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SXSW INTERACTIVE 2014A FLEISHMANHILLARD REPORT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FleishmanHillard at SXSWi 2014

The FleishmanHillard black box Lounge

SXSWi 2014 By The Numbers

SXSWi 2014 Trends

SXSWi Proves Again that Wearable Tech is Here to Stay

Why You Should Care About Health Tech

Is Bitcoin the Currency of the Future?

Disrupt What, Exactly? SXSWi Highlights Digital Movements

Are you Cutting Big Data Down to Size?

Latino Impact at SXSWi 2014

Art + Science at SXSWi: Creating Compelling & Impactful Engagements

Gamers Remind Brands What Makes Great Community Management

Our #FHblackbox Team

Connect With Us

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FLEISHMANHILLARD At SXSWi 2014

THE FLEISHMANHILLARD BLACK BOX LOUNGE An official lounge during SXSW Interactive, the FleishmanHillard black box Lounge was powered by FleishmanHillard’s intelligent monitoring system. An interactive, portable, human-powered technology platform and content studio, the system integrates business data – including traditional, digital and social conversations – into real-time insight dashboards and visualizations. At SXSW, our system sifted through the vast amounts of data and conversation produced around the festival to surface the people, places and things most talked about and shared on social media. These insights informed our real-time content studio team, who created and published textual, visual and video content throughout the festival to help brands, attendees and more keep up with SXSW.

Here we’ve compiled these insights and top trends to highlight the best of SXSWi 2014 and what your brand should look out for in the year to come.

SXSW INTERACTIVE 2014The annual SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas is an incubator of cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity. The 2014 event featured five days of compelling presentations and panels from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer. From hands-on training to big-picture analysis of the future, SXSW Interactive is the place to preview the technology of tomorrow today.

ABOUT FLEISHMANHILLARDFleishmanHillard is the world’s most complete global communications firm, specializing in public relations, public affairs, marketing, paid media, and transmedia and social content. The agency delivers on the power of true, reflecting the firm’s high values and unique ability to guide clients through a world demanding unprecedented authenticity and transparency.

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THE FLEISHMANHILLARD black box Lounge

In its second year at SXSWi, the FH black box Lounge at the Four Seasons offered attendees the ability to view real-time insights via twelve data visualization screens featuring custom dashboards.

An evolution of its original setup during SXSWi 2013, this year’s lounge allowed visitors to personally interact with the black box through touchscreens and select a topic of interest, which then displayed a custom conversation dashboard.

Users also had the opportunity to download a copy of the dashboard to share with their own social networks via email or text.

This year, the FH black box lounge also partnered with AT&T, Bionym, Freshwire, Geofeedia, Outbrain and thismoment.

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SXSWi 2014 By The Numbers

WEARABLE TECHThroughout the week, wearable technology drove a steady stream of conversation as the industry continues to grow. From former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal’s session on monitoring tools’ health benefits to Francesca Rosella of Cute Circuits’ talk on wearables’ need to be fashionable as well as functional, we’ll be interested to see how brands continue to attract attention as they figure out how to harness this technology.

BITCOINDigital currency bitcoin also generated some notable buzz due to the installation of three local Bitcoin ATMs around downtown Austin. While consumer sentiment still shows sustained hesitance around the expansion and use of the currency, we identified notable discussion around its value and usage by many attendees.

This year, we took over SXSW to track all the top trends and social chatter, making big data small by analyzing brands, marketers, influencers and sessions making the biggest splash across the festival.

Despite the overwhelming nature of SXSW noise, we also used our data and insights to extract a number of popular themes.

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BRAND ACTIVATIONSLive activations also generated strong buzz volume. Those that featured celebrity guests and performers particularly drew fans across the web. From Lady Gaga’s show at the Doritos Bold Stage to Justin Bieber’s surprise performance, there was no shortage of celebrity influence across the city.

Brands themselves were also big trends throughout the week. Google took the top spot with 64,675 mentions thanks to Snowden’s Google+ hangout, increased use of Google Glass and the brand’s upcoming release of an Android-based software development kit for wearable devices also helped drive their success online. Other top brands included Samsung (supported by their sponsored concert featuring Jay Z and Kanye West), Game of Thrones and Apple iTunes.

