For a music lover who wakes and sleeps surrounded by song, a morning of silence is rare. A quiet Sunday is especially rare, as this is a day I often devote to a special, self-defined genre consisting of songs that are good for doing laundry and lying in hammocks. But not this Sunday. This Sunday my ears and brain need to heal. But mostly, they need some time to cherish everything they’ve just seen and heard without tarnishing it with a return to recorded songs just yet.

This SXSW seemed even more satisfying than year’s past. The breadth of music was remarkable as was the variety of venues and their ability to make me better understand what makes our city so special. Here, an incredibly indulgent look back at the week, complete with links for anyone with the patience or interest.

The week started late night on Sunday with a trip to the Enchanted Forest for Silent Frisco. Enchanted, indeed.  All at once feeling not hipster enough and like I fit in perfectly under the most enormous disco ball I had ever seen, the hidden forest off Oltorf was a little piece of Austin I wouldn’t have imagined. Amidst a full-fledged bonfire and laser light show hundreds of people danced with lighted headphones, indicating their preference for the “green” or “blue” dj.  The silent community amazed me as I scanned the crowd to see the popularity of blue and green switch back and forth and the dancing get more intense. The energy was something you felt without hearing.  There was an indescribable sense of connection to anyone you passed whose headphone light was the color of your own. As the night got later and the djs got better, the lights switched more frequently, the crowd seeming to realize they were missing something great no matter which they chose and the djs battling it out for a silent but enthusiastic audience.

After a day full of interactive panels, Monday night was the Industry Party. I’ve long been aware of our agency’s ability to throw a great party but what made this one particularly special was that the bands featured were on many people’s “must see at SXSW” list and there’s something validating about hearing a band, Apache Relay, interviewed on Sirius radio’s special SXSW show just days after they performed at your office.  It was fun to play host at our own venue as the crowds poured in to Austin and Apache Relay along with Motopony and Heartless Bastards were the perfect entertainers.

A very late post-Industry party dinner at 24 Hour Diner made a Tuesday morning 9:30 interactive session improbable, but impossible for me to miss. My favorite music blogger, Heather Browne of Fuel Friends, was participating in a panel about music discovery and I couldn’t pass up a chance to hear the woman who brought me this post and Tyler Lyle talk about how she finds great music. It didn’t disappoint, partially because I learned about sites like wearehunted.com, wahwah.com and the radio station KCRW (which apparently, as a music person, I should have known about long ago) but also because it made me think about music discovery in general and what a big part of my life it plays. The panel made me realize about how much credence and effort I’m willing to give to a personal recommendation versus how quickly I’ll “thumbs down” a song on Pandora and secretly roll my eyes in disgust at how badly the algorithm has misjudged me.  It also made me wonder if all of these new tools are helping more people discover music or the same small group of music junkies discover more music?  But, mostly, the panel made me feel lucky to live in a time when all of this is happening.

Tuesday afternoon brought the first of serendipitous events, an ACL taping with the Alabama Shakes that I won through the ACL Blog. I don’t remember a band having as much hype as this one in a long time, evidenced by the fact they were asked to perform a legendry ACL taping before they even released their first album.  Soulful, all-encompassing blues rock, it took less than one song to understand the hype. Brittany Howard has a voice that is that perfect blend of raspy, elegant and authentic. When she sings, I believe whatever it is that she has to say.  The privilege of seeing that band in that venue was undeniable. (more…)

In the past days at SXSWi I had the chance to attend several sessions on how technology is influencing the way we think about and achieve fitness. From designing footwear and apparel to coming up with new ways of driving motivation and commitment from consumers, technology is playing an increasingly important role in the fitness world.

