Dead or Alive: SXSW 2017. Weekend One Decoded: What’s Happening in Austin?
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Dead or Alive: SXSW 2017. Weekend One Decoded: What’s Happening in Austin?

Where is the 2017 buzz around SXSW? With the fest’s reputation, you’d expect the brand and tech communities to be lighting-up with news from the Austin based event. But the buzz from the conference in 2017 seems to have gone underground. Speaking to Steve Blakeman, Managing Director - Global Accounts at OMD in London - one would think SXSW fell off the radar….

“The news out of SXSW has been strangely muted this year. In previous years, it has been talked about as the cool new kid on the block and was rapidly becoming heralded as a potential successor to the likes of CES. However, 2017 seems to have become a bit of a speed bump with no huge hype about the event or any of the showcased technology. In fact, the main headline I saw was in ‘The Verge’ describing SXSW as “just one more place to stare at your phone” and went on to say “we are all here together… looking for the thing that isn’t where we are”. Sounds harsh but maybe it was fair given the lack of big news.”

Unlike other conferences, SXSW takes place all at once across the entire downtown area of a city: Austin, Texas. During the fest, events take place constantly and concurrently, ranging from music performances, to brand activations (such as the much needed/appreciated Comcast Lounge) to official panels/workshops on everything from The Future of Health to THE MUMMY Zero Gravity VR Experience. With the buzz not escaping Austin - here’s a window into some of the trends from opening weekend of SXSW Interactive.

Live video - as much as everyone rallied against declaring a new ‘platform of the moment’ for brands, it was clear that live video is the platform of the moment. During a Brand Innovators panel, an SVP of Digital at Hasbro gave brands concerned about making the leap to live video, some much needed advice. You have to do it, and you can’t be precious about it. Getting it wrong at first might result in an uproar from internet trolls ready to pounce on any brand effort not up to their standards, but the platform is all about speed and authenticity so you can’t let the trolls scare you off. For Hasbro, the first live effort missed the mark, and the trolls called for firings and blood. Undeterred, five days later, armed with new knowledge, they were live again. Since then, they’ve been off to the races.


AR/VR - Like all platforms of the moment like Snapchat stories, six second video, etc. brands are searching for the right approach to AR/VR. And it’s not just brands on the hunt, the largest AR/VR platforms are also looking for the killer app that transforms the tech from cutting edge to mainstream. Bottom line, there are some great early examples, but we aren’t there yet. Though sports may be one of the big growth drivers, watching games with AR goggles with friends on the couch - just isn’t going to happen, at least not with the hardware that exists today. And where there’s a need, there are smart entrepreneurs diving head-first to figure it out. At SXSW there were new companies already focused on making AR/VR turnkey for brands. More on that to come.

Health and Wellness. Surprising was the sheer volume of medical, health and wellness panels at the conference center for Interactive. At the panel Patient-Centric Healthcare: The Future of Health, I was shocked to ‘learn’ the newest identified health risk is sitting. “Sitting is the new smoking” the panelists said, opting to stand-up for the panel discussion. They invited the audience to stand, though we, for the most part, respectfully declined.

To wrap-up on a positive note - it turns out having a strong social support system is good for your health. In a study in which they injected 400 people with a virus (they do that), the participants with the strongest social support systems were the most resistant to the virus. In a contemporary twist on medical research, the study included data from participants’ Facebook networks. Could a strong, supportive Facebook network be good for your health? Seems so.

A (good) post a day keeps the Doctor away - so stop taking pictures of cappuccino art and get to SXSW next year - it’s good for you.

Stephanie Agresta

Founder and Managing Director of Ascendancy Events + Thought Leadership and Reputation Expert

7y

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