PRIVACY & SECURITYAbove all, however, data security and privacy proved to be the number one global hot button issue that took over social chatter, in particular thanks to keynote sessions from Wikileaks’ Julian Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Both leading up to, during and following each of their two sessions, we saw high levels of social buzz around privacy and related topics, including the following around Snowden’s live Google Hangout:• In the hour leading up the session, all of the top 40

trending social topics related to his video talk• During the session just a half hour later, there were

more than 500 tweets related to #Snowden and #SXSnowden every minute

• 80,488 total mentions (the majority of which contained opinionated and polarizing views)

• The NSA drew 24,340 specific mentions

Privacy & Security Trends on March 7, 2014 at SXSWi.

Top Trending Brands on March 10, 2014 at SXSWi.

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSSXSWi Proves Again that Wearable Tech is Here to Stay

Wearable tech is a big buzzword in 2014, and this year’s SXSW certainly proved to be no exception. From data captured at our FH black box Lounge, we saw that wearable tech and devices trended throughout the festival, in particular when new products were debuted and sessions showcased related technology. Many brands at SXSW showcased the innovations and opportunities that this technology can bring to the consumer’s everyday life. While brands like Subway poked fun at some of the more ridiculous wearables, others used the emerging tech to create interactive experiences during the festival. Pepsi showed off a BIOReactive Experience in their lounge that includes a headset with a built-in brain-censor to detect your concentration force and allow you to pause a movable object if you can focus long enough. Meanwhile, former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal talked to a crowd to emphasize that wearable tech is here to help us improve our health and wellness, stating that his whole family uses fitness trackers to improve their daily habits and motivate them to stay active. Could there be a Shaq shoe debuting at next year’s festival? Though he remained silent, the athlete did announce that he wishes that technology debuting today existed when he was an active NBA player considering its benefits to his basketball game. Billie Whitehouse, co-founder of Wearable Experiments, also cited the benefits of wearables, telling us that her company “removes the screen as a distraction and gives the person their eyes back.” She demoed a sleek blazer that helps you with directions based on movement-censored GPS and haptic tech. Sound complicated? Think MapQuest meets J. Crew. Though all this tech sounds promising and helpful, could wearables just be yet another distraction? For many, the key is in the look. We talked to Francesca Rosella, Chief Creative Director of CuteCircuit, who believes that in order to help people out, wearables must also be fashionable.

Wearable tech has evolved into so much more than just activity trackers. We explored two pieces of wearable technology that elevate a user’s experience through technical innovation and fashion. These products focus on creating something that heightens an experience for a consumer while still looking beautiful.

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Video: SXSW 2014 Trends: Wearable Tech & Fashionhttp://y2u.be/CtFSAqUzpvg

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSWhy You Should Care About Health Tech

While at SXSW, we saw a ton of conversations on health tech. Everyone’s talking about wearables, the connected self, health tracking apps and even electronic medical records. When a topic spikes like that at SXSW, it basically becomes legitimized – see Twitter and real-time marketing – and people pay attention to the trend. But what we don’t talk about enough in these situations is why the trend exists. Back to the seeing is believing point. According to the Social Science Research Network, 65 percent of people are visual learners. And the idea of “being healthy” hasn’t exactly been easy to see in the past. We know we’re supposed to take care of ourselves. But the data behind being healthy wasn’t easily accessible. So people were left to come up with their own definitions. Today you can see good health everywhere you look. Your Fitbit tracks how many steps you take. Your friends post their Map My Run mile times on Facebook. Your doctor’s office sends you follow up emails recapping your appointment and gives you access to personal health data. Therein lies the opportunity in health tech and why everyone is talking about it. Competition. We’re a competitive society. And the access to all this data and tracking has gamified health care and made us see and believe. With healthier people, health care costs decrease. With healthier employees, companies have to pay less for care. Look for companies to ramp up the incentives they offer employees to use the data they now have access to. And watch for the social shaming that will take place for those who don’t jump on board. People’s appetite for health data and willingness to change behavior based on that data is the trend companies should be excited about and eager to invest in.

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Bitcoin was at the center of the digital currency conversation at SXSW 2014. And now, it’s not just available online. Three ATM’s have been installed in local establishments in Austin, Texas. We talked with the man that brought the ATMs to Austin and those working to bring the payment exchange to the forefront. Plus, this is just the beginning of the expansion of the currency for locals. Should consumers be hesitant to use it? Could someone survive on Bitcoin alone? Only time will tell.