I found the “Sneakers and Technoly: A Love Story” presentation a fascinating one. Not only because I am passionate about brands, fitness, training and sports, but also because I am a project manager, and the complexity behind the design and marketing processes are fascinating in their own way. Jeff Lyman from Nike and Steve Caputo from Arnold Worldwide provided a synopsis of how signature footwear comes to life. Designers actually travel with the athletes and become intimately familiar with the athlete’s personalities, likes, dislikes, game style, etc, as well as with any specific needs the athlete identifies as an opportunity to improve performance. The approach of the designers is not to immediately come up with a beautiful design. Instead, they tackle the issues that will help the athlete perform better initially, and these end up driving the aesthetics. It is the creative process in action. Athletes, designers, engineers and marketers get together to come up with a product built for optimal performance and with a beautiful design.

As you know, the Nike Fuel band was also launched at SXSWi. With the slogan “Make it Count”, Nike provides a way to track your activity and provide the person wearing the band with a real time snapshot of how many calories you have burned, etc, etc. This band has a built in accelerometer which allows it to detect movement and translate it into “Nike Fuel points”, measure calories burned, steps taken, etc. Then, it synchronizes to the Fuel app on your iDevice (iphone, ipad, etc) to keep track of your activity overtime.

This is a cool variation of other activity tracking and coaching devices such as the miCoach pacer by adidas, or even the Nike+iPod system. This one, however, makes “everything” count. Not only actual training activities, but any daily activity, such as walking, dancing, etc, etc. This is a gadget that will attract not only people who are active in sports, but the everyday individual who wants to track their physical activity throughout the day. So if you want to get fit, technology is there to help you, literally, at every step of the way…

What do you do when you suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by the throng of sweaty hipster/fratboy/randoms trolling 6th Street for free shows and booze?

I don’t know.

But if you’d thought ahead, you’d have made a reservation at Midnight Cowboy, Austin’s latest hand-crafted cocktail spot. Yes, it’s reservation-only. And, yes, it’s in the same spot as that creepy not-just-massage parlor that got busted last year. They even kept the name.

But instead of feeling like a seedy former-brothel dive bar, Midnight Cowboy is like being transported to Boardwalk Empire. The lights are dim. The music is old-timey. You aren’t supposed to chat on your cell phone. And soft-spoken, mustachioed bartenders make very grownup drinks tableside.

It is the perfect antidote to over-SXStimulation.

Thanks to yelper Tiffaney L B. for this pic. I was too busy drinking to take one.

Seven days into SXSW and I can’t see straight (I promise it has absolutely nothing to do with the abundance of free alcohol). I am exhausted. So tired that during the concert this evening, instead of having the wherewithal to focus on the show in front of me, all I could think about was how the show related to work in some way. I think musicians can teach us tons about what we do every day. Here are just a few:

1. Bad stage presence can kill a show.

Just like a mopey singer staring at his shoes or unbearably awkward guitarist can take away from the viewing experience of a show, not being on your A-game in a presentation can, as we say in the comedy business, kill the room. Enthusiasm is important, but not too much because it gets easy for it to feel fake or desperate. Believe in what you’re doing, and beyond that, believe that the person you’re presenting to will do the same.

2. New stuff is great, but don’t forget the classics.

Everyone loves being the first to hear a new track from a new album, but everyone also gets huffy when more than half of a show is made up of new material. While on the other end, if you’re a band who has been touring on the same album for over a year, people start getting restless for new material. Advertising is the same way – everyone always wants to see the new stuff (digital, experiential, etc.), but they also want to know you can still play the songs they’ve always loved (TV, print). It’s all about knowing your audience and finding the balance.

3. Make it worth the wait.

The longer people have to wait to see you, the better your show should be, because once the investment is higher, so are the expectations. So make sure if there are lines, or a big lead time before your set starts that you’re prepared for that. In advertising, that means if you’re running a teaser campaign, make the reveal worth the teasers. If you’ve got a really awesome web thing (first, optimize, obviously), but second, make it cool enough that people don’t mind a bit of load time.

Alright. Two more days before SXSW2012 calls it quits. Let’s do this thing.

