iris SxSW Bites 2016

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confidential © 2016Conﬁdential © 2016
SXSW
BITES
Making SXSW Digestible

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With elaborate, broad brushstrokes, this year’s “South by”
delivered a colorful palate of messages that reﬂected the canvas
that is our current landscape, while providing a glimpse of what
our future holds. It is safe to say that the conference, now in its
30th year, is fully matured into a marketplace for entrepreneurs
and investors, where the traditional excitement of start-ups and
breakout companies competes with an inﬂux of new interests,
ranging from industry sponsors, public sector presence, and
university innovation.
Last year, the focus was on authenticity, this year it was all
about call to action. Perhaps it was the absence of a killer new
break out app or because President Obama stole the attention
of the entire city as the opening keynote. Or maybe it was the
universal narrative of problem solving that attempts to identify
what drives human behavior. Regardless of the technology,
marketers and brands are searching for the best way to make a
seamless integration into consumer’s lives and reproduce the
human experience.
We took a week to think about the sidelines, the main stage, and
conversations we had, and landed on several themes that
permeated throughout the social fabric that is the SXSW
experience.

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I was the cool, early

adopter president.

-Barack Obama
The nexus of all things cool

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THE BIG THEMES

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After 30 years, SXSW was finally able to capture the attention of both the POTUS and the
First Lady. President Obama led the conversation on civic engagement in the 21st century,
and helped set the tone for rest of the conference. Several salient points were made over
the course of the interview that reflect key issues and challenges as the roles of
technology, media, and marketing blend together:
On barriers for change: “We’re the only advanced democracy in the world that makes it
harder for people to vote. You’re laughing, but it’s sad…We systematically put up barriers
and make it as hard as possible for our citizens to vote. It is much easier to order pizza or a
trip than it is for you to exercise the single most important task in a democracy, and that is
to select who is going to represent you in government.”
On disruption: “The US Government is currently going through a form of disruption–
taking technology (our daily life) and transposing them into tired & old government
practices is alien and requires an overhaul. Healthcare.gov is the first example of this.”
On meeting the needs of our neighbors: “We’re failing those who need it most by not
supplying them with efficient ways to get what they need: veterans, immigrants, single
parents, future students.”
On Participation: “These are solvable problems. It’s not a matter of us passively waiting for
somebody else to solve it, and that’s part of the mindset that I’m trying to break.”
President Obama’s key messages centered on the idea of trade-offs for Americans–in
that we all have a responsibility to guarantee each other’s well-being and safety.
#1: Politics and Public Authorities
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BRANDS
It’s not about ideologies or future gazing. World-changing
things are happening now. Ignore them at all of our peril.
Get involved, make a difference, change the world for the
better.

Despite political leanings, we all agreed that we expect to
see more collaboration and greater presence from the
public sector space.

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From wearables to fashion to connected vehicles, to countless other IOT-based devices,
this year’s SXSW highlighted the continued interest for the Internet of Things.
While we were dazzled by the latest tech, it’s still clear that we are just beginning to
scratch the surface. In the context of the smart home, devices are not what makes a
home smart—they are just the arms—you still need a head. This is relevant
because with our current set of tools, there are still many user challenges.. For
instance, why is turning on a light with an app better than a switch? It takes nearly
20x as long to open an app and select than it does to touch a switch [Colin Angle, CEO
& Co-Founder, iRobot Corporation, Robots and IoT session].
So where does this lead us? The 2nd generation of IoT will be in the form of connected
device hubs that begin stitching together devices which are too complex in present
state; and we’re well aware that customers don’t have a great history with complexity
(just think about the ubiquitous blinking clock on the VCR).
When things get exciting is when we start thinking about 3rd generation devices. What
is 3rd generation? This is when devices should tick things off your list, not add to
them, and the experience will be simple, automated, and personal.
#2: The Internet of Connected
Everything

The landscape is still highly fragmented and
manufacturers are competing for control of space as well
as addressing security and privacy issues. Immediately,
devices are still capturing data. Revolution will arrive
when devices begin talking to themselves and the data
begins to learn and help to change human behavior.
By 2025, the smart home
industry will reach $200B.

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The continued proliferation of narrowcast networks, i.e., snapchat, FB messenger,
newly integrated features for Twitter, and WeChat all under-shadow the natural
progression of conversational UI.
Taking a step back, it’s helpful to think about how the data-driven information age
has precipitated massive disruption. 90% of the world’s data was created in the
past 2 years [Present Tense: The First Now-Centric Civilization, Speaker: Nova
Spivack (CEO & Co-Founder @ Bottlenose)], and real-time analytics has produced
foundational shifts in how we communicate.
Information density continues to move towards the spectrum of immediate and
short. For instance, the average gif is about 5 seconds, which uncoincidentally, is
the average length of a movie scene, a sports highlight, the time it takes to read a
sentence, the length of pre-roll on a YouTube video, or a snapchat video.
#3: Social Media & Content
Five seconds is the sweet spot of human expression.
However, despite the multiple platforms, mechanics,
trends, interests, and viewpoints the principles of how to
capture attention still remains the same: what’s going to
be relevant to my target consumer?
90% of the world’s data was
created in just the past 2 years

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This was ofﬁcially the ﬁrst year that SXSW added VR into its set of informational
tracks, signaling the level of interest, investment, and mainstream status. Backing
up the sessions, it felt like everyone was there to show off their new toys,
including Samsung, McDonald’s, IBM, Google, NASA and the New York Times.
We saw applications of VR being used across all industries and it’s clear that it
has a role in more than just the gaming industry. From concerts, to sports training,
to tourism, to guided meditation, VR is and will continue to be a legitimate
storytelling medium that offers high engagement.
But not all VR/AR experiences need to be replete with avatars or high-end
experiences. In fact, there were several companies present that helped to bridge
today with tomorrow. For example, Visa was allowing visitors to try on Olympic
gear using their digital shopping experience and change the background to see
how the clothing looked in the appropriate setting.
#4: Virtual & Augmented Reality
With an estimated $30BN in annual revenue by 2020,
there’s not doubt in the potential of VR/AR. However, the
direct value of the technology is not quite mature.
Summarized sentiments from the keynote session with
the makers of Mr. Robot say it best, “AR and VR just aren’t
for everyone”.
AR and VR are everywhere –
but are they for everyone?

