SXSW 2012 Recap with Notes

FRIDAY 03.30.12

with Mark Silva, Brian Brown & Kyle Studstill of ANTHEM Digital

Emerging Platforms & Brand Strategies

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Proprietary and Confidential ©2011 ANTHEM! World Wide, Inc. All Rights Reserved

OUR FOCUS AT SXSW★What were the themes of interest developing in the SXSW

community?★What was our impressions of the overall culture? ★What were the emerging apps & platforms? ★What were brands & agencies doing?

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SO WHAT KEY THEMES HAVE SURFACED?

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THEME:THE “EVENT” IS MORE AROUND THE CONFERENCE THAN INSIDE

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COMPELLING KEYNOTES

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EXHIBITS

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LINES EVERYWHERE

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THEME:HOSPITALITY

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PARTIES - DONE RIGHT AND WRONG

Seemed like every agency and brand at SXSW threw a party, and so many of them seemed exactly the same. RSVP lists you could ignore, rented a bars, free weak drinks, and bad house music.

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ALL HAT (NO BULL)

But a few stood out. In it’s fourth year an intimate gathering that started as a casual meetup to get away from the growing SXSW crowds, “All Hat, No Bull” has become a super-connector shindig. David Armano, Frank Binhammer, Mark Drosos, Geoff Livingston and Jeremiah Owyang are chief instigators for this low key, high social currency event. Along with top executives from A-B, Citibank, Dell, GM, The Home Depot and other leading companies are a mixture of thought leaders, dreamers, social media evangelists, agency folk and entrepreneurs of all walks and regions. True to its roots, this event stays low-to-no-bull even with a high-profile Chevy sponsorship.

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BARBARIAN GROUP + TUMBLR

Key learning, if you are a brand or an agency trying to get noticed at SXSW, and you are going to throw a party, do something different. Ex: Barbarian Group and Tumblr Robotrip party. No RSVP, lines around the block 2 hours before doors opened, 2 venues, 2000 people + 16 bands came out to equal one pretty large evening.

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THEME:START-UPS EVERYWHERE FROM EVERYWHERE

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STARTUP AMERICA SETS UP SHOPhttp://www.s.co/content/top-five-reasons-startup-america-live-sxsw-2012-rocked

We have a bias from the Valley that StartUps outside of SF Bay Area are rare and challenged because they don’t benefit from similar culture & ecosystem that exists here. StartUp America is working hard to support broader startup activity everywhere. At SXSW they hosted a lounge where many entrepreneurs, Angels, VCs & media set up shop. They had pitch-offs, brainstorms, office hours and more. Really inspiring to see the innovation and energy at work.

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THEME:UTILITY FOR SELF PROMOTIONBRANDS & AGENCIES

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SHUTTLES

One way that agencies and brands shined at SXSW was by providing a service, rising above the expected.

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RIDES

With “Catch a Chevy” attendees where able to grab a free ride around Austin during the conference, charge their phones on the way and enter for a chance to win one of the vehicles. They also got a lot of people checking out the cars, as though it was a mobile showroom

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FOOD DELIVERY

Uber, the on-demand transportation service, expanded their service from taxi to pedicabs--a popular way to get around Austin--at last year’s SXSW. This year, they expanded to deliver BBQ from Ironworks. Great idea because days can run past you in the content & event-packed days and before you know it, late afternoon has crept up on you without having anything to eat. We found this and ordered BBQ for the team, which was delivered in the rain in <2 minutes. Great value and worth talking about and sharing on social media.

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CHARGING STATIONS

Special FedEx jackets were equipped with portable battery packs woven through the arms and back. These "power couriers" had a constant crowd around them, both of onlookers and those living by the SXSW motto “Always Be Charging.”

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RAINY DAYS, PONCHOS & UMBRELLAS

It rained, a lot during the first two days. Brands like Fandango and GroupMe were able to respond rapidly by providing branded rain gear. Kraft Mac and Cheese had umbrellas made that read “don’t get your noodle wet.”

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BRANDED FOOD TRUCKS

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MORE BRANDED TRUCKS

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FOOD + TECH

An inaugural gathering of food+technology folks working together to unite multitudes of diverse and disconnected data for better understanding and quantification of our selves and our food supply. Props to @foodtree for bringing this to our attention

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THEME:SERENDIPITY, JOY, AND WONDER

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SOCIAL DISCOVERY

Maps show us Points or Places of Interest. Highlight sought to bring us People of Interest. The knock on this app--beyond discussion of “creepy factor” with proximity awareness--was that it drained even the most miserly of Smartphone batteries in minutes.

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Audience ShowcaseAUDIENCE SHOWCASE

Skype's "Be Human" event made the audience an active part of the live-band performances, setting up photobooth-like backdrops for attendees to dance in front of. Live video feeds brought the audience dancers onto the stage in large screens above the performers. 