I stopped by the trade show and was completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in there. There was a Germany aisle, an Australia aisle and a Japan aisle with Harijuku girls and kimono clad pushers of technology, I think. I mostly walked by all this stuff glazed eyes until I saw Isis.

Isis Mobile Wallet is an App using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology that allows you to pay for stuff with your cell phone. You just simply tap your phone on the contactless payment terminal to pay. You can also use and receive merchant coupons too.

Want Isis? You’ll have to wait until this summer, of course Austin is a test market. You also have to have a HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Samsung Mobile or Sony Ericsson. It is unknown whether or not the iPhone 5 will include the NFC technology yet but, I for one, am keeping my fingers crossed.

BTW, Japan has already been doing this for like 5 years.

Isis in action.

Not the withdrawal from SXSW kind. The Alabama Shakes. After listening to their song “You Ain’t Alone” approximately 742 times last fall while editing Zales commercials, I finally saw them live yesterday. What a band. I highly, highly recommend catching them if you can.

1. Amazing magic tricks at the Tweethouse with fellow GSD&M Surrogate, Jocelyn, the founder of the Parnassus Group and a VP at OnStar. The situations you find yourself in at this spectacle that is SXSW are often hilarious and random.

2. Bat attack.

3. Getting chauffeured around Austin for free on an empty tour bus with Jocelyn.

4. Panel – Virtual Gets Physical, The Future of Installations. Got some great ideas for GSD&M clients for experiential projects. The panelists also collected a great assortment of installation videos on a Tumblr they made; a great resource to have for future brainstorming!

5. VIP access with fellow Surrogate, Jenn, to see Polica and Ghostland Observatory at the newly reopened club, The Belmont. If you haven’t checkout out Polica yet, you need to. They are one of the most talked about bands at SXSW so far.

Polica – Wandering Star

6. Networking with attendees – Ok, I know this isn’t necessarily a “Moment,” but this was definitely one of my favorite parts of SXSWi (that counts for something, right?). Whether it was connecting with people virtually through Twitter hashtags or physically standing in line at the Squarespace free food truck, the ideas that were shared are invaluable for people in our constantly evolving industry.

7. Free birthday Moonshine brunch with my friend, Whitney, on Sunday at the Turner Revive Lounge. This is one of the best brunches in Austin, and Turner gave it to us (and all other Interactive attendees) for free on my birthday! Thanks for the present, Ted!

8. In the Jane McGonigal session, she mentioned baby animals’ ability to actually improve your life with their cuteness. Most people who know me, know why this is on the list. Baby animals SLAY me (judge me all you want, sorry I’m not sorry). Oh, and Jane’s talk was pretty great too. If you missed it at SXSW, check out her TED talk, the girl has got some great ideas that will probably change the world.

9. Cooking Channel party at Easy Tiger. Good (free!) food + Good (free!) drinks + Good people = Amazing time

10. Panel – The Time Bandits, The Next Revolution in Social – This panel had representatives from apps like Red Rover and Forecast, and revolved around the idea of apps as providers of whim and delight. The conversation was great with a lot of crowd participation.

I guess to land on this list, something really only needed to be in one of three categories: fun, informative or free, and SXSWi sure did deliver.

As a b-boomer I have alot to learn much about Millennials, their insights and buying power. Millennials are the generation born between 1981 and 2000 (although years vary over different resources). They are engaged online more than any generation and have changed our ways of messaging. They are driving collaborative consumption in that they want involvement in new products, but not always from the ground up; they’ll leave it to someone else to design as long as their input is considered.

Two thirds of Millennials firmly believe they will become famous. They thrive in hives, building communities around friends who think and live within similarities. They’re adept at projecting marketing messages and can detect bullshit. They possess nearly a trillion dollars in spending power.

Millennials also like firsts. They want to be firsts at anything, they want to see firsts in online content. Chevy took that cue to develop their campaign, which shows their cars skydiving, bungee jumping, doing other stunts. The online campaign was up for five months, with cars selling out. Enjoy the ride.

