can check out what restaurants, bars and shops are nearby. These are all linked into Yelp.com so they can browse customer reviews, see sample menus and even book online. They can also make travel arrangements and find out where the nearest parking or Bart station is. Once they've made plans, they can tell their Facebook or Twitter friends. Also for the event, they can download an app for their mobile device.

During the parade the app really enhances the user experience. As it rolls by, instead of just being a spectator, they can get a greater understanding of the history of this ancient and colorful event. Every float has an embedded chip, that relays relevant and interesting information relating to that float to their smart phone. Also an opportunity for the sponsors of that float to reach out with a friendly message. After the parade they can select from a number of icons to further enjoy their evening. Standard GPS technology will tell their phone the nearest bars, restaurants or taxi ranks if it's time to call it a night. Again linked up to Yelp.com and Google Maps, The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade app is the perfect concierge for their night out.

A unique set of icons designed for the Chinese New Year Parade. Used on the micro site and the app.