My SXSW 2011 notes

Brand Journalism: Rise of Non-Fiction Advertising (listen on sxsw site)

Description:  A panel discussion on brands thinking like publishers vs marketers and humanizing their voice and conversations online. This is the editorial approach to marketing. The Cluetrain Manifesto (a book on the power of global conversations) is 10 years old and brands are still wrestling with how to market in this new world.

Examples: Pepsi Refresh (300,000 ideas - pulse of market) , Ford Bold Moves, McDonald Moms, Chrysler Social Media Agency

A few insights which ring true to me:

- sometimes the harder you work on a story or idea the less engagement it generates.  Often times the faster, timely
messages or content generates the most engagement

- as we have heard before, the measurement of followers is not relevant - it is actual engagement we should be concerned with

- brands should be acting as media in realtime

6 Easy Ways to Produce Compelling Video (That You Hadn’t Thought of Before) - (small session with vlogger)

- Youtube record and post instantly feature is fairly underutilized yet provides a great fast approach to getting relevant video up fast
- Wirecast 4: TV production tool for streaming channel (software)
- Best options on iphone for streaming: Qik, Ustream
- CNN ireport is now connected to iMovie directly.  It is an option on the “Share” drop down menu
- Vyou.com - ask questions and answer easily with a reply video (could be another great realtime tool to allow professors to answer questions on video)

Real-time Marketing in a Connected World (listen on sxsw site)

Companies need to be reactive, but also proactive to curate resources that people want so they can find them easily in realtime. We need to encourage our employees to be reactive in realtime. Media, brand, audience are all intermingled.

As long as people know you are listening and trying to resolve an issue, they are generally forgiving.

Content velocity: Content sources velocity curve (see pic)
As a company, you are your own publisher. Take what you have (the brand and the audience) and make that work for you.

Velocity is determined by who authors messages. Brand benefits of ‘observed’ are significant due to speed + quantity alone. (see pic)

Netflix vs Blockbuster Example: Netflix - using ratings and reviews helps the customer get a better product.  One allows users to make decisions based on realtime activity, one doesn’t.

Blockbuster: $1.62 billion to $35.1 million (Metric — stores)
Netflix: $288 million to $9.18 billion (Metric — subscribers)

There’s a lot more context we can take into account. Realtime marketing can help customers on the ground. It’s the context of the content that will drive a business/brand forward

Example: @foursquare explore tabs is content in realtime.  There is no line between customer service post purchase and being there in the moment of purchase/need. Your “check in” tells your friends what you care about. You can become an expert on a certain location.

(Venue Managers - new tools available for foursquare)

Thank You Economy (listen on sxsw site)

If Content is King, Context is God.

• Mass media is irrelevant. Moms aren’t listening to the radio ads or looking at billboards when driving to the grocery store. They’re on the phone — and hopefully just talking on it.
• You know why brands don’t get social media? It’s because of the word “media”. When traditional marketers hear the word “media” in “social media,” they immediately think of “push” mediums.
• The reason people love their parents is because they loved you first. Brands should consider the metaphor and give to their customers before asking things from them.
• Everybody in social marketing today acts like a 19 year-old dude and tries to close too fast. Couponing, two for ones, buy-one-get-ones — none of these provide lasting value.
• Our world has become a cocktail party, and our social street cred is all that matters.

• There is no such thing as a social media campaign. A campaign is a one night stand. We need to focus on relationship building. Old Spice’s campaign was lauded as a social media success, but if you look on their brand channels, all they do is push. They are not engaged in the conversation. They built up a ton of friends and did nothing with them. This campaign is the perfect example of what not to do in the Thank You Economy.
• Content calendars are like going to a cocktail party with a script.
• Putting a Twitter and Facebook logo at the end of commercials is like putting up a picture of a telephone.
• We’re moving into a small town economy. Your great grandparents are more prepared for 2012 than you are. It’s all about relationships. Think back to the butcher who asked how your farm was doing or the florist who asks about little Sally. They knew what was important: relationships.
• Counting cars that drive by billboards and circulation impressions don’t inform anything about consumption. We’re in a two-way communication era, so if you’re focusing on push, you will lose.
• In the next few years this is going to be a bad time for social media. There is so much money being pumped into it.  It reminds me of 2002-2003 where people were saying the internet was a fad, you can’t measure it and it doesn’t have ROI.
• Social media isn’t a fad because it is inherently human. Lots of companies are going to fail because they want to monetize first and offer value second.
• Caring is scalable now.
• If big brands out-care their customers — reply to every single social message possible — they will beat their competitors hands-down. You can’t buy friends, and they’re out there now just waiting for you to talk to them.
• Soon the data will be here to support these theories, but until then, don’t wait. Just don’t waiver when you hit the hurdles. Be on the right side of history. Your boss may not agree, but be sure to get on the record.
• You know how we tell our kids not to go on FormSpring and send pictures of their bra straps and that everything they put online will be there forever? It’s the same thing for us professionally. Get on the record now. Care more.

