Hasta La Creative!

It’s now de rigueur to trash SXSW. Actually, it has been for a couple of years. And while anything that includes a session entitled The Digital Cronut should most certainly be mocked, that’s not what we’re going to do. Because it’s already been done. By everyone. In the most snarkiest of ways. That simply make the snarker look like like they are trying a little too hard to stay one hip step ahead of the curve. Before it curves again.

But…when you have a panel entitled High on Hashtags and the main takeaway, according to Search Engine Journal, is that “hashtags help discovery of trends, topics, sentiment,” it’s hard not to snark. But, we’re not going to do it.

Yes, the intimacy of pre-2010 SXSWs is gone but when you think about it, no one should be complaining about SXSW at all. If you were in attendance during the glory days of social from 2008 to 2010 and think back to what you were advising your followers and clients to do — jump on the social media bandwagon because it is awesome — you have no right to bitch about the fact they all have, indeed, jumped aboard. It is, after all, what you wanted them to do, right?

Well, now they are. And the early adopter intimacy that was once the cornerstone of SXSW is gone. But, again, that’s what you wanted, right? You wanted everyone to buy your books, to pay your consulting fees, to hire you as social media manager, to rise to Oreo Dunk-in-the-Dark stardom, right? Come on. Admit it. If they didn’t buy, SXSW would still be intimate…but you would be poor, not internet famous and still telling people MySpace is awesome. Can’t have it both ways.

So here are 6 ways SXSW is still awesome. Hopefully, you will agree.

Networking With Old Friends and New

Now, yes, festivals like Cannes Lions and trade shows like ad:tech, IAB, AAAA’s, ANA certainly serve as great networking platforms for marketers and advertisers but they are insular, exclusive and do not offer the opportunity provided by SXSW to leave your immediate circle of business and personal contacts. In other words, they don’t allow you to broaden your horizons, explore the tertiary peripheries of your particular business segment and to serendipitously hobnob with some of the smartest people on the planet from all walks of life.

Offsite Panels Broaden the Content Offering

While there are plenty — hundreds — of excellent panels that are part of the SXSW experience, in the past year or two, “pop up panels” have become quite popular. This year, Expion hosted two such panels at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar and at one Mondelez VP Bonin Bough and Vayner Media Founder Gary Vaynerchuk squared off on the topic of the social and/or collaborative economy — a notion made popular by Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang — in a manner that can only be described as vehement agreement. Entertaining? Yes. Informative? Yes. Worth attending? Absolutely.

Another such panel hosted by ShareThis took place Saturday at the W Hotel. The event was a networking brunch combined with a panel which discussed the sharing economy. MC’d by ShareThis CEO Kurt Abrahamson, the panel included executives from Tumblr, Mashable, Adobe, NASDAQ OMX and the Mercury Fund. Summing up the three stages of the sharing economy in the publishing space, Mashable’s Mike Kriak pointed to one, mainstrem media, two, the Mashable’s of the world and three, the likes of Secret and SnapChat. Abode’s Bill Ingram touched on the lifecycle of content, beginning with creation or curation, then deployment across channels and ultimately measurement and optimization.

And then there was the CMO Club House, a five day event sponsored by the CMO Club at which Altimeter Group Analyst Rebecca Lieb led panels which included MRY CMO David Berkowitz, Brian Solis, Joshua Baer and others. Open all day at 209 6th Street, the CMO Clubhouse offered a hangout for CMOs and other marketing types where networking could be had over breakfast, lunch

Pressing the Flesh With Your Digital Friends

Thanks to social media, we’ve been able to establish intimate relationships with people online without every having physically met or only see occasionally. SXSW offers a playground to experience friends in full-on human form. I like to call Steve Garfield a friend but I only see him once a year at SXSW. He’s from my hometown of Boston and when I lived there, we never saw each other but it’s always SXSW that brings us together. Reem Abeidoh from Microsoft is another person I rarely see. We met eons ago at an early Blogworld but SXSW brings us together. These are but just a two examples of hundreds.

And then there are the first time meetups. People you’ve known through social but have never physically met. Or at least haven’t seen in years. Like Leora Israel who lives in Toronto and was at SXSW for her client BrivoLabs, a brand that partnered with Mashery which runs Circus Mashimus in the ACC where the popcorn flows and circus antics prevail.