Video: SXSW 2014 Trends: Bitcoinhttp://youtu.be/Lx4WO9FM4gg

Video: SXSW 2014 Trends: Bitcoin

SXSWi 2014 TRENDSIs Bitcoin the Currency of the Future?

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Bitcoin ATM in Austin, Texas

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSDisrupt What, Exactly? SXSWi Highlights Digital Movements

Just a few short years ago, we were captivated by the idea of technological “disruption” — our ability to use technology to battle entrenched norms and drive organizational change. Since then, we’ve come a long way: disruption is no longer just a tool for process improvement; it’s a global ideal that’s fueling political and social movements and has changed the way people are organizing online and off. This year’s SXSW Interactive Festival was keyed in on this shift and has opened its floor to a variety of discussions on the impact that disruption, particularly digital, has made in tackling today’s most pressing issues. Peter Ambler, former Deputy Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, spoke about the role digital disruption is playing in public perception of the U.S. gun control debate. He cited how a robust digital infrastructure coupled with targeted engagement drove voters to the polls in the recent Virginia gubernatorial election who were more than 10 times more responsive to their message than the average voter, resulting in the election of gun control supporters to all three top state posts. Similarly, Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action discussed how her organization — a digital network of concerned moms that’s driving lobbying efforts in support of sensible U.S. gun laws — is disrupting the NRA’s hold on the gun control conversation. On the global stage, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks described the Internet as having become a “…political space — the most important transition in the last decade.” When asked about why the NSA and western governments have been unable to control and frame perception around their surveillance efforts, he alluded to the disruptive nature of the Internet: the digital space allows us to “educate one another at unprecedented speeds” and organize against powers that have historically gone unchecked, a topic SXSW explored further with its much anticipated virtual conversation with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. So what does this mean for brands? While online activism remains a scary proposition for most, brands can still leverage the core principles that drive digital movements, including the importance of building advocacy and ambassador programs; targeting and engaging with consumers in a personal, relevant way; and inviting those same customers to be a part of authentic, brand-driven movements that have an impact beyond themselves.

Data and privacy was a hot topic at SXSW 2014. Consumers are becoming more concerned about the type of data that’s being collected from them. But, there are a lot of misconceptions about how it’s collected, and how it will affect the end user. The industry will continue to evolve, and brands will ultimately have to become more transparent about their efforts around collecting data.

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Video: SXSW 2014 Trends: Privacy & Transparencyhttp://youtu.be/X0wS3wGMGNo

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The concept of using big data to guide product road maps, create competitive advantage and inform content marketing isn’t new. In fact, big data itself is just a relatively new phrase to describe a concept and practice that has been in use for years. But now, are agencies and brands fully leveraging big data to create successful programs? The allure of big data is hard to overcome, but getting the most from consumer data is dependent on extracting truly usable pieces of small data to provide the insights needed to inform actions. Maria Bezaitis of Intel described, for example, that “big data has to become small to be relevant.” Distilling big data to its essence – small packets of personal data collected from consumers – is critical for identifying needs, interests and wants. It’s this use of small data in conjunction with experience and instinct that is used for predictive models, strategic optimizations or product design. Turning big data into small data is as easy as looking at existing, owned sources to distill the essence of consumer behaviors into trends and interests that are important to them. Chris Colborn of R/GA reminded us that insights must be provided from an objective viewpoint to discern real opportunities.

SXSWi 2014 TRENDSAre you Cutting Big Data Down to Size?

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSLatino Impact at SXSWi 2014

This year, we were excited not only to see a variety of brands and agencies tapping into the social savvy demographic, but also to see the diversity in the crowds that SXSW attracts overall. As the SXSW board has now launched their #SXAmericas division to attract US Hispanics and Latinos from around the world, could this be a popular trend at next year’s festival as it begins to catch on? No need to wait for 2015: Latinos definitely had an impact at this year’s festival thanks to some star power and engaging #SXSWLatino activity. Ranging from Rosario Dawson’s panel on #millenials to Selena Gomez surprise guest appearance with Justin Bieber and to Diego Luna’s new Cesar Chavez film premiere also starring Michael Peña and America Ferreira, the variety of Latino activity at SXSW was popular and wide-ranging.

