SXSW is an annual conference held in Austin, Texas that focuses on interactive media, film and music. It brings together over 30,000 attendees from startups, large companies, agencies and influential speakers. The document discusses several trends observed by the author at SXSW 2012, including gaming for good, personalized "Me-TV", sonic interfaces, co-sharing resources, social pairing and using near field communication technology for applications beyond payments. It also summarizes panels on the future of television with the rise of on-demand viewing and social television. Potential emerging startups showcased at SXSW are briefly described.

1. Interactive : 9th-13th March
SXSW
South By South West
Ogilvy London Labs findings
By Will Harvey
@WilliamEdHarvey
South by SouthWest is a collective
collaboration of interactive, film
and music aimed at sharing, and
therefore more fully understanding,
the developments in the
technological and creative world
changing all around us.
SXSW is an event that hosts everything from
panels, mentor sessions, live demos and
networking opportunities. It helps the visitor top
up on knowledge and find inspiration from
forward-thinking, visionary speakers.
SXSW is split into 3 distinct sections :
Interactive, Film and Music, over10 days, which
also overlap with a number of cross-over sessions.
more about the consumers’ experience, rather
than just the technology itself. It often needs to
take a step back to allow creativity to flourish
hand- in-hand with new ideas and developments.
The injection of technology and exposure of
innovation as part of the creative development
process is what will often help take a good idea
and turn it into a great one.
This was my first experience of SXSW, and these
are some of my findings.
I’m happy to provide further feedback, in greater
depth, if you have a Client you feel might benefit
from any of the emerging trends above.
Held every year in Austin Texas, the city is
overwhelmed by 30,000 attendees. These range
from small start-ups, through large, international
creative agencies, technology innovators and also
feature key, influential speakers and Music icons.
Whilst considering the practicalities and
developments in technology and manufacturing,
the tech. industry knows that it needs to think
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@WilliamEdHarvey

2. SXSW 9th-13th March
Trends of SXSW
Top things to watch in
2012
“SXSW Interactive often
serves as a petri dish for
testing out new ideas and
innovations.”
During my time at SXSW there were a
number of subjects or ‘Trends’ that
surfaced, from talks and sessions I
attended. Here is a small selection of what
stood out for me, and that I want to share.
Gaming for good
One of the the key expressions I picked
up was ‘Gaming for good’. In its basic
form; playing games and receiving good
rewards for your gaming achievements.
Gaming is growing up and the industry
as a whole is starting to be seen as an
agent for change. An example might be
that British Gas could start motivating
its consumers that already game the
opportunity to embrace everyday green
behaviour whilst doing so, offering real,
tangible rewards using promotions or
money-off on a sliding scale, based on
how much they reduce their
consumption of resources and carbon
footprint.
Me-TV
With consumers being bombarded with
content from so many channels now, we
are going to need to find a way of
viewing what we want with out having to
wade through everything else this is
where ‘Me-TV’ comes in. Creating
personalised entertainment channels,
able to streamline access to content you
really want to see through the media
channels you like and use. This will
evolve through identification and
analysis of consumer’s behaviour,
interaction & preferences, delivering true
user-focused services.
Forrester Blog
“The show, dubbed ‘geek
spring break’ by some, has
grown beyond it’s music
and film roots to become a
gathering spot for venture
capitalists and some of the
biggest stars in the tech
world.”
CNBC
Sonic interface
With the continuing integration of
electronics into more and more aspects
of our daily lives the use of ‘Sonic
Interface’ is the next evolution of natural
user’s interface. Examples of this are
already becoming part of the home with
products such as Kinect, utilising inputs
such as voice command, recognition and
gesture control, this shows very basic
early possibilities for this natural next
step, from touch to swipe, from type to
speak.
Co-sharing
Another trend that was mentioned a lot
in the build up and during the event
itself was ‘Co-Sharing’. Digital
technology allowing anyone to find an
object or service they need, when they
want it, where they want it.
Rather than finding and purchasing
products and services from retailers or
large corporations, enabling co-sharing
Printed Electronics
Using the traditional to
create the future
Printed Headphones
The uses of Charged ink could change
the way we create printed material, to
make it more digital engaging and
opening up new creative possibilities.
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There were dozens of talks/sessions
looking at all aspects of creativity,
technology and consumer interaction.
One of the sessions brought to my
attention by Robin Dhara
@TheRedRobin, was a session titled
‘Can Printed Electronics save the music
industry?’ In this session I was
introduced to Dr Kate Stone, the
Managing Director of Novalia. She and
in the digital space means these items are
more often found in the hands of other
people - perhaps neighbours, or even
like-minded people even a great distance
away. An example of opening up new
services & co-sharing possibilities might
be a peer-to-peer car sharing service,
(perhaps Ford might embrace this new
branding opportunity?..)
Social Pairing
People with similar interests, hobbies and
needs have the opportunity to meet
today through smart services that take a
mix of social, location and demographic
data to create ‘Social Pairing’. A drinks
brand could take your check-ins &
suggest people who like the same local,
and pair you up with them and offer
promotions if you go to that venue
together.
her fellow panelists discussed and
showcased a new technology that
utilized the existing traditional printing
process. With the introduction of
charged ink, they have printed electronic
circuitry onto paper.
They showcased a number of projects
and products that had used this:
Interactive packaging, Paper
instruments, TRUE wireless speakers
and paper headphones. This opens up
huge possibilities for the world of
traditional print, through cost-effective
use of printed electronics.
@WilliamEdHarvey