So I’m wandering home from some party after having seen her earlier in the evening and I get this tweet from her:

@stevehall @iangertler @dberkowitz @allisonpr @dominiqueansel party in the line. Come budge with me.

— Leora Israel (@leoraisrael) March 10, 2014

Sadly, we never did get a Cronut but we did get to take a selfie of ourselves and the new friends we met while waiting in line:

@lornasa Ravi @mmartoccia @stevehall waiting in line for Cronuts #sxsw pic.twitter.com/4mi6GQbmKJ

— Leora Israel (@leoraisrael) March 10, 2014

And then on yet another night in an epic social media equation I like to call Steve Garfield + Leora Israel = Awesome Experience for Steve Hall:

Discovering Emerging Trends

SXSW may not be the premiere festival at which trends make their debut but there are still some exciting things that happen each year. Anonymity, most recent brought to light with the launch of the Secret app — and a very fun SXSW-focused event page, was much discussed this year. A similar app. Whisper, was in on the anonymity buzz as well. All of which is very amusing since the early, pre-social media days of the internet were all about anonymity and silly AOL chat room screen names. While silly chatroom names may have given way to well-designed icons, the approach is the same, albeit in a bit more connected fashion via social media.

Wearable technology is enjoying significant notoriety. While Google glass tends to steal the show, there are much more useful players like CrowDemand which has come up with an ingenious, built in method for women to charge their phone just by placing it in their purse. The purse has a built in charger and the purse, itself, is charged by simply laying it atop a charging base while at home. The phone is charged simply by sliding it into a dedicated pocket inside the purse. All wireless. The company is partnering with fashion label to integrate all kinds of other wearable technology we will soon see integrated into out clothing.

With the likes of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange taking top billing at SXSW this year, privacy (or the lack thereof) took center stage. As the shifting sands of privacy become ever more tenuous, Snowden said, “We need public oversight … some way for trusted public figures to advocate for us. We need a watchdog that watches Congress, because if we’re not informed, we can’t consent to these government policies.”

Large Brands (Versus Startups) Deploying Cool Technology

Since Pepsi Max built its Playground in a vacant lot in 2010 and CNN took over Max’s Wine Dive the same year, brand activation at SXSW has never been the same.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, SXSW was the place you’d visit to experience cool, new startup technology. It’s were Twitter got its start. It’s where Foursquare got its start. While there are still startups at SXSW and that remains a big reason brands attend, this year it was mostly big brands sharing tech wizardry.

The Oreo Trending Vending Lounge used 3D printing to create customized cookies based on trending topics. IBM deployed a fleet of food trucks with Watson computer tech that would auto-magically recommend ingredients for people. Pennzoil, for its first SXSW visit, offered up a real-life Mario Kart experience with a real-time, RFID-enhanced tech.

Hosted Agency/Brand Parties Fuel Your Stomach and Soul

Now, of course, this is not the reason anyone goes to SXSW but thanks to brands like Fast Company which hosted the Fast Company Grill and MRY which hosted a killer party at Haven Saturday night and Crowdtap which hosted a party at the same venue Sunday night and Rocketfuel which hosted an amazing live band experience at Clive Bar on Rainey Street featuring The Joy Formidable and Samsung and PayPal which hosted blogger lounges and JWT which hosted a cocktail party at the very cool, new Container Bar, buying food and drink at SXSW is a thing of the past. I literally did not spend a dime on food or drink during the entire five day experience.

Now free stuff is no reason to attend SXSW but that free stuff is a gateway to the first reason SXSW is still awesome; networking. It’s the lubricant that fuels one’s ability to connect with old friends and forge new relationships with people you mat do business with in the future. And despite the increased size of SXSW, it’s still as intimate as you make it.

And so to the naysayers who think SXSW has had it’s day, I respectfully beg to differ. No, every other person you see in Austin during SXSW won’t be someone you know. But isn’t that reason we go to events like this? To meet new people? make new contacts? Discover new things? Experience new ideas? And take that all home after five days and apply it to our own universe? Yea, I think it is.