Thanks to our #FHblackbox, we tracked the reach and impact that the Latino online conversations had at SXSW and how Hispanic celebrities in attendance helped amplify the overall SXSW buzz.

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSArt + Science at SXSWi: Creating Compelling & Impactful Engagements

SXSWi can be summed up as arguably the greatest coming-together of the sciences and arts — and for good reason. As MythBusters co-host and science educator Adam Savage said at his keynote, our society “sees both science and art as separate;” and yet Savage sums up this important relationship as “how we converse about who we are and what we’re doing.” This is what great brand engagement is all about.

So where can brands start? One place is the scientific method. Much like science, a brand engagement is also an experiment — an attempt to understand what resonates most with a target audience, then replicate it to grow and nurture a longterm relationship. Like science, every good engagement begins with a question or statement of intent. We then conduct background research (e.g., social audits, surveys, focus groups, etc.) and from there derive insights. The latter is essential before we can move on to the “art.” Eric Swayne, founder of DataNarrate and host of SXSWi panel Scientist to Storyteller: How to Narrate Data, emphasized the importance of owning insights as the key to clearly communicating data, simple or complex.

The “art” piece of the brand engagement process is one in which we’re all familiar, but is more complicated than we think. Once we have our insight, we need to create something — be it graphical, interactive or editorial — that illustrates the insight in the most memorable way possible. But like all art, what we create can often be interpreted (and sometimes misinterpreted) in a variety of ways. So we experiment with a variety of art forms to see what resonates most with our audience and what, ultimately, best conveys our insight. This process of testing, analyzing and optimizing is crucial to doing brand engagement right, and brings the art and science of brand engagement full circle. As SXSWi sessions like Crowdsourced Art: Activating the Creative Publics and Next Evolution in Communication have shown us, the artistic and scientific bars are being constantly raised by our own external audiences; consequently, our need to understand the art and science relationship has become even more crucial.

Instagram is a great medium for creators to deliver a specific narrative through a succinct message. Brands are increasingly working with popular content creators on Instagram to help tell their story. By working with these creators, they have instant access to a specific audience and aesthetic in order to create a dialogue about what they represent and a lifestyle that surrounds them.

Video: SXSW 2014 Trends: Visual Storytelling for Brandshttp://youtu.be/Xsmvw92TEn0

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SXSWi 2014 TRENDSGamers Remind Brands What Makes Great Community Management

When you think about gamers or gaming culture, you might think immediately of teenagers, Mountain Dew and stacks of empty pizza boxes. However, at its core, gaming culture has continued to build on fundamental community management principles, and despite ever increasing needs to collaborate with marketing, PR and product development, few game studios have strayed from the idea that communities will always remain the most important piece of their culture. For gaming communities, explosions in community growth, engagements and participation are closely linked to several basic principles of community management. • Focus on networks in which your fans congregate. Don’t

try to force communities to a specific network simply because your brand is more comfortable there.

• Recognize that people on different networks are

interested in and are looking for a variety of different types of content.

• Strive to make everyone in your community feel heard

and engage often. This becomes increasingly more important as your community grows.

• Remember that social communities are real people

talking to real people. Be transparent, authentic and let everyone know that his or her input is valuable.

• Deal with fan backlash through discussion and

acknowledgement. If your community is right, change or adapt. Again, transparency is key.

• Trust that community managers will develop effective messaging for your brand’s community. They are often the best positioned to understand a brand’s external voice, and can provide helpful input on the brand’s tone and persona.

As brands launch and scale communities in addition to working closely with other business units to create brand voice and related content, keeping these principles in mind will support your community managers while simultaneously keeping community members active and engaged.

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OUR #FHBLACKBOXTeam

Joel Anderson@JoelgAnderson

St. Louis

Steve Bauer@SteveBauer

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Alan Chumley@alanchumley

Dallas

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Don Moxley@donmoxSt. Louis

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Meg Poulelis@megpoulelis

Chicago

Nikki RodiriguezWashington, D.C.

Jerry Vallely@JerryVallely

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Jake Rosen@JakeRosen

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Michelle Goodwin@_mymichelle

Boston

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Chicago

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Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C.

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