Head of digital at Ogilvy Melbourne, Ben Kidney, who joined Ogilvy Melbourne in December 2015 following a stint as Executive Producer at RG\A New York, reports his day by day experiences at SXSW.
Well I’m happy with my SXSW performance and experience this time, I participated in less of the night life and parties which positively impacted attendance of the actual conference... I’m have loved every minute of SXSW and Austin.
In this recap post I’ll do my best to highlight the technology, topics and brands that had the biggest *presence and impact at SXSW 2016.
Technology
By far the most talked about and showcased technology this year was virtual reality and it’s little sister augmented reality (although I personally didn’t see AR in action), there was a plethora of exhibitions, installations, topics, and manufacturers (hardware and software) showcasing their products. It’s exciting to see and experience the technology in action. Some of the experiences are better than others, hopefully now that the technology has been launched and released for public trial we’ll see a consolidation and focus on quality experiences for next year.
Artificial intelligence, was prominent however I’ve got to be honest here and say that the best example of this that I saw was the paper, rock, scissors robot at IBM, it was entertaining but not life changing. Japan House made the biggest effort to bring a strong AI experience and showcase the technology, maybe it was a cultural difference (or chasm) however I did not have any kind of intelligent interaction, weird and funny and cool, definitely. But not intelligent. That’s not to say Japan House and exhibit at the Convention Centre was not fantastic, it was, I just think the technology has a long way to go, I can imagine in a few years time we will look at this years AI as we would now looking back at VR in 2012.
Brands
All of brands and brand leaders, that I was impressed by, consistently reinforced the importance of 3 core principles which absolutely resonated with me:
1. The power of a company vision that all staff live and breath day-in-day-out
2. Company culture is as important as a product that they sell
3. The importance of storytelling in content and technology
Samsung had the consistently longest line to enter their installation and several impressive VR installations and experiences with Samsung Gear VR Headsets offering an excellent virtual reality experience. I went on a Six Flags roller coaster that was as close to the real thing as you can get. However seriously, the wait time on some days would have been more than three hours.
IBM showcased their artificial intelligence (AI) expertise they have dubbed ‘Watson’. The installation was diverse it included a crowd sourced art Installation, Robots that play paper, rock, scissors, a virtual reality bicycle ride through France on a exercise bike, and a bar that served personalised cocktails based on questions answered upon entry.
The US Government presented several sessions, representatives sat on many panels, and of course Obama’s keynote. The entire organisation (is that the right word?) presented themselves very well, knowledgeable, forward thinking, and for the benefit of the people. This was backed up with installations showcasing American inventors and inventions as well as very visible promotions staff handing out promo swag, who doesn’t love a trucker hat? The coordination, content and delivery of message was excellent and showed great intent on behalf of the government to transition to a modern technically minded organisation. I hope the Trump Administration continues the good work.
Mazda provided the best utility of the event, offering conference attendees free rides from the Convention Centre (home base of the conference). People simply lined up for free trips in new Mazda’s within downtown Austin.
And the brand that won SXSW this year… Under Armour. Not through an installation (or one that I saw) but through the thinking and work they’ve completed over the past 4 years that they chose to unveil through panels and Kevin Planks Keynote. Plank simply stole the show, he is fierce, proud and smart which all came across in his Keynote. My personal brand loyalties lie with Nike however Plank is an animal and Nike have a fight coming to them.
Closing
The conferenced wrapped up with the perfect Keynote speaker Andy Puddicombe, Andy is the (extremely) rare mix of being a former Buddhist monk and now founder of a start-up ‘Headspace’. He reinforced the importance of our own personal mental health and happiness in this always connected frantically paced technology fueled world that we live in. He summed up the sentiment of many speakers and sessions that I attended when he said “we are increasingly connected however feeling more isolated and alone”, he urged the 2500 strong audience to look for happiness within ones self, as it will not come from technology or gadgetry, he then took the entire audience through a guided meditation.
I finished SXSW 2016 the way I started it, with BBQ and Margaritas, which makes me happy.
*Disclaimer, there were hundreds of sessions and speakers a day and I think you’re doing well if you can make it to five or six the following list is by no means exhaustive.