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The field of artificial intelligence is an ongoing hot topic, and SXSW delivered this
year. Each year technology pushes boundaries and tests the limits of modern
hardware and software.The history of AI speaks for itself:
•  1997–The Deep Blue chess program beats the current world
champion, Garry Kasparov, in a widely-followed match
•  2005–Stanley, an autonomous car developed by the Stanford
Racing Team, wins the DARPA Grand Challenge, completing a 132-
mile course in the Mojave Desert at an average speed of 19 mph
•  2011–Watson, another pioneering AI system from IBM, defeated
all-time Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter

In particular, Hiroshi Ishiguro's android held an autonomous conversation during
his talk. SKD’s Jibo was able to hold the attention of some in the crowd as he
demonstrated interactive and social skills, but was less successful at doing so
when not on the main stage.
What this means is that the field of emotive robotics are creating additional
possibilities for marketers to reach their consumers in new, meaningful ways.
What’s more interesting is that we’re quickly approaching two-way feedback,
where AI will be able to take into account users emotional response with historical
data to provide more useful feedback.
#5: I, Robot: Artificial Intelligence and
Emotive Robots
AI and Emotive robotics will be an exciting place to watch.
These types of robotics will open up a channel for
marketers to deliver highly contextual messages to their
consumers based on the set of IOT-provided data.

The threat of Skynet is extremely far away. More than
likely, AI’s impact will be in the replacement of bricklayers,
not brain surgeons.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

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THE FIFTH “P” STANDS FOR PURPOSE
Level of interest in the social good/cause marketing sector called for the creating of its own hub and
graduated tag, “SXgood”. We saw the likes of the Dschool, to the UN Foundation, to private industry
collaboration that celebrates the success of social entrepreneurs using business to solve world problems.

FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION
Connected cars, self-driving cars, and the presence of HyperLoop were all visible and present in clawing
their way to become the next disruptor in the transportation industry.

BIO-TECH
The Bio tech sector presented a very high quality/high energy face at the conference with good
collaboration between academia, the establishment (e.g., big Pharma ) and emerging Biotech companies.
The promise was all around eradication of chronic illness and chronic global issues such as famine,
without side effect, but is still decades away. We hope to see more with the installation of the UT Austin
Medical School, which opens in the summer of 2016.

COLLABORATION AND OPEN SOURCE
This was a common theme across data, biotech, sustainability, and FinTech–the basic premise being that
the more people that can come together to innovate, the more we can do. While this idea is not novel, the
evidence of this type of economy efﬁciently utilizing resources and is proving to be effective.

DARK SOCIAL
Dark Social is social content that is shared through private channels. A recent study by Radium One found
that 59% of all online sharing is via dark social and 91% of Americans regularly share information via
these methods. Marketers should keep an eye on this trend as it poses a dramatic shift in the strategy of
how marketers will engage with consumers.

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OUR TOP THREE LESSONS
LEARNED

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DIVERSITY &
INCLUSION
It’s getting worse, not better, we shouldn’t be
debating it but doing something about it NOW.
This extends from hiring more women into
tech, cyber-bullying, and extending STEM to
STEAM, as to include the arts. We were proud to
see the conference addressing these issues and
raising proﬁles and awareness to help us better
reﬂect the diversifying country and
underrepresented groups that exist within it.

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Brand marketers are challenged with redeﬁning the
approach for connecting to customers. It is less about
being present in the channel and being cleverer than your
competitor. That strategy has been commoditized and is
passé. We posit that the greatest advancements will be
made by enabling the conversation with customers and
creating a compelling customer experience.This will
require companies and brands to dive deep and know
everything they can so that they are the best at what
they do and are void of distractions.

DIVE
DEEP

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SCIENCE
& DATA
A lot of what we think are 'new' problems have
actually already been solved a long time ago—
brands just keep trying to re-invent the wheel.
Because tech is now 'soft' as well as ‘hard’, you
have companies like Google trying to work out
how you embed innovation better when Darpa
solved it 50 years ago.

The truth is out there, but we’re too busy
thinking we’re the smartest guys in the room to
stop thinking and start doing. Serious topics like
privacy, security, and programmatic boundaries
are actively changing the face of marketing, but
they are equally creating a signiﬁcant amount of
distractions.This is why there’s a market and
clear demand for those who can cut through the
B.S., and stand for something authentic.

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“
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The only wisdom

you’ll see in the next year

is uncommon wisdom.

-Bruce Sterling, who amidst turmoil, trends,

and tridents, managed to reﬂect on the state

of SXSW Interactive.

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Thanks, ya’ll!
Thanks for taking the time to read our little
bite out of SXSW. If you’d like to know more,
or arrange a session to dive into the content
and trends in more detail, then please email:
Sarah Aitken, CMO, Americas
sarah.aitken@iris-worldwide.com
A special thanks to our contributing editors:
Mike Navarrete, Director - Concise, New York
Jordan Harper,Technical Director, London
Evan Heigert, Creative Director, Chicago

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