As with the whole conference Monday’s sessions really mixed insights and entertainment on topics such as content generation, digital place-based ads and the convergence of science and art.

Our first session featured Birchbox’ Molly Chen and Outbrain’s Jeff Pyatt talking about not only the importance of content but tips and tricks to draw readers in.

Chen runs Birchbox’ content development, a company that values content so much their first hire was an editor (they’ve since added 18 people to their editorial team). Creating content for their consumers – who she also calls readers – isn’t just about profiling the brand, but also delivering informative and timely posts their audience loves. She broke down the “secret sauce” Birchbox uses including a checklist that every post has to meet before going live – an always-needed call to action.

Outbrain’s Pyatt then talked about how brands are using their platform to take quality content and amplify it to even more readers. Outbrain’s premise is simple – deliver relevant content to readers who are already consuming content. He also touched on ways to not only distribute content but also convert readers with a strong call to action.

Next up was a panel looking at digital place-based marketing and how brands are taking their out-of-home marketing game to a whole new level. We looked at companies like Heineken’s brilliant Dropped campaign and Coke’s curated social content as key examples of how digital display ads can create true stop-and-stare moments for people and include them in the experience.

The second half of the day was a panel discussion on Millennials featuring Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Cosmo editor Joanne Coles and MSL CEO Olivier Fleurot.  While an almost exhausted discussion at this point, it was nonetheless interesting to see companies like Mashable and MSL struggle with similar generational complexities.

Lastly we caught Mythbuster’s Adam Savage talk on the convergence on Art and Science and people’s misconceptions that the two are in any way related. As a (self-professed) creative person, it was fascinating (and a little gratifying) to look at the creative process as a scientific one.

One day left but still lots of great sessions to come including gamification, disrupting television and talks with former Twitter founder Biz Stone and social media icon, George Takei. Oh Myyyy.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 11/03/2014

Dispatches from Austin – Day 2 & 3

Our SXSW stretched through the weekend as Day 2 and 3 covered off a number of fascinating topics ranging from loyalty programs to the new sharing economy and how audiences are shaping events through social media.

Saturday’s first panel was Beyond Likes (featuring Jordan Roth CEO of Culturalist), talking about the implications social media audiences have on cultural and current events. How are Twitter audiences shaping live television? As more and more people tune it together for shared experiences watching shows like Scandal and The Oscars, are they actually responsible for bringing back the idea of appointment television?

Then came the rain – but this didn’t dissuade us from seeing some amazing sessions from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Both drew massive crowds and delivered amazing, informative talks.

Sunday brought better weather and even more great sessions. First up was Loyalty is Dead – a conversation about the current state of loyalty marketing programs (buy 10 coffees, get the 11th free) and posed the question are these programs truly building loyalty? The general consensus being that true loyalty is based around an emotional connections and consumers motivations aren’t about chasing that free coffee. They’re loyalty is shaped through how they’re treated and the desire by the brand to engage with them.

After a weighty presentation by Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Alpha) around computation, we checked out a panel on The Economy of Sharing – looking at a new emerging economy where platforms like Etsy, HomeAway and ThredUP are facilitating platforms to help connect people and empower them to become sellers.

We capped the day with some great BBQ and Monday’s weather is clear and warm. Only two days left in Austin but still lots of great stuff to come. Stay tuned and follow the conference @madearuckus.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 10/03/2014

We know – we’re a few days late (blame that last winter storm) but we had to deliver our wrap up of the final day of SXSW Interactive.

Day 5 was bittersweet as we got a stellar lineup of talks on the final day of the conference’s interactive portion.

Up first was Yu Kai Chou, talking about how to create a successful framework for gamification. An early pioneer of gamification, Chou demonstrated ways of incorporating gaming theories and practices into business models – helping to sustain engagement with consumers or internal employees.

Chou also presented some compelling stats on who the “typical” gamers are and definitely broadened people’s ideas of who’s playing games (whether that’s console, PC or mobile). In fact, consider that 68% of gamers are over 18 years old, and 47% are women (there are more adult women gamers than under 18 males).

Our next two sessions were different takes on Internet communities with George Takei talking about developing his massive fan base and mobilizing them for social causes. Takei’s take on community building was pretty simple – don’t ask your community to do something right away. Build trust; build a relationship before you want them to follow through on something. This is true whether you’re asking them to sign a petition or buy your product.

Biz Stone (founder of Twitter and Jelly) picked up on the idea of social good when he talked about the effect tools like Twitter have had on our culture in the past few years. Stone’s take is that people are generally good and that when given the right tools – they’ll do good things.

Our final session for SXSW may have been the most compelling and uplifting of the entire conference. Our last session was with Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes. Mycoskie walked through how he founded the company and the factors that lead him to creating the one-to-one model TOMS is so famous for. He also delved into the unique marketing angle the company has taken – by forgoing traditional ads, etc., and creating brand evangelists who actually work with TOMS to deliver shoes to impoverished countries. Inspirational to say the least.

I’m sure we’ll have more thoughts in the coming weeks, filtering out of our packed SXSW schedule. There were some big thinkers delivering fascinating, new takes on where digital culture is going and we’re happy to have been there to hear it first hand.

Can’t wait to head back next year.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 14/03/2014