The handwringing has begun. No sooner were we all a twitter over marketers taking over SXSW (myself included), it seems the backlash is now in full swing.

Several years ago (maybe 2010) when I saw Pepsi erect that gigantic playground and CNN take over that restaurant, I knew the quaint geek-fest days of SXSW where over and we were in for a very different SXSW. But even then, SXSW was still an orgasm of epic digital awesomeness.

Having attended SXSW long enough to know what it was before brands and agencies invaded, I see this as a bubble. And bubbles don’t last forever. Like every thing else in the ad business, every cool, new thing is chased. Every single one. Longer than any sane person would chase.

But even insane, trend-chasing ad agencies wake up one day and realize, “Oh yea, this shit isn’t making a dime for us” and they move on to the next cool thing. This will be the fourth year of the SXSW Agency Invasion and while I’m sure next year will be just as big, I’d have to agree with this mystery Digiday writer, we’re going to see a decline in attendance by agencies from this point on.

Not a complete exodus because agencies should always be present in any environment where new ideas and innovation are at the forefront of the conversation. And, SXSW is, indeed, that place.

Having said all that, it’s been a great past few years from one respect. Prior to the SXSW Agency Invasion, one had to pay for everything oneself. Now everything is sponsored. It’s entirely possible to stay in Austin for five days and never spend a dime on food or drink.

So thanks for that, Madison Avenue.

Last year, JWT launched a pop up ad agency at SXSW called Walter. It’s aim was to meet with 25 startups with the goal of working with a few of them. This year, JWT Atlanta will launch an experiential marketing effort called Pennzoil Presents Mario Karting Reimagined which aims to pimp Mario 8. All SXSW Gaming and Interactive attendees will be able to race their friends on a custom-built track.

Set outside the Palmer Events Center, the custom-built track with a Mario Kart-world feel will be open and free to SXSW Interactive & Gaming attendees. The live racing will use RFID technology to communicate between the track and the karts to provide the driver and the audience with an interactive, real-life Mario Kart experience.

The races will be simulcast from the driver’s point-of-view to screens throughout the activation and the Austin Convention Center. The kart’s performance is controlled by RFID technology as drivers interact with icons on the course. These real-life power-ups will either boost speed or slow the kart down in real-time. The goal is to collect all five icons in order to receive complete protection.

It’s all to promote Pennzoil’s Platinum oil, a first of its kind synthetic oil made from natural gas.

The track will be open Friday, March 7th, 12PM – 6PM, Saturday, March 8th, 12PM – 6P and Sunday, March 9th, 12PM – 6PM

Cannes Lions is closer than you think. Many of us will be basking in the sun in Cannes, France come June but do you have all your plans in place? Do you know where you will be staying?

If not, we can help. We’ve partnered with Cannes Apartment Rentals which has many apartments in the area from studios to four bedroom residences.

Here are three of their swankier offerings:

La Parisienne Cannes
Villa Leona
Square Merimee Superior

You can check out all their rentals here.

So it’s February. It may seem like June is a long way off but it will be here before you know it. What’s special about June? Cannes Lions, of course! Are you ready? Flight booked? Accommodations all set? Event planned? Event location secured?

Wait, what? You don’t know where you’re going to host your entourage and your events? What, are you new? OK, sorry, We don’t mean to be mean. We’re actually here to help.

AES Events Groups manages a place called Villa Oxygen which is just off La Croisette. It’s got 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a kitchen, giant TVs, ocean views, jacuzzis, a garden house, a pool, wireless, an elegant terrace, a bar and everything else you’d need for a week of luxury in Cannes.

Yes, we are helping promote the place. Why? Because the venue’s management is giving us a free place (studio or one bedroom) to stay during Cannes Lions. But guess what. We can’t go this year so…we’re going to give that away to one lucky reader. Stay tuned for more details on that.

But in the meantime, if you need a nice place for a week for you, your friend, your company or your clients, check out Villa Oxygen.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, we can turn our attention to the next big ad industry event on the horizon, Aside from the Academy Awards — because, let’s be honest, the broadcast is really just a playground for Super Bowl wannabees — there’s Cannes.

The 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the first nine jury presidents, out of a total of 17, selected to chair this year’s juries.