(For this one, I just reveled in the awesomeness that is Gary V and grabbed notes from here)

Everyone’s Wrong about Influence. Except your Customers (listen on sxsw site)

• The term “human resources” in itself is assuming that the resources are replaceable, that they are just resources. 
• Catalysts do something publicly - and it goes viral.  True influence flows naturally from drawing people together with common interests.
• Communities are formed around a “Moment of need”
• People have a desire to control their environment
• Gossip, Rumor, Communities, - desire to entertain, influence people, exchange important information.  (causes signal)

How do you generate value? create influence?

1) Connecting - connect people
Good tools give you good information (data points), Good communities keep you coming back

2) Inquiring - asking the right questions, understanding what they say, observing what they do

3) Seeing - ability to see what your customer’s care about - are your interests aligned?, this impacts loyalty - help the customer create other customers

4) Remembering - focus on the right value proposition. (i.e.: we are not selling the education , it’s what you do with it) 
Thank your customers - reward them.

5) Committing , social sensibility - access to real options (solving real problems for your audience)

6) Reacting - realtime

Businesses should treat technology like special effects - Michael schrage
The real story is the people, what world am I trying to create?
Leading question is not how do I make a cheaper movie faster.

“I never wanted power, I only wanted an audience, I wanted to be appreciated and loved and not forgotten”  - presenter’s mother (the concepts at play in social media are fundamental human traits and actions)

Old Spice Panel (listen on sxsw site)

Old spice is 75 years old. Old spice renaissance (the result is the “the man your man could smell like”) took a lot of time and a lot of experimentation. There were tons of different creative before they arrived at the concept everyone now knows.

The initial creative was developed very fast, under pressure - no time to over think it (they feel this contributed to its success)
When you spend too much time with something, you over think it and mess it up. They did no testing.

It was shot in one take, however they did 50 takes prior to getting the right one.

Experience the joke with the audience rather, talking to the audience.

Social media portion: YouTube answer campaign (nerd hiring spree), Yahoo answers, API from YouTube, twitter, etc - developed workflow for responses (like a custom hoot suite or radian 6) - 186 commercials replys, budget was less than 200k

Leverage existing behaviors online

It would have been impossible without the millions in TV ads.  (worked in tandem with social campaign)

Brand consistency is killing digital advertising

Brand has to feel the same, not look the same.

7 thoughts on building an inconsistent brand

1 - redefine integration -integration isnt always beautiful
Act true to the brand. Know your brand, know what you stand for.  If we understand what we are about, communications do not have to interlock
The new integration means all communications work toward a common truth.

2 - Customers should know what to expect from you product but not your brand. People should keep getting surprised by your brand .

3 - Product filter vs Brand filter. -This allows for more creative freedom.

4 - Define everything through consumer behavior - The consumer is at center: look for cultural opportunity, pr value and extensions, media and technology, product/brand role in the conversations.

5-  Embracing Technology - make it sexy. Allow your brand the flexibility to be current and relevant.  Google apps are different but feel the same.

6 - Adopt a meme mentality - Don’t be a spectator - respond to culture immediately - through the lens of the brand - create memes . Be relevant, be immediate.

7- Take a break from the single-minded message

I attended these last two sessions on film subjects to get a perspective on how narrative storytellers construct their worlds and get an emotional response from their viewers.  I am also, obviously, a fan of film and storytelling so it was fun.

Transmedia Storytelling: Constructing Compelling Characters and Narrative Threads

Character <——> story.  Your main character(s) is your story, they are one in the same. 

If your character changes, the story must change.

Build a central database: character, story, plot, story world; this is what gives you cohesion.
You have to know all the traits ahead of time. Character history should be all mapped out.

There should be a network of characters, and they should all help you mold the main character.

• We experience stories to help us better understand ourselves. Not to learn about other characters. You are a slave to the audience.

When developing character traits, it is important they are all relative to the story.  They should further answer the question of who they are. 

Archetypes (universal forms) are the foundation on which you build.

The hero is flawed, (he/she has interesting, quirks), mysterious. A moral problem exists and they will always try to take the easy way out.

The opponent is always as fleshed out as the hero

The opponent and hero always want the same thing, so they are in direct opposition - conflict.

Any event in a story = change.  There should be pressure every second (the hero needs to be under pressure at all times).

The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and comfort. - MLK

Introduce hero -> reveal his/her true nature -> demonstrate how true nature is at odds with appearance -> pressure -> climax -> heroes changed.

Contradiction progression, a good story is a tennis game - one side never has the ball too long.

Middle ground is boring!  Think swing.

Decision Trees: YouTube’s New Breed of Interactive Storytellers

Decision trees in youtube videos are stories which allow the viewer to participate by choosing outcomes on screen which trigger other videos and ultimately lead to alternate endings.

Setup should not be longer than 2 min (Quick intro to let you know it’s a game) - Font can never be big enough for choices!

Note: YouTube interactive in video does not work on mobile phones. You can use short links in description as an alternate method to get the viewer a choice.

Get A YouTube Star in your video - if you want to gain exposure quickly inquire about getting a youtube star to make a cameo or be a part of a production.