Lessons from SXSW

Last month I made my way to Austin for the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). No doubt you’ve seen numerous Twitters and blog entries detailing the five-day event. I saw several of them being written, just from peeping over at my neighbors’ laptops at any given book reading.

When not weaving my way through hallways, packed with pseudo-intellectual glasses and skinny jeans, I managed to find my way to several panel sessions that cover everything from “The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007” to “What Teens Want Online and on their Phones.” Here are some highlights:

What Teens Want Online and On Their Phones

You’ll be glad to know that some teens are concerned about the toll text lingo is taking on school work. Two of the participants on the panel (seven teens, ranging from 12-17 years old) expressed the need to keep the LOLs out of term papers.

Also, don’t underestimate the teenage population. They appreciate the opportunity to submit user-generated content because it shows that companies and advertisers respect their intelligence. They like having a say.

Ten Things We’ve Learned at 37Signals

Zehno clients might recognize the speaker from this panel. Jason Fried, founder of 37Signals (parent company of Basecamp, the product we use for our client extranet) shared his views on collaboration, decision-making, progress  and morale. My favorite tips include:

• When communicating with employees, avoid “red flag” words like need, can’t, easy, only and fast.
• Question your work regularly. Why are we doing this? What problem are we solving? Are we adding value? Is there an easier way?
• Read copy out loud. Words are the cheapest and easiest thing to fix.

The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007

Panelists Henry Copeland (Blogads), Steve Hall (Adrants), Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine), Rebecca Lieb (ClickZ), and Charlotte Selles (Jim Beam) discussed what makes for terrible media campaigns. Top vote getters include:

• HP PayPerPost – Opportunity-seeking mom posts a video on her (suspiciously short-lived) blog of her kids smashing a Fuji camera in hopes that HP will give them a new camera (and more).
• Cisco's Human Network – Cisco has vloggers write Cisco-related entries on Wikipedia under the term “human network.” Cisco ups their Google organic search.
• Agency.com going to work for Subway – Advertising agency produces an unintentionally hilarious video to win Subway campaign. To nobody's surprise, Agency.com removed themselves from the pitch.

When it comes down to it, people will find out if you’re deceiving them. Honesty will get you everywhere.