“As the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications, we are delighted to welcome such an outstanding group of people to lead the juries to champion innovation across the industry. As visionary leaders, they will steer the debate that will impact the future of their respective categories,” says Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals.

Creative Effectiveness Lions Jury President
David Sable, Global Chief Executive Officer, Y&R

“In an age of data obsession, there is a misconception that somehow advertising hasn’t been accountable. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best advertising, the most memorable and creative advertising has always delivered. The beauty of data is that it makes it more apparent. I’m honoured to be chosen as this year’s Jury President for the Cannes Effectiveness Lions and to serve with such an esteemed team of judges. I hope that we will be accountable to deliver the best to the Cannes community.”

Cyber Lions Jury President
Susan Bonds, co-founder and CEO, 42 Entertainment, USA

“As Cyber Lions move into 2014, it’s exciting to see new categories emerge that embrace the reality of digital’s role in everyday life, creative craft and innovation.
Novelty has been replaced with excellence in execution, authenticity, reach and impact, and creating a user experience that connects.”

Film Lions Jury President
Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide

“It’s a great honour and a big responsibility to be the president of one of the most important categories in Cannes. I look forward to seeing a lot of great work, to have great discussions, and to set a signal on what we believe should the bar for Film will be in the next years.”

Innovation Lions Jury President
Tom Bedecarré, Chairman, AKQA and President, WPP Ventures

“To inspire creative excellence in communications we increasingly need to develop new technologies, and the Innovation Lions celebrate creativity in technology. I’m super excited to see the apps, tools, hardware, software and platforms entered in this second year of the Innovation Lions awards.”

Media Lions Jury President
Matt Seiler, Global CEO, IPG Mediabrands

“It has become increasingly challenging to find time amidst all the exciting goings on during the festival to focus on the real reason we are there…as Jury President I can’t wait to get in deep with some of the world’s best work.”

Outdoor Lions Jury President
José Miguel Sokoloff, President, Lowe Global Creative Council & Co Chairman and CCO Lowe SSP3 Colombia

“Outdoor is possibly where most of the best ideas in contemporary advertising come to life. To be honoured by Cannes Lions, having been given the responsibility to preside over this jury makes me very excited and proud. I am already looking forward to the sessions.”

Promo & Activation Lions Jury President
Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, USA

“When I look back at 2013’s winners in Promo and Activation, I see work that also was honored in Film, Outdoor, Titanium. This is absolute evidence that the best work being done today drives participation. Channel agnostic ideas are the most modern ideas in our industry. And they tend to show up in Promo and Activation. I look forward to getting the week off to a great creative start.”

Radio Lions Jury President
Tony Hertz, Proprietor and Creative Director, Tony Hertz: Radio & Brand Sound, The Philippines

“For a guy who’s been in love with making radio ads for as long as I have, this is obviously a massive thrill and privilege. I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow jury members to choose – perhaps even unearth – radio work which is not only great and fresh advertising, but is also impeccably conceived and crafted for this unique medium.”

Titanium & Integrated Lions Jury President
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, India & South Asia, McCann Worldgroup

“I’ve enjoyed a long association with Cannes Lions Festival and I very much look forward to June 2014. Titanium brings the world’s most respected and eclectic set of people to the jury, and there is immense learning. The bar is raised and new benchmarks set for the world in advertising and communications. It will be an honour to work with the jury, and I hope I can humbly contribute to our quest for the best, the most breakthrough, transformational ideas the industry has to offer. And celebrate those ideas that challenge and inspire us all.”

Cannes Lions will take place 15-21 June 2014. Entries can now be submitted into all categories including the new Product Design Lions introduced to reward the applied use of physical products in aiding the communication of a “brand ethos” as well as its use to have a positive impact on improving people’s lives.

This is rather amusing. The .GIFYS, the first annual awards show celebrating the animated file format has opened online voting today as they work towards determining the all-time best GIFs. The nominees are the selections of a panel made up of people from Buzzfeed, Gawker, Tumblr, Mashable, Joystiq, The Daily Dot, Engadget and others who have pulled from their own archives, reached out to their hundreds of thousands of twitter followers and scoured the Internet to curate the best of the best animated GIFs.

