Newsroom
Rebels, Freaks and Prophets: Inside the World of SXSW Interactive
by Wunderman
Austin, March 14, 2011 — QR codes and gaming, privacy and transparency, parties and people rallying around the tragedy in Japan. These are all the topics on the lips of those attending South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, a four-day melee taking place in Austin, Texas. The Wunderman network is right in the mix with speakers from Blast Radius, ZAAZ, and RTCRM all getting the conversation going.
“South by”, as it’s commonly referred to, is the place that put Foursquare and Twitter firmly on the map and the thousands of festival goers here are all looking to discover – or be discovered. The launch of the iPad2 has been marked by some here, but many were talking about the 22-year old wonderkid Seth Priebatsch, founder of SCVNGR (a mobile social gaming platform) and whether or not he is the next Mark Zuckerberg.
Inside the session rooms the debates and dialogues have been fiery. ZAAZ’s Rich Devine kicked off the Wunderman network’s participation at SXSW with a look at mobilizing performance from search.
The need for transparency and roles of social media, and the parts of privacy and responsibility play were themes at RTCRM’s Carlen Lea Lesser and ZAAZ’s Jason Carmel’s lively discussions. These sentiments were echoed at several other seminars and panels and the trend is clear: know what you want to do with social media and other media channels, and be willing to look the consumer straight in the eye.
While the talk is mostly tech, the ramifications are very clear: remain current or be left behind. “We know these days the technology solution and the creative solution walk hand in hand,” said Nick Moore, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman in New York. “Ideas are cheap; it’s bringing things to life that really matters.”
The SXSW community is also rallying around the devastation in Japan. Several impromptu fundraisers as well as website http://sxsw4japan.org/ have sprung up overnight. Still ahead for SXSW is today’s opening of the 2011 Trade Show and a presentation from Blast Radius’ Pamela Villacorta on project management.
You can keep up with the live action and different perspectives either on Wunderman’s own Twitter account, the official website of SXSW: http://sxsw.com/interactive or, on our client Nokia’s blog: http://conversations.nokia.com/tag/sxsw.