3. SXSW 9th-13th March
Television is Dead : Long Live TV
The Golden age of TV
Truly Social Television
Social television is now upon us, ready or not. An
entire community of viewers simultaneously login
to Twitter, Facebook, Google+ to name a few.
Discussing current shows, sports and programming
live, this community are ignored at brands’ peril.
Whole new channels of content are being created
around what people are watching on tv, giving live
insight into opinions of brands and programming.
This original, instant, honest, content, fed back to
advertisers provides better understanding, and so
enhances and makes the content they are delivering
more impactful.
Everyone at SXSW agreed that SM is not just
another platform, it can be a different way to tell a
story as a co-companion and to enrich to a more
mainstream approach. Expert SM teams need (from
the very beginning) to be part of the initiation
process of an idea, opening up and creating a more
immersive experience for the viewer, adding new
and interesting interactions between the user and
the brand to create a truly immersive watching and
brand experience.
“People don't want to be told they
have to fit their lifestyle around a TV
Schedule, the consumer wants the
programming to fit round them with
the use of on-demand services”
Morgan Spurlock
Changing the Channel
One of the most packed sessions was chaired by
Hulu and had ‘Supersize Me’ maker Morgan
Spurlock and comedian Timothy “speed” Levitch
talking about the changing delivery of television
content and its future in relation to the on-demand
non- linear broadcasting television environment.
They discussed consumers demands from services
like Sky+ and iPlayer.
One of the subject areas that came up was
'Destination viewing' the linear style of television
broadcast where you have to be at the right place at
the right time to view the content you want.
Summary is that users are more than ever in control
of what they watch, when they want, where they
want. Therefore, with the on-demand power now
firmly in consumer’s hands, and the Internet in
An example covered in one talk I attended was
their pocket, a whole new series of challenges face
Superbowl ‘12. Coke ran an animated polar bear
‘traditional’ ad methodology and channels and call
campaign in ad breaks in the game, plus a live video for it to evolve and adapt to user’s wants and needs,
stream of the CG bears reactions to the game.
not the other way ‘round. It was discussed in
Coke were monitoring the twitter # around the
various forums that this must be seen and embraced
game and took the games’ score & user comments
as generating new openings and possibilities, not as
to feed into the breaks that followed, and the
a negative, giving yet more reason for serious resimultaneous video feed of the bears watching the
assessment of the role that ‘conventional’ TV ads
game to created a more personalised and viewerplay in the future for certain audiences. Innovative
tailored experience.
ideas, new approaches such as 2 screen viewing &
audio triggering create a more immersive, rich
experience for a viewer, surely a good thing?
Speakers
Every year SXSW host
a number of panels
with a wide range
world-renowned
speakers and this yesr
showcased the
greatest and most
influential people in
the Media and
innovation space.
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@WilliamEdHarvey

