Hasta La Creative!

Haymarket Network, the contract publishing arm of Haymarket Media Group, has launched Forever Sports, the biggest new men’s magazine to hit the newsstand in a decade.

After attending SXSWi for three straight years, we skipped the 2014 installment, so we decided to pass the mic to someone who was actually on the grounds and could provide some thoughts on this year’s event. Ladies and gents, meet David Trahan (@brooklyknight), a senior strategist at New York-based MRY. In case you were wondering, he specializes in brand strategy, digital, and consumer behavior and nerds out over airplanes, politics, and architecture. Take it away, sir.

SXSW was a playground for me. I won the trip as part of an internal MRY contest to send three employees to SXSW. I had the luxury of doing whatever I wanted (including sleeping in) with no formal responsibilities such as client schmoozing or attending certain sessions. I used this freedom as an opportunity to not only listen to panelists, but to observe the behaviors of SXSW goers and how they reacted to panels, brand installations, start-ups, and parties. I also ended SXSW as a part of the “The Story of SXSWi 2014: Eye of the Beholder” session recapping trends from SXSW 2014.

My key takeaways are as follows:

1. Curiosity > Information

Inspiring curiosity is the ultimate form of empowerment. You know the saying: give a man a fish, teach a man to fish… What I learned at SXSW is that there’s more bounty in inspiring that man to learn how to fish on his own rather than teaching him yourself. It not only instills in him a greater sense of ownership, but it allows for discovery of new fishing techniques since he wasn’t taught someone else’s way of doing things. Marketers often say they want to empower consumers, and their method of doing so becomes tools and information. Those are nice, but do they inspire? That is, do they encourage curiosity that leads to action and discovery?

This is why many of the “how to” panels got bad word-of-mouth reviews. They were just telling people how to do what they already know, focusing on the seller’s technique and not the buyer’s imagination.

As Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “To feel knowledge makes you take ownership of knowledge.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally achieved his lifelong dream. No, it's not becoming a champion weight lifter/action hero/governator. It's his dream of owning his own "f–king tank."

Since it's only natural for a man who has been blowing things up since 1979 to want to pulverize things with his new toy, he's inviting you and a friend to join him.

In an effort to raise money for the After-School All-Stars program, the Terminator has created an instantly viral video offering you the opportunity to "come to L.A. and crush things in my tank!" Crush anything you want: pianos, taxis, bubble wrap. Hell, he'll even crush movies that make you cry. Wait, does Terminator 3 count?

Here's a clip of Arnold reminiscing about his tank time in the Austrian Army:

Pizza Hut has added Publicis Groupe’s MRY to its agency roster following a pitch, according to people familiar with the matter.

MRY will support social media strategy, industry executives told Ad Age.

In June 2011, Pizza Hut awarded its digital marketing and social media business to IPG’s Martin and its e-commerce business to Huge. It had already been working with Martin for a couple of years. But last September it moved its creative business to Dentsu’s McGarryBowen from Martin. Huge and Pizza Hut parted ways months ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Digitas LBi Labs, the agency’s tech-inspired incubator, and European real estate investment company Klépierre collaborated to create “Inspiration Corridor,” a digital prototype personalizing experiences in shopping malls by providing customized product recommendations and telling users where to go to shop for them.

According to DigitasLBi Paris deputy GM/connected commerce lead, Vincent Druguet, the project began with the insight that “consumers rarely know every single shop in a mall, and are even less aware of their newest products. Right now, there’s a wealth of product information available to people through personalized search engines. Our idea was to offer people all this information in a fun and experimental way, using digital technology in shopping malls.”

The “Inspiration Corridor” works by using an infra-red camera to analyze individual consumers upon entering with body scanning technology. Then, a “device equipped with QUIVIDI video analysis and PigData product recommendation scans the visitors and their outfits within 10 seconds and registers the collected data: their gender, age, and clothing style.” This results in a personalized “mood board” tailored to the individual consumer. Users can also scan the bar code on recently purchased items to get recommendations for matching accessories. Then, the “Inspiration Corridor” simulates window shopping, allowing consumers to walk through the corridor select the products they’re interested in. Each item they choose “affects the recommendation engine, made with PigData, and simultaneously updates the product selection.” Upon leaving, “customers can synchronize their product selection to the Klépierre mobile application using iBeacon technology.”

For a better idea of how it works, you can watch the prototype in action above. It’s a pretty nifty device, allowing users to combine digital and offline shopping in exciting ways. Stay tuned for credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Social media “war rooms” are all the rage for brands, but Gary Varynerchuk isn’t buying it.

“I always say, ‘marketers ruin everything’ and as a proud marketer that makes me laugh,” Mr. Vaynerchuk said. What brands are experiencing are diminshing returns. “When everybody is screaming at a loud party, nobody is breaking through.”

That’s why his 315-person agency, VaynerMedia, has advised against focusing on big TV events, because “there are a lot of everyday events that are much more interesting.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com