Last week, the 2011 SXSW Interactive PanelPicker opened for public voting and more than 2,300 sessions (4 of them ours!) are now vying for slots at one of the most celebrated media/tech conferences of the year. The PanelPicker plays a significant role in determining the programming for the highly competitive event, with a full third of the decision resting on public votes (staff votes and Advisory Board votes also count, at 30% and 40%, respectively).

While it’s tough to find a “bad” PanelPicker idea, there are some proposals that really caught our eye this year. Here we list 10 of our favorite ideas – and, of course, plug our own (can you blame us?).

Gettysburg 2011: This is so much cooler than your high school U.S. history class. In this session, Ian MacKinnon of Mindgrub Technologies takes you through a digital tour of famous Civil War battle via augmented reality and explains how historical landmarks can come alive through emerging mobile tech.

Vote for this session.

Google Doodles: Burning Man to Pac-Man and Beyond: An entire SXSW session on Google doodles? Yes, please. Google’s Ryan Germick takes us through a history of the engine’s creative logo designs (there have been more than 700 in all) and examines them through lens of the small team of artists and developers who create them.

Vote for this session.

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: It’s hard to imagine Jerry Garcia on an episode of Mad Men, but David Meerman Scott says marketers have much to learn from the eclectic jam band. In this panel, Scott outlines the “contrarian marketing” style of the Grateful Dead, and how their innovations (e.g. providing “freemium” content and community building) can be applied today.

Vote for this session.

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SXSW week brought us more news from Twitter and Facebook, as well as new Hitwise traffic figures that might surprise you and a statement from Google on the future of display. Revisit all of the excitement from Austin by checking out our behind the scenes interviews, which were made possible by the sheer tenacity of David Berkowitz and some cool technology from Kyte.

Twitter Unveils @Anywhere at SXSW

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="The publishers above have already signed up for @anywhere."][/caption]

Twitter announced a new platform at SXSW this week, which will allow publishers to integrate the service deeper into their site and create “open interactions” with readers directly from third-party sites (instead of Twitter.com). Early publishers to get on board include Amazon, Yahoo, Bing, Digg and the New York Times. For publishers, this means better interactions on their site and opportunities to accrue more followers.

In a Digital Connections post this week, David Berkowitz posed two questions that marketers should ask when considering how @anywhere will pan out in the future.

1. How important is Twitter for helping me achieve my marketing objectives?
2. How important do I want Twitter to be?

If Twitter’s an important communications channel, traffic driver, or a sales channel, then you need to follow @anywhere (literally, by following the account, and figuratively, by following related updates) and consider integrating it when it’s live.

If Twitter isn’t as essential yet, but you’re investing more resources into using it effectively and you see its influence rising (such as the share of traffic it sends to your site), then you can probably afford to be a fast follower – or a not so fast follower, where you can learn from how other sites use it before deciding how deep you want to dive in, if at all.

Read the full article »

Stories that made the digital headlines this week include a new whitepaper from Microsoft on the effectiveness of online  branding campaigns, Google’s newest search feature for online shoppers and exciting news about 360i’s participation in this year’s SXSW Interactive conference.

New Whitepaper: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Digital Advertising for Brand Campaigns

This week Microsoft released a new report that explores the significance of “dwell scores” – calculated by the time spent with advertising multiplied by the rate of active engagement with an ad – when it comes to digital programs. The research, derived from comScore and Eyeblaster data, shows that higher dwell scores correlate to “significant improvement in positive engagement with a brand post ad exposure.” The report notes that such positive effects often include a higher volume of branded search queries, more visits to the marketer’s Web site and higher levels of engagement by visitor’s on site.

As digital continues to become more and more central to brand strategy, understanding how consumers interact with online advertising will become increasingly important. As this report shows, click-through-rate alone cannot adequately measure the performance of branding campaigns – and other metrics such as dwell scores should be more closely considered.

Download the whitepaper: Digital Challenge: Being Greater with Data.

Read the full article »

We’re officially in the running to lead two exciting panels at this spring’s SXSW Interactive Festival (and participate in a third). If you’re in the mood to help send everyone’s favorite Sprinkles cupcake-loving Emerging Media Director, David Berkowitz, to Austin, please check out our panel suggestions below and vote at the SXSW PanelPicker before voting ends on September 4. Note: You’ll have to register to cast your vote, but it should take you all of 30 seconds – we promise.

1) Tasty Conversation: Social Media + Food Brands

Bring your appetite to this fireside chat-style panel. David Berkowitz joins a lineup of top food and beverage brands that are harnessing social buzz to spice up their real world presence. What are these brands cooking up across the social landscape? And what can we learn from them?

Some questions this panel will address:

• How can brands transfer social buzz to their real world presence?
• Who’s doing it right?
• What are some pitfalls to avoid when using social marketing to achieve offline objectives?
• How can marketers make sure brand loyalty translates into sales and/or real world advocacy?
• How tasty are Sprinkles cupcakes?*

*Not an actual question, but we can tell you, they are very tasty.

Click here to vote:

2) How Startups Can Create Buzz Without Selling Out

David Berkowitz will lead panelists in a discussion about how start-ups can catch the eye of brand marketers who have the power to provide added credibility, cash and buzz. How can you make your service marketer-friendly while keeping your integrity?

Questions this panel will address:

• What kinds of partnerships are available for brands and technology providers?
• What are some examples of successful partnerships?
• What is the best way to showcase my technology to marketers?
• What are marketer-friendly revenue models beyond standard cost-per-impression or cost-per-click ad buys?

Click here to vote:

3) SoDA Pops! Best Digital Agency Advice and Practices

David Berkowitz will join SoDA, The Society of Digital Agencies, and some of the world’s most respected digital agencies to discuss challenges and open discussions both in and outside the industry.

Topics this panel will address:

• Tried and tested practices from leading digital agencies
• How to improve your business effectiveness
• How to handle client selection
• How to manage contract negotiations
• What are new techniques in winning today’s business

Click here to vote:

It’s hard to properly describe the South by Southwest experience, but the best way I can summarize it is that it’s the embodiment of a hive (maybe it’s because I’m influenced by the upcoming Hive Awards for social media – http://www.hiveawards.com). Read the full article

From David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy, live from the heart of Texas

360i is out in Austin this week for South by Southwest Interactive (we did mention we’re everywhere). A few notes from the show as it gets underway:

The hottest spot: The TechSet / Windows Blogger Lounge. This is the see & be seen place for the bloggerati, the twitterati, and the vendorati. It’s where you’ll find everyone from the bald and balding blogging old-timers (read: over 30) to the 22-year-old blonde social media starlets. What you may not find is a seat, but once in awhile people actually do this conference stuff called going to sessions, and you’re able to sneak in at a table. Read the full article