Submitted: The Two Sides Team March 14, 2013

The SXSW Interactive Festival describes itself as “an incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity,” and at the 20th annual show, Domtar Corporation unveiled a wireless venue that made people halt, spurred them to step inside and quickly became one of the most popular features: the Paper Hotspot.
March 14, 2013

via PRNewswire

The SXSW Interactive Festival
describes itself as “an incubator of cutting-edge technologies and
digital creativity,” and at the 20^th annual show, Domtar Corporation unveiled a wireless venue that made
people halt, spurred them to step inside and quickly became one of the
most popular features: the Paper Hotspot.

Here’s how it worked: In the middle of a tradeshow with flashing lights
and loud music to promote new websites, video games and startup ideas,
Domtar 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.

You can see a video of what the Paper Hotspot looked like as well people’s interactions with the space here.

“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 &
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.”

The Paper Hotspot comes as part of Domtar’s award-winning PAPERbecause campaign (www.paperbecause.com) that showcases the effectiveness and sustainability of paper. The
effort has featured a series of satirical videos about the exaggerated
pressures to go paperless at the office as well as in our day-to-day
lives. The New York Times recently wrote this article about the campaign’s latest batch of videos.

“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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