The mission of The .GIFYS, which was created by a team of creatives and developers at CP+B LA, is to immortalize the best GIFs, a medium that otherwise is generally viewed only once before it’s lost in the abyss that is the internet. At www.thegifys.com, everyone can vote on their favorite in each category, ranging from Cats to Art + Design, to WTF?!

Of the show, .GIFY Co-Founder William Sawyer said, “The GIF is now 26 years old, and there are millions of them online. It’s time they received their due respect with a proper awards show. We recruited some of the top names in internet culture to curate the best, and we’re looking to the whole internet to decide the winners.”

The .GIFYS panelists include:

– Chelsea Marshall – Editor, Buzzfeed Animals
– Fernando Alfonso – Writer, Lead Illustrator And Comics Editor, The Daily Dot
– Paul Budnitz – Kidrobot Founder, Artist, Filmmaker & Serial Entrepreneur
– Christine Erickson – List Editor, Mashable
– Ann Friedman – Columnist For New York Magazine And Gif Enthusiast
– Cord Jefferson – West Coast Editor, Gawker
– Amber Gordon – Creative Strategist, Tumblr
– Dianna Mcdougall – Live Giffer, Shorty Awards Finalist, Community Manager, Dots
– Lil Bubs + Mike Bridavsky – Internet Cat And Her Human
– Rachel Binx + Sha Hwang – Founders, Gifpop
– Ivan Perez-Armendariz – Chief Digital Officer, CP+B
– Dan Milano – Gif Maker, Partnership Manager, Dailymotion USA
– Jess Conditt – Senior Editor, Joystiq
– Ryan Block – Head of Product, Engadget / Co-Founder, gdgt
– Brian Morrissey – Editor-in-Chief, Digiday

And we are told because of the complicated nature of who “owns” a particular GIF, the award show will not be awarding the content creator, but rather the GIF itself. Voting lasts a week, with winners announced online later in the month. For updates on The .GIFYS, follow their twitter @thegifys or visit thegifys.com.

Yes, people. It is that time of year again. Time to start planning your trip to the South of France where you will put a large dent in your expense account, sip champagne on the Carlton Terrace and squeeze in a few late night visits to the gutter bar. Oh, yea, and hopefully bring home some metal. After all, that’s why we go to Cannes, right?

But what does Cannes Lions CEO Philip Thomas have to say about the event? “Cannes Lions offers delegates the opportunity to step away from their day-to-day work and truly immerse themselves into a unique environment of creativity for a few days. With exceptional inspiration, learning and networking opportunities, it’s a chance for the global creative communities to recognize accomplishments, and take the industry to new heights.”

If you’ve ever been, immerse is an understatement. You will be enveloped by all things advertising in a way that is impossible any other time of the year in any other place in the world. If you can, you should really go.

Want a taste of what it’s like? Check out the photos below and then dig into the photo album from our 2011 visit.

Youth marketing agency, Camp Craze, will produce the Craze Conference February 5th in New York City at the 92nd Street Y. The conference will focus on broad aspects of marketing and social media with a focus on youth marketing.

Keynote speakers include Pencils of Promise Founder and CEO Adam Braun and Former Virgin America VP of Marketing Porter Gale. Additional speakers include Zappos Culture Evangilist Jonathan Wolske, Twitter Design Manager Marty Ringlein, New York Mets Director of Marketing Mark Fine and many others.

You can check out the whole line up here as well as other information on the conference. If you choose to attend, use the discount code TIER1PRICECRAZE which discount the $285 price by about $60.

Clickbooth, CPAWay and adknowledge are at it again with their Industry Legends Unite Affiliate Nation Party to be held during ad:tech New York November, 6, 2013 from 9PM to 2AM. As is always the case, the party will be awesome and it’s the only late night big party scheduled for the evening at this point. So it should be packed and rocking!

The party will be held at LQ which is located at 511 Lexington Avenue in New York City. the featured DJ will be Ghost and as is always the case, it will be open bar all night. Additionally, there will be dancers and there will be dwarves. And, we are told, other surprise entertainment.

Check out pictures from the last party they held during Affiliate Summit in Philadelphia.

RSVP here.