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FROM “POST-DIGITAL” TO “RE-PHYSICAL”

"Materiality" was a recurring term, pointing to a refocusing on physical objects - and how they’re a part of the digital world. The left frame is Sphero--http://gosphero.com--the imaginative RC robotic orb you drive w/any of 5 different iphone/ipad apps. Upper right is an instagram photo printer and below that the Makerbots.

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CRITERION 4SQUARE SCAVENGER HUNT

Foursquare scavenger hunts aren’t a new thing, but Criterion really did on right at SX this year by hiding their DVD’s and Bluerays at Austin points of interest that could be overlooked, or off the beaten path.

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THEME:BEHAVIOR HACKING

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http://ogilvynotes.com/49790/453473/sxsw-2012/wireless-wellness-app-tastic-or-just-fun-games

A large number of panels and conversations were concerned with how to design systems that inspired better, healthier behavior. 

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real-life plus digitalREAL-LIFE PLUS DIGITAL

Nike's outdoor setup featured basketball courts, skateboard ramps, and other accommodations for physical activity, letting people see Nike's activity-tracking FuelBand in action.

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VISUALIZING AUDIENCE ENTHUSIASM

A second Nike space hosted live bands; during one set specially modified FuelBands were worn by attendees, able to sync the activity levels in real-time. These levels were then visualized on the face of a nearby building, which went from red to green as the performance attendees got more energetic. 

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THEME:BRANDS COMING ALIVE THROUGH CONTENT AND STORY

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OGILVY NOTES

Ogilvy continued a second year with the illustrators at ImageThink to bring talks to life through visually sketched notes. These were drawn live as the presenter or panelists were on stage, and displayed on exit as the audience left the auditorium. 

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#I JUST PLANTED A TREE

#IJustPlantedATree was a social campaign by Nokia to restore Austin’s trees after devastating wild fires swept through the city in September 2011. One of the most tweeted hashtags as all of SXSWi; top trending Twitter hashtag in Austin, SF & Nationwide. Proves newcomers can still breakthrough.

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DIGITAL-TO-PHYSICAL STORYTELLING

Skype got a small bit of attention through their "town crier," reading tweets sent to Skype's hashtag out loud to the public. Experiments like this can go over well in some cases, and can be found lacking in others - in spite of the intentions this one left passersby feeling like it was more of a stunt. 

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DIY STUDIOS

GE's told the story of their charge to bring imagination to life with the DIY Garages. After signing a safety waiver attendees could participate in workshops featuring MakerBots, laser cutters, and even welding equipment to put together various self-made objects. 

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BBH HOMELESS HOTSPOTS

BBH gave portable wifi transmitters to people without homes in Austin, so that attendees could connect at the price of a donation. This later became a point of controversy, raising a discussion around the dehumanization of the homeless population. 

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INSTANT DISCOUNTS

American Express revealed a new integration with twitter during SXSW, allowing cardholders to sync their twitter with their AmEx accounts. Once synced, tweeting particular hashtags results in a discount on the next purchase at the related merchant. 

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HANDS-ON DEMOS

The Nokia Labs location was the most visually intriguing, brought up in conversation not only among attendees but remarked upon by taxi drivers and others from Austin at large. Inside were very hands-on demonstrations of the technology in Nokia's phones, a stage for performances and areas for table-top games like four-way pingpong and “Sauna Confessionals.”

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THEME:MATURATION

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FROM T-SHIRTS TO SUITS

A lot more sales guys showing up displacing some of the doers. Bruce Sterling in his Keynote remarked that interactive attendees are now the better dressed, instead of the musicians - trying to live up to their well designed products and services.

The new types of attendees joining SXSW were reflected in the trade show floors, where a more international presence was starting to emerge. 

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderrea/6846735256/sizes/l/in/photostream/

COLLABORATIVE WORK MODELS & SPACES

The future of work was a question that appeared in a good number of panel topics. We saw the refinement of collaborative business models and spaces, exemplified by Grinds' pop-up office building.

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HOLISTIC APPROACHES TO MOBILE PAYMENTS

The mobile wallet concept has been bubbling around in conversations and attempted in startups for a couple of years now, but companies like Isis are emerging with holistic models that account for not only NFC payment technology but account management, merchant relations, and phone/network compatibility. 

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DEVELOPING IDEAS IN TRANSMEDIA

Transmedia and social content were frequent themes in panel topics. The speakers and presentations in general pointed to how the thinking around content in a digital, connected world is evolving, with content models becoming more refined. 

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THANKS!

FOR MORE, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER:

@ANTHEMWW@DRATSUM@KYLECAMERON@MARKSILVA

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