11 days on a 65ft boat with 8 mates chasing waves around the Mentawis is a standard-issue Northern beaches fantasy holiday that, on this occasion, lived up to the hype. If you’ve ever dreamed of going, GO. And if you do go, I thoroughly recommend this boat. This shot is of a lefthander called Green Bush that, thankfully, decided not to kill me.

3 weeks in New York with the family, however, did almost kill me. Mainly due to overconsumption of ribs. And slice. And burgers. And Crif Dogs. And Argentinian BBQ. And bagels & lox. And pretty much everything, except decent coffee. We saw everything and ate everything and still barely scratched the surface. If you’ve ever dreamed of going, GO. And if you do go, I thoroughly recommend this site for accommodation. This shot is of a rib & brisket platter at  Fette Sau that, thankfully, decided not to kill me.

Taking almost 6 weeks out of the workplace is a rare luxury and I have to acknowledge my colleagues at Ogilvy and elsewhere who picked up the slack while I was gone. Admittedly, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about work while I was away, but I have come back with a new list of projects and priorities and, hopefully, a more relaxed attititude to, well, stuff.

I also came back to the opportunity to run a w2fm workshop with a lovely crew of people from St George Bank and I was reminded of the fact that I’m pretty fortunate to do the things I do and still call it work.

I was deeply impressed by Cameron Sinclair, the self-styled Chief Eternal Optimist for Architecture For Humanity and his take on open-sourced architecture. Fashion designer Marc Ecko became my new personal hero when he rocked a madcap Prezi to take us down the rabbit hole of ‘AWEthenticity’ to a place where we were confronted by the issue of state-sponsored violence in U.S. schools.

Science-fiction author and SXSW veteran Bruce Sterling saved the best for last, launching into an incendiary call-to-arms for millenials. Nothing short of generational change will suffice for a man who, by his own admission, is in the wrong generation.

I fulfilled a life-long dream and got to floor the accelerator of a brand-new Corvette, saw a ‘secret’ Foo Fighters performance at a the official closing party and will forever be seduced by the words ‘breakfast taco’. I’ve got my longhorns cap and my wife scored a shirt from the Driskill hotel. Austin, you were great.

But most importantly, I’ve got some very clear ideas about where our industry (or parts of it, at least) is heading and I’m lucky enough to be in a position to be a part of it. I’ve collected together a lot of the links and resources from SXSW and related coverage here and I thoroughly recommend you start working on your plans to get yourself to SXSW 20112.

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

Judging by the number of talks and panels on the topics of Branded Content, Brand Journalism, Branded Non-fiction , Branded Entertainment, Branded Narratives, Brand Storytelling and the like, it would appear that anyone with a brand or product is about to become a publisher, if they aren’t already.

While almost every marketer has developed at least a piece of content or two over the last couple of years, they’ve largely done so in the context of a campaign or project. If the argument put forward in many of these sessions is to be believed, prepare to witness it in the context of a Business Unit.

We’re talking corporate re-structuring, Chief Content Officers, investment in talent and infrastructure, codes of conduct & ethics, mastheads, revenue streams, regulatory hurdles and a whole mess of trust issues as the line between publisher and advertiser simply disappears.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn What The Future Of (almost) Everything (possibly) Looks Like.

Stay tuned for the final episode when Barrie talks about old dreams, new heroes and why ‘Giving A Damn’ is the new black.

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

David Ogilvy is a pretty quotable guy, but certified Aussie Ad Legend John ‘Singo’ Singleton is not far behind. He often used to say that he wasn’t interested in being part of the advertising industry – he was interested in being part of the industries his clients were part of. Singo would have loved SXSW.

No matter what you – or your clients – are into, there was a panel/presentation/meet-up/workshop/demo devoted to exploring the future of it: Banking, Retail, Fashion, Television, Telecoms, Education, Employment, Architecture, Philanthropy, Latin America, Law Enforcement, Agriculture, War, Politics, Sex and, um, Zombies were all covered. And that was on day one.

The good news is that everything is about to be gamified. Or prototyped. Or democratised. Possibly all at the same time.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “How To Become (Rich And) Famous.”

Stay tuned for the next episode when ad agencies learn “What Your Clients Are About To Become.”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

 In times gone by, the fastest way was to get three friends together (ensure at least one of them can drum), learn three chords, choose a faintly ridiculous name, and form a band. Now, you get three friends together (ensure at least one of them can code), put together a pitch deck, choose a faintly ridiculous name, and form a tech start up.