Chevy teamed up with MTV/Scratch to re-imagine the automotive experience from concepts to ownership and recently put young buyers in charge of product planning through two concept coupes. Taking a cue from the software industry, the Chevrolet concepts serve as prototypes to start a discussion, to iterate and co-create the future of transportation. In order to do so, they crowdsourced students from UCLA, Pepperdyne and high schools to find out what they want in a car. The findings shows that youth want total connectivity in an automobile, low cost, high performance, 2-door with 4 seats. These concept cars are two interpretations of the results. Which would be yours?

The sessions targeted to youth over the last four days really illustrate how messaging has changed and will continue to evolve in order to engage and mesmerize this highly intelligent, independent segment of the market who know what they want.  These peeps are smart and the challenge to provide them with unmatched user experiences lies ahead.

Fellow SXSurrogate, Melanie Mahaffey and I had the pleasure of running into this hot piece of completely absurd “outdoor advertising” after our 3:30 panels. This tighty-white wearing, cowboy hat topped, branded, man was impossible to miss upon leaving the convention center. Better yet, he was accompanied in Austin by a parade of people sporting flesh colored unitards with the same “let’sgetnaked.com/cool sculpting” signange.

What exactly were they trying to drive SXers to? I admit, I was a bit curious myself after this encounter so I typed in the letsgetnaked.com url.

My advice: DON’T DO THAT.

Luckily, I was on my work computer, so whatever X-rated site that url would have taken me to is blocked. So, after googling “coolsculpting” (the brand underneath the url on his underpants, I arrived here: www.coolsculpting.com.

I guess it’s some type of non-surgical way to lose unwanted fat. Thought it was a weird site/product to be so flamboyantly advertising during one of the biggest interactive festivals in the country. But it’s SxSW, brands and people have to really standout for people to stop or care. Regardless, you have to admire the total absurdity and creative effort the arguably “boring” brand put forward.

So, thank you weird, tan, underpants wearing, guitar player for gracing us with your presence this week.

Well folks, the fun is halfway over. We’ve seen rainstorms, traffic jams and endless lines at the badge pick-up stations, but none of these things have dampened the spirits of our enthusiastic SXSurrogates. They have been out and about since Friday gathering insight among brands and media/tech insiders to embrace the newest trends of the digital age. It has certainly been a fun run, but the time has come for the swarms of social media elite to pack up their things while the music-goers take their place in continuation of the 2012 Austin takeover. Lets take a step back and ask our surrogates, what have we learned over the past few days of SXSW Interactive?

Mazen Hassan presents the highlight of his SXSWeek – a conversation with Seth McFarlane.

Did anyone catch Rainn Wilson’s discussion on his web-based spiritual brainchild, SoulPancake? Mark Bielik explains.

Stuart Knowlan gives a glimpse of those who played dress-up for this year’s conference.

“Feel Rich wants to do for health what Steve Jobs did for technology: make it really, really cool.” Whaaaat? Read more from Andrea Boettcher’s recap of Paul Wall’s community advancement program in the panel Feel Rich: Health is the New Wealth.

Joel Parr caught a conversation between Sean Parker and Vice President Al Gore on the intersection of democracy and the internet. Check out his commentary here.

Free swag…? How and where?! Tim Yuen gives the lowdown with his nifty guide.

Also, don’t forget to check out photos from Monday night’s Industry Party courtesy of Boothify. The night was nothing short of a success as we all gathered under the stars (yep, all 1000+ of us!) for a night of music, art, drinks and mingling. Thanks to everyone who came out!

To wrap things up, let’s check out our SXSurrogate of the day… Reagan Ward! She’s a writer here at GSD&M and will be attending both Film and Music portions of SXSW this week. Read her latest blog post here and stay tuned for her thoughts on SXSW throughout the week. Her Austin Trinity includes Curra’s Grill for the eats, Lamberts for the drinks, and The New Movement Theater for just hangin’ out.

Have a happy SXSWednesday!