Day one at SXSW in Austin delivered on all expected fronts. Throngs of people descended upon the Austin Convention Center to pick up their badge and attend sessions which began at 2PM. But before sessions began, there was much mingling and plenty to do thanks to brand like Pepsi which set up an entire "playground" area called the Pepsi Max Lot adjacent to the convention center. There attendees could check out bands on a stage, play foursquare (the real kind), drink tons of Pepsi product. enjoy the sun on couches and generally mingle with friends.
Sony took over an entire bar and converted it into Playstation Central. CNN took over an entire restaurant even replacing the restaurant's sign with a fully branded one of their own. And Fast Company took over the Moonshine restaurant and served up a delicious lunch to those lucky enough to have been invited.
Inside the convention center, the Samsung-sponsored TechSet lounge was a happening place for bloggers who were treated to a live performance by He is We, given the chance to play games, drink and eat and hang with their fellow blog mates.
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SXSW starts today and if yesterday was any indication, brands will have the biggest presence ever at the five day interactive conference in Austin. Historically, the gathering has always been for uber geeks and super techies but in the past few years brands have taken an increased interest in SXSW and what it has to offer. Which is a lot. From content, to connections to thousands of impressionable souls, the geekfest is, well, no longer a geekfest. Rather, it's become an full blown marketing event. And not just an industry event either. It's a chance for brands to get in front of actual consumers.
A stroll through the Austin Convention Center and surrounding areas made it clear, the conference is no longer a conclave for widget heads. Oh, they're all still here...and grumbling about the "invasion" of "marketing people" but they, perhaps for good, have been silenced by the deafening size and scope of an increasing number of brands who have decided to stake a claim here in Austin.
From Sony to Samnsung, to Chevrolet to Pepsi and many, many more, the ACC and surrounding areas have been plastered with some of the most elaborate brand statements we've ever seen. Yes. SXSW is no longer the geekfest it once was. And as we've said, it's been heading away from that cute little anachronism for some time now but this year, well, this year the brands have taken over every last square inch of Austin.
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This guest article is written by The Hours CEO Fabien Moreau and addresses the importance of using musicians in campaigns and how that approach can help build brands and sell their products.
There's been a significant up-tick in the number of well-known recording artists lending their names, music and public persona to brand-name designers' promotional campaigns. And while the strategy can be lucrative and beneficial for both parties, such a match requires mutual respect for and understanding of the value each brings to the relationship.
From Lady Gaga to The Ting Tings and Lou Reed, musical artists have begun lending their talent and image to the promotional efforts of luxury brands in ways never before seen in the marketing industry. Beyond the traditional concept of celebrity endorsement or paid spokesperson status, today's musical marketing marriages bring a much deeper level of creative influence to the message and the campaign.
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With the popularity of Groupon, LivingSocial and others, the daily deal space is quickly becoming a market unto itself. And when that happens, there's sure to be a conference to follow. Enter the Daily Deal Summit.
Held April 6 at New York's Grand Hyatt, the conference will dive deep into the topic with speakers such as LivingSocial's Jake Maas, SailThru's Neil Capel, BuyWithMe's Andrew Moss, RapLeaf's Auren Hoffman, Thrillist's Mike Rothman and many others.
Check out the conference here and use this link to get 20 percent off the price of registration.
Denver agency Cactus is out with new work for the Colorado Lottery. The agency was charged with developing a "fun and memorable" method of promoting the lottery's new St. Patrick's Day themed Shamrock Shuffle scratch ticket.
The agency's solution? Lyrically linguistic Lucky Liam the leprechaun. Liam raps about his bangin' life and how lucky he is which, of course, is to convince the rest of us we can be lucky too. If only we drop a little coin to buy a Shamrock Shuffle scratch ticket.
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Here's a couple on interesting pieces of work from Jung von Matt/Elbe. The first, for Mercedes Benz calls attention to the vehicle's Pre-safe precrash system which works to automatically avoid accidents. The agency created projections which is placed on walls near hard to see corners which allowed drivers to see around the corner thereby helping to avoid potential collisions.
The second, for a local concert hall, the agency held a live concert...for cows. Yes. Why? Because apparently cows produce more milk when they listen to classical music. What does this have to do with a concert hall? Well, the agency introduced a brand of milk from these cows. The milk bottle labels contained information about the concert hall. It all seemed to work brilliantly giving the concert hall its most financially successful season ever.
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It seems YouTube lip-syncing kid Keenan Cahill has been busy lately. We just saw in in Jennifer Anniston's SmartWater video and now here he is in some new work from Evolution Bureau for Juicy Fruit. Cahill has been teamed with the brand's Serenading Unicorn for some video foolery courtesy of a lip-synced rendition of Devo's Whip It.
Two more videos are scheduled to follow on March 22 and April 5. So stay tuned for more whackery. Visitors to the Serenading Unicorn site can also choose from a selection of Wallpost Serenaded to junk of their friend's Walls.
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London-based creative agency (Beta) - yes, the parentheses are part of their name - is set to launch a series of TV ads for online bingo site Jackpotjoy.com, in support of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.
English actress Barbara Windsor appears as the 'Queen of Bingo' to encourage people to play specially created Red Nose Day games. This is the first year Jackpotjoy.com is an official supporting partner of Comic Relief, with all profits raised donated to Comic Relief.
Breaking March on ITV, a series of commercials will feature Windsor at home surprising a host of celebrity callers including her Carry On co-star Leslie Phillips and old Eastenders enemy Larry Lamb. New celebrities will be revealed in different ads leading up to Red Nose Day on March 18.
All we can say is that this is some very weird and wacky work.
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So what does a creative do in his spare time? No, not play Foosball. That's old school. He creates and iPhone app, of course. And that's just what RKCR/Y&R's Dan Hubert did recently when he unleashed iLazer, an app that allows you to add laser beams to pictures you have on your device or from Facebook. Images can then be shared to Twitter and Facebook.
Why anyone would actually wants to waste there time doing this is...oh wait...we waste countless hours screwing around with images here so we'll probably love this app.
The app is tied to a website that showcases the best and most inventive zapped snaps. There's also a section called CELEBRITiLazer where snaps of the rich and famous are zapped revealing their roving eyes.
Good God! Between her bulging boobs and her sing-song, come-hither voice, who would ever realize Kim Kardashian was actually trying to sell us something? We can't get past the imagery of her sitting right on...uh...in front of us just talking. About anything. Anything at all.
OK. Back to business. Yes, in this particular case, Kim Kardashina is, indeed, selling us something. She's selling us that strange looking and sicky-sweet tasting liquor called Midori. Hate the stuff. But if Kim's selling, we're...wait...what were we talking about? Oh right. Kim Kardashian's boobs.
No wait. Sorry. We got confused there for a minute. Kim Kardashian wants us to drink Midori. She thinks it's a fashion accessory. And it tastes good. And it's not too strong. And now that she's 30, she's decided to drink. And, for Midori, that's a very good thing.
Random trivia: Kim thinks her best physical feature is her eyes. And she can't even say that without laughing.
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