The SXSW festival is merely the peak of a year-round tech mountain that everyone in Austin seems to be climbing. I was lucky enough to spend some time with @equintanilla, a very switched on Austin local who gave me a glimpse of how the whole ecosystems works – from the 80 to 90 tech, internet marketing and web service firms that have sprung up in the last few years, to the University of Texas with its tech-heavy curriculum and its incubator  programs, the funneling of oil profits from Houston and Dallas into serious local VC firms – all the way up to the city and state officials who are determined to see that Texas does not participate in the recession that is clearly calcifying the rest of the United States. No wonder ad agencies are trying to work out how to think like software firms.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “Why You Shouldn’t Write Off Yesterday’s Hot Technology.”

Stay tuned for the next episode when ad agencies learn “What The Future Of (Almost) Everything (Possibly) Looks Like”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

QR codes, and the companies hoping to ‘monetise’ them were at SXSW in full effect, reminding everyone that SMS started life as a test signal format for telco engineers and its current iteration is as a popular web service based on messages of 140 characters. You may have heard of it.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “How To Throw A Party (Like You Mean Business).”

Stay tuned for the next episode when ad agencies learn more “How To Get (Rich And) Famous”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

 

Hosting company Rackspace went burlesque. Microsoft held a massive BBQ for start-ups & VCs, and a huge dance party for their latest browser upgrade – both on the same night. Tech blog Mashable took out a double-fronted, three story pub for two consecutive nights yet, in true publisher style, they sub-let the party to a slew of major sponsors. The Foursquare and Frog Design parties were easy to find (just look for the queues) but took hours to get into (just look at those queues!). The biggest event was the official closing party, thrown by Media Temple (mt) (yet another web hosting company), held at a 2,000 capacity open-air bar and featuring a live musical performance. By the Foo Fighters.

The money these parties must have burned through was simply astonishing, but they were packed to the gunwales with people pitching, angling, dealing, wooing, financing, networking and recruiting. It was just like being at the conference, only with a (free) drink in your hand.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “How to Launch an App”

Here’s the next episode, where ad agencies learn “Why You Shouldn’t Write Off Yesterday’s Hot Technology.”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

The shadow of Twitter (and Foursquare) loom large over SXSW. These two apps found their first public breakthroughs at the festival (in 2007 and 2009 respectively), and are now on their way to world domination.

Everyone start-up wants to be known as “SouthBy’s breakout app” and the key seems to be encourage usage, rather than awareness – a tactic followed religiously by the makers of Hashable, a location-based personal networking service.

The makers of Hashable stayed home, choosing instead to send 20 ‘power users’ to Austin to “hash” as many people as they could in 5 days. They pretty much ended up networking the entire town.
A group of young Aussies also made the trek to SXSW this year to launch their mobile audio tour-guide app called iTourU, setting up a presence at the Trade Show with assistance from Austrade, but relying mainly on enthusiastic users, who created almost 50 custom tours of Austin on the platform in the first few days of the conference.

Other notable launches included LiveShare (private group photosharing), GroupME, (private group messaging), Acts Of Sharing (private group lending your DVDs and stuff) and Neer (location-aware reminders, that could probably be configured for private groups, if that’s what you’re into).

I spoke to lots of these people, and more, in the podcast interview “12 SXSW elevator pitches in 12 minutes”

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “How not to pay for anything @ SXSW”

Stay tuned for the next episode when ad agencies learn “How to Throw A Party (Like You Mean Business)”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

 

It became quickly apparent that most start-ups, publishers and platforms believe the fast-track to revenue is to start working with big brands, and the agencies that service them. As the battle to impress marketers began in earnest, the downtown area of Austin devolved into a promotional gladiator pit and pretty much everything trended to free. Tacos, ribs, hot dogs, t-shirts, breakfasts, beers, wristbands, taxi rides, newspapers, web hosting, domain names, carry bags, portraits, test drives, tacos (again), energy drinks, coffee (none of it good), sunglasses and concert tickets were being palmed on every corner.

About the only freebie I failed to spot was a USB memory stick. Which is a pity, because there was a moment when I really, truly, needed one. The really striking thing was how few of the giveaways or promotional tricks were related to the positioning of the brand they were in the employ of, in any way shape or form. But what they lacked in brand synergy, they made up for in sheer volume.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn ”Why you should keep on (or start) playing video games.”

You’re ready for the next episode, when we take lessons in “How to launch an App.”

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.

Need to rewind? Catch the previous episode, where Ad Agencies learn “How to be useful”.

Watch the next episode, when ad agencies learn “How not to pay for anything” – a skill they are already pretty good at.

This video is part of the video blog series  “10 Things Agencies Can Learn From SXSW” presented by Barrie Seppings, Creative Director at Ogilvy Sydney.