The Struggle is Real: SxSW2015 Day 4 in 5 Must-Attend Sessions

Good morning and welcome to Monday! We’re on to Day 4 of the marathon that is SxSW and according to the tweets from brands and agencies – it has been serious fun! It’s a hard life being able to learn from some of the smartest minds in the business, while getting to party with some of the coolest names in entertainment AND get some seriously sweet swag, but somebody’s gotta do it!

For those of you who are just joining us, I also curated schedules for Days 1, 2 and 3 of Interactive and even though those events are over – I’d like to think that I was able to capture the state of marketing right now through the selection of events and you should definitely check them out. For today’s schedule, I’ve got six events – but four time slots, which in my understanding of math, averages five events that you must attend at Day 4 of SxSW – #flawlessmathlogic.

9:30 AM – Evolve or Die: The Traditional Agency Revolution Link

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9:30 AM – Bloggers and Beyond: Brand Partnership & Influencers Link

The evolution of marketing took a sharp turn with the advent of digital media, and like in the animal world – unless you can adapt, you don’t make it. It wasn’t simple and it wasn’t clean, but it was inevitable. SEO, Social media, Big Data, analytics, wearables, native advertising, brand journalism, etc are just some of the avenues that have been added to a good agency’s portfolio – not just for their clients but for the agencies themselves. For example, you should already know how to leverage social media to help you win new business! Hear from the ad men and women who are charged with driving change within these agencies, and learn about what they see for the future of the big agency.

Chances are that you’ve heard of Zoella – the YouTube blogger who got famous with her lifestyle videos, whose channel has over 7 million subscribers, over 330 million video views, is the 59th most subscribed channel on the website and has an audience so loyal and invested, it would make grown marketers and global brands weep.

So how do brands get in on some of that action? Whichever industry your brand falls in, there is probably an influencer that your potential audience trusts. Whether you’re trying to identify your brand’s top influencers, or build a content strategy using your competitors’ influencers, you need to be able to capitalize on this influence. Brands of all sizes need to learn connect with engaged social media users in ways that lead to deeper connections with customers and new brand loyalists.

12:30 PM – Beyond 140 Characters: How to Stretch Your Limits Link

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12:30 PM – Privacy, Patents, Social Media, Oh My! Link

As the late, great Peter Drucker reminds us all – there’s a fundamental and important distinction between efficiency and effectiveness. Producing content is only half the battle nowadays, and the struggle to stand out from the ‘noise’ can be daunting. If you’re spinning your wheels and just doing social “well enough,” it may be time to step back and examine your larger social strategy.

The first session explores how some of the biggest brands are successfully standing out and will unveil some best practices from a diverse set of brands from CPG, Retail, and Financial Services. #Beyond140

We loved the name of the second event, and we really loved its description – a great forum for individuals attending to converse about the industry, dish the dirt on our respective practices, and collaborate on new issues that are coming up or that we may foresee in the new tech and social media on display at SXSW. Sounds like a fun place to be, right? #BizAffairs

3:30 PM – Why Your Content Marketing Is Failing, and the Fix Link

Benchmarking is the fundamental metric our culture uses as a form of validation, self-worth and all too often, measurement of happiness. Content marketers today have the accountability of an editor but without the newsroom, or the audience to support them, and it can get really frustrating, really fast.

This presentation looks at strategies that content marketers need to keep in mind from the outset, from effective editorial strategy and promotion to setting and tracking to meaningful goals. #contentfix

5:00 PM – SADvertising: Why Tears Are the New Tactic Link

Raise your hand if P&G’s Thank you Mom ads made you weep like a child when you first watched them. If your hand is down you are either a heartless beast, or a dirty liar. Their ‘Pick Them Back Up’ advert, released around the same time as the Super Bowl ad blitzkrieg last year, received more views than all but three Super Bowl commercials at the time. In fact, the three most engaging Sochi campaigns triggered strong emotion and were essentially tear jerkers – from tears of gratitude to tears of patriotism and vicarious pride – advertisers had us reaching for the tissue box and then coming back for more!

Hear from brands and advertisers on both sides of the (sob) story to learn when sentiment trumps logic and how to incite that deeper connection without being emotionally manipulative. #SadAds

If you’d like my recommendations for the rest of the event – just subscribe to the blog and get these curated schedules delivered straight to your inbox!

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