4. SXSW 9th-13th March
“NFC technology can’t be relied on to be
used as just a means of payment, vested
interest would be good for consumers by
looking at extended possibilities.
...an elderly person can’t remember all the
numbers of her family members & finds it
difficult to use a ‘phone , ..enabling the
photos she has in the house of her family
with a RFID chip, she would be able to
touch her phone to her pictures to call
them....’
James Davies
NFC
No Freaking Chance
With Near Field Communication (NFC) starting to be
integrated into a number of manufacturer’s handsets, what
does this mean for contactless data transfer and its possible
applications?
But at SXSW there was talk about the true adoption of the
technology by the everyday user and until the larger
manufacturing companies build it into future iDevices the
true potential use of it has yet to be fully unlocked.
NFC is not really a new technology. Its early form was
known as RFID, a passive technology used in a number of
everyday objects from key cards to Oyster cards.
NFC is now an active technology, allowing the transfer of
data between devices and there were many discussions at
SXSW about its possible applications going forward.
EXAMPLE: An elderly lady lives alone and struggles to
operate her mobile phone struggling to remember the
numbers of her family members. What you could it is enable
the photos she has around her house with RFIF stickers on
the back, each individually programmed to call that family
member in the photo. All she would have to do is tap her
phone to the picture to call her family , no need to remember
or type in propels numbers.
One of the key areas where the technology will be adopted
on a larger scale is the mobile payment space. A lot of
financial providers are talking about contact-less payments
and electronic wallets : Visa, American Express and Google
for a start.
Right now there are a number of Card providers that are
using contact-less technology in the new generation of cards,
Starbucks, Itsu already do and some taxi companies are too.
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This is an example of the kind of real world use that the
technology can bring to people’s everyday lives, thinking
outside the as yet small mobile payment box. The possibility
of using NFC in other spaces, not just as a form of payment
is a very exciting one and makes you think about what other
real world ‘contact experiences’ could embrace the use of the
technology.
@WilliamEdHarvey

5. SXSW 9th-13th March
Start-up Selection
See what is up and coming
By Trenz Pruca
Whilst at SXSW you get a chance to be exposed to fresh
thinking Start-Ups from around the world that could be the
next Foursquare or Instagram. Here’s a collection of who you
might want to keep an eye on...
The App Builder
Create an iPhone, iPad, Android &
Windows ‘Phone app. for free in minutes.
You have compete flexibility to change the
tab icons, headings and order, and you can
even publish your Facebook posts, Vimeo
videos and Google Doc forms. Insert your
own content, logo and splash screen, to
ensure your brand or business is presented
to your audience in the very best way.
Goosechase
GooseChase is an intense scavenger
hunt platform for the masses. You can
easily join huge international games
or create a custom hunt for you and
your buddies. For competitive people,
in-app leader boards and photo feeds
heat things up very quickly. It's bold,
crazy and highly addictive.
Condition one
Condition ONE is a technology
company developing next generation
immersive video applications. Their
flagship product is an embeddable
immersive video player for the iPad,
which is licensed to media companies
and brands. Condition ONE creates the
powerful emotional experiences of
being there.
Grandstand
Grandstand is a platform that
transforms social and mobile actions
(check-ins, likes, tweets, and SMS)
into real-time social games and eyepopping data visualizations, allowing
brands, agencies, retailers, stadiums,
or any venue with a display to reward
their crowd and enhance their overall
visitor experience.
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Shopcade
Shopcade is a social shopping application on
Facebook that connects people to shop and
recommend products together and get
rewarded for it. You can shop trending
products recommended by your friends and
people you trust, as well as become a
trendsetter by recommending products you
love. Whenever you buy via others'
Shopcades, or others buy via yours, you both
get rewarded
Product Resarch Studio
The Product Design Research Studio is
based in at the University of Dundee –
as part of the College of Art, Science
and Engineering located in the Duncan
of Jordanstone College of Art. They are
a group of researchers, tutors, PHD
students and designers. PAPER APPS is
three and a half years of exploring
potential applications for paper
electronics.
Banjo
Banjo is a mobile application that
taps into the biggest social networks
to provide an on-the-ground view of
what’s happening anytime, anyplace.
Banjo creates a new level of social
relevance by linking multiple
networks so you can explore and
discover the people and places you
would otherwise miss.
SwitchCam
Switchcam is a new video site for
watching any event, from every
angle. Using eye-witness videos on
YouTube and other sites, Switchcam
automatically reconstructs your
favorite real life events like concerts
and sports games so that you can
share the event experience - even if
you weren't there.
@WilliamEdHarvey