Day 2 Reflection at #SXSW 2013 by John Bell, Global Managing Director, Social@Ogilvy.

1. Day 2
2013
Reflection
John Bell
Global Managing Director
March 2013

2. @SPREDFAST
The Software as Service
Industrial Complex has
landed everywhere
Salesforce completely made-over HandleBar as the Cloud Bar – new paint
job and all. BazaarVoice held their 2 Day customer summit a few days before
SXSW started – excellently done. Spredfast threw a party with almost 1000
people next to their centrally-located HQ. The Dachis Group now a software and
services company held their Social Business Summit. This is serious business.
Those companies enabling the expansion of social-related services – the new
marketing – were here in full force.

3. Sessions on Brand Fans
and Advocacy are
busting at the seams
As always, the session subjects are all over the map. There aren’t that many
clearly focused on brands. Those that had a ‘brand fan’ or advocacy-related
label were teaming. This included the session featuring Shiv Singh from Pepsi.
That session shared about the Super Bowl program and the ‘Do Me a Flavor’
crowdsource program for Lays. The panelists were great about offering insights
into the work and not simple platitudes.

4. The Gems are
in There…
Somewhere
In terms of actual sessions, it is a complete haystack. In the spirit of mixed
metaphors, finding the gems in the haystack is all about luck. The signal-to-
noise ratio is high. I attended a session on “Tech-first Brainstorming” led by Will
Turnage from RGA. The headline didn’t do the session justice. I left filled with
ideas about how to apply bits and bobs to what I do. Not going to sessions at all
would leave you gem-less and noisy.

5. Hospitality touch-
downs have become sooo
wonderfully awesome
Brands and tech companies know that the ever-growing SXSW Interactive (24K?)
is stressful. And then it rains. So, many have set up great touchdowns. Spreecast
had one in the W. My favorite was Mass Relevance. An Austin Ventures-backed
company with a great UGC-management tool, they opened their doors to
friendlies who need a place to take a meeting, tackle some work, just plain sit
down or….have a warm cookie.

6. Serendipity turns
SXSW into magically
worthwhile
I ran into Jory and Lisa from BlogHer, David Sifry from Technorati, The guys from
M80. And here’s the topper: Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, gave an inspiring talk about
his Las Vegas project at the SBSummit. A few years ago, I introduced Tony as a
keynote at WOMMA. I did the introduction from inside the Weinermobile, which we
had parked inside the hall. A whip-smart woman – Alana - was the team leader of
the Weinermobile. Turns out she sat next to me at the Social Business Summit at
SXSW and now she works for Blippar - the awesome AR app that is taking FMCGs
by storm. Even as it grows, you will always make great connections at SXSW.

7. THERE'S A LOT TO SORT
THROUGH AT #SXSW
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