sxsw 2016: quick and dirty highlights

Highlights This Year

• Obama on technology• Branded experiences, not just content• Artificial intelligence• New influence• Revitalized medium: audio• Healthy tech• Self-driving cars

Obama on technology

The unexpected couple: technology and Government

How can we use data, analytics and tech more effectively?

“It is much easier to order pizza or a trip than it is for you to exercise the single

most important task in democracy, and that is

to select who’s going to represent you in

government.

What does it mean?

Branded experiences,Not just content

Is 2016 (finally) the year of VR and AR?

“A new computing

platform always emerges every

10 or 15 years… [and] VR is

currently the most promising

candidate.” Mark Zuckerberg

Exponential growth expected

What does this mean for brands?

• Brands will need to create immersive experiences, not just photos or gifs

• This is an opportunity for sophisticated storytelling and deeper consumer engagement

Lessons from Pro’s1. The Medium Is The Message:

continuous push and pull between content, narrative, and technology.

2. The Fidelity Contract: The creator must set their priorities so as not to overwhelm the audience.

3. Establish The North: Introduce a focal point; people need to know where to look and how to follow the story.

4. Solve The Role Of The Camera: is the camera a character or invisible presence?

5. Test, Test, and Test: Make sure the story truly engages the audience.

Ricardo Laganaro, film director at O2 Films (and Director of Facebook’s most-viewed 360 video) and Gabo Arora, Filmmaker and UN Senior Advisor. Read more: http://www.ogilvydo.com/events/sxsw-2016/is-the-future-of-storytelling-blue/

A baby step

• Start with 360 video or AR, it’s the easier way in.

• Play with the technology via Google Cardboard (~$10)

• Experiment with Haptics: “Touch is the most powerful human sense we experience in our everyday lives” Immersion

• Try haptics out: www.immersion.com/experience-haptics/

Artificial Intelligence

Will AI replace humans?

Friendly AI: Meet Pepper

• Softbank’s Pepper uses Watson’s natural language processing and analysis.

• Softbank did an excellent job at making AI personable, relatable and likeable.

Epic photo by Aashish Chandarana, SVP Business Operations at News Corp

What does this mean for brands?• It’s not the future, AI has arrived.• IBM’s branded SXSW experience had the complete smart data

experience that led to better service and even personalized cocktails!• Extremely advanced data processing to reveal insights, patterns and

relationships. For example governments can use it to determine most unsafe corners in a neighborhood to redirect police resources.

• Enables advanced marketing personalization. Imagine if your Uber driver knew if you liked being spoken to or being left in silence? Or if they knew your preferred route?

• Could you partner to create new services and products?

New Influence

Social media was the great democratizer

“In the world of social everyone

can be a celebrity or a

critic... It's the great

democratiser”Kerry Washington, actress

Some influence is positive: eSports

Other influence is not

What does this mean?

• Brands must navigate the influencer 2.0 territory carefully

• Tech brands have a role in preventing online harassment. Read more: http://www.ogilvydo.com/events/sxsw-2016/ibms-lisa-hammitt-on-techs-role-in-curbing-online-harassment/

• Content creators have defined the ‘rules of engagement’ in this new world. Find out what they are: www.slideshare.net/OgilvyWW/the-digital-social-contract-54664482

• Prepare for the good, the bad and the ugly with a thorough crisis plan

Revitalized Medium: Audio

Live Audio Apps: will they replace Twitter and blogs?

What does this mean?

• Audio content is not dead. Just make it shorter and sharper.

• Especially useful for B2B brands. • Wonder if this means podcasts will

become less popular? Right now there is integration but perhaps podcasts will become less relevant.

Healthy Tech

Healthy living enablement: Muse, meditation made easy

• Brain sensing headband

• Tells you exactly what’s happening while you meditate with accurate real-time feedback answering: are you in the moment? When? For how long?

Healthy living enablement: Icaros

• Seemingly the next evolution of the Peloton Exercise Bike with online streaming.

• Markets itself: “Plug in. Zone out. Get ripped.”

• “Fly through virtual worlds and exercise at the same time… we call it Active VR”.

Do Good Tech: 3D printing for children without limbs

What does this mean?

• The health tech movement is not dying: it’s becoming more practical

• Could you partner with one of these innovative technologies or devices? Think Lulu Lemon and Muse.

• How can your product and brand promote healthy living or wellness?

• For pharma and health brands, could your R&D team share results or conduct research live?

• Should a pharma have an event activation at SXSW 2017?

Self-driving cars

Google’s self-driving cars• Biggest challenge is technology, not regulatory environment and

consumer attitudes. Evident in the recent (and first) Google self-driving car crash in California in February.

• Pricing (whenever Google’s launches) will be relatively accessible because the hardware isn’t too expensive (the upfront research and tech costs are pricey).

• Weather proposes a challenge: "Places where the weather is good, where the roads are easy to drive, the technology might come there first," Urmson said. "And then once we have confidence with that, we'll move to more and more challenging locations."

Questions?

Hannah LawVice President, Regional

Social@Ogilvy@HannahLaw

Peter FasanoGlobal Consulting Principal, Digital Strategy, OgilvyRED

@PFasano

Hugh ForrestDirector,

SXSW Interactive Festival@Hugh_W_Forrest

Lisa HammittCognitive Computing and

Data Science Executive, IBM@LisaHammitt