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A Run-Down of Interesting Things at SXSW – Porsche x Transformers x Live Music Event

Written by SMU Graduate Advertising Students:
Gabriela Vascimini and Shelby Steur

The Porsche Activation was an incredible combination of innovation and entertainment. The perception of the Porsche brand is sleek yet transformative, this reinforces the well thought out partnership with Transformers for this event.


Sprout Social x TikTok

The session Ephemeral trend culture is transforming business allowed me to think about more unique ways to implement tiktok into every industry. Allowing relevance and social communication to take a front seat approach. Jamie Gilpin CMO of sprout social said “The only constant is absolute change”, this comment brought to mind how little we know about the direction social media will take and to use this to our advantage when completing a campaign.

Agency and Creators Mixer

The Agency and Creators mixer gave professionals a chance to meet each other and connect with others in the same industries. I was able to meet several people in both the nonprofit and purpose driven marketing categories. This gave me the opportunity to discuss what to look for throughout a job search and tips for success. It was amazing to talk to someone who was doing the work I look forward to in the future.

Keynote: Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Conversation with Jennifer Salke

This inspiring conversation between acclaimed actress, activist, and philanthropist Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Head of Amazon + MGM Studios  (and former head of NBC studios) Jennifer Salke was surprisingly enlightening and relevant to the world of advertising and branding. While positioned as a film event, both women offered great insight as to the importance of storytelling when trying to communicate any message––including an advertising message. Those in attendance were first treated to a sneak peek to their latest project, a spy thriller series starring Chopra entitled Citadel. Citadel, premiering April 28th, is a new kind of show––a global program. Other than the “mothership” series, two additional foreign series will also be released, one taking place in Italy and one in India, existing with the same universe as Citadel. This has never been attempted before, and is truly a groundbreaking moment for TV shows worldwide.

Salke emphasized the importance of globalization in today’s entertainment world, a sentiment deeply echoed by Chopra, who began her career starring in Bollywood and Hindi language films prior to becoming an actress in Hollywood. She noted how, during the pandemic, many people began to watch foreign shows with subtitles and the practice has become far more mainstream. Chopra then shared a sweet anecdote about her mother’s love for Korean dramas, and mentioned how that was when she realized television and acting could truly transport audiences to anywhere in the world. The most notable point that Chopra and Salke left the audience with was a call for greater diversity in television––not just in regard to how actors look, but how they sound and the languages they share their stories in.

Content Creator Meet-Up & Panel

This exciting event began with a conversation and information question and answer session featuring Netflix star and social media sensation Harry Jowsey and his manager Jeff Duncan, CEO of Ingenuity Live, and talent and influencer management company. Both offered insights into the content creation world from the wildly varied perspectives of talent and business manager, making for an incredibly well-rounded presentation. Following their discussion, they opened up the floor to questions and then encouraged all of the content creators in attendance to mix and mingle with each other, launching the conversation with some icebreaker questions. As a content creator both for a fashion brand as well as for my own personal brand, I found it  interesting to meet content creators on both the business side and on the lifestyle/personal brand side. After the event, I caught up with Harry and we talked a bit more about what it is really like being a content creator, from dealing with negative comments to landing your dream brand deals. He emphasized the importance of creating content that brings out your personality, and this is true whether you are creating content to bolster your personal brand or as marketing content for an established company. One thing is clear––short form video content is the new frontier in advertising, and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

VW & Lucasfilm Join Forces with special guest Doug Chiang, Executive Creative Director at Lucasfilm

While it’s clear that the Disney and VW execs didn’t have to force anything when it came to joining together their two iconic brands, countless hours of strategy, research, and an impeccable attention to detail were all necessary to pull off this epic partnership––something that audiences got a special behind-the-scenes look at during this panel. The panel, featuring Ty Ervin (Vice President of Marketing Partnerships at Disney), Gilbert Heise (Chief Strategist of Volkswagen Brand), Kevin Lane Keller (E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing and Senior Associate Dean for Marketing & Communications at Dartmouth College), and none other than Doug Chiang, Executive Creative Director for Lucasfilm, was moderated by Co-Editor in Chief of Variety Magazine, Cynthia Littleton.  The panelists discussed how storytelling intersects with marketing messages, and how brands can connect with audiences authentically by using both nostalgia and excitement for tomorrow to make marketing messages resonate with them more deeply.  They also stressed the importance of maintaining audience trust, especially with dealing with beloved IP such as Star Wars, and how to keep character integrity while balancing it with creative freedom and new ideas. Chiang quipped that successful brands all share three inherent qualities: Artfulness, character, and humanity.

Those in attendance even got to see a special preview of a still-under-production forthcoming TV spot that will continue this epic collaboration: it features none other than Star Wars icon Grogu, those infamously curious Jawas, and more familiar faces to promote the latest season of Disney+ hit The Mandalorian. Still, Star Wars is only the beginning for the partnership between Disney and Volkswagn––Heise seemed to be constantly hinting at upcoming projects involving the two powerhouse brands featuring different Disney-owned franchises, while Ervin seemed sworn to secrecy. We can only wait to find out as to what’s next.

After the event, I was able to chat with Chiang for a few minutes and thank him for the insights he’d shared with us. We talked about the intersection between branding and storytelling, and he emphasized how he truly believes that storytelling is the backbone of a solid brand. He mentioned that George Lucas always stresses this as well during the creative process, saying that every component––whether in regard to a film, a book, or a TV spot––must have a story to tell. Even products, in order to become iconic, must have personality. And, when it comes down to it, that’s exactly what VW and Disney joined forces to do. They showed audiences that their vehicle was more than just a mode of transportation, but a living, breathing character full of personality––just like R2D2 and C3PO as they ooh and awe at the in the TV spot.

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Executive Internship: TAI Graduate Student Noble Farr Reports after Two Weeks at Firehouse

I arrived at Firehouse bright-eyed and on the wrong floor. After finding the correct lobby, I was given a tour by Steve, an incredibly welcoming gentleman who I knew looked familiar but could not pinpoint exactly who he was. I’ll blame information overload and the absence of caffeine. Only after a 20 minute tour of Firehouse’s incredible office did I finally muster up the courage to ask, “And what is it you do, Steve?” To which he kindly and laughingly responded, “Oh—I’m the CEO.” *insert Homer Simpson backing into the bushes meme.

Now only one more misstep away from throwing myself down the proverbial fire-pole, I sat at my desk and took in the surroundings of my new home for the summer. Bobbleheads of celebrated employees lined a corner wall, countless agency awards were polished and reverberating excellence, and a mural of Lil’ Wayne equally encouraged and unsettled me from his perch as my next-desk neighbor. The agency’s mantra of “work hard, don’t be a dick’ was written on another wall, reminding me of both my favorite and only-known quote by Conan O’Brien: “Work hard, be really kind, and amazing things will happen to you.” Like all good agencies, Firehouse takes this a step further.

Most palpable in that moment, however, was a sense of the agency’s powerful culture. A culture that is made up of so many unique and talented individuals that it has created a sub-culture of its own. All are welcomed and all are accepted, contingent, of course, on one’s willingness to spontaneously pause work for the ever-present (and incredibly competitively) foosball game.

Having been at Firehouse for only two weeks now, I am even more excited to continue working here. As a strategy intern, I’ve already been given so many exciting opportunities to research new clients and help work on creative briefs. Within the first week, I was pulled into

Noble Farr, SMU Graduate Student in Advertising
Noble Farr, SMU Graduate Student in Advertising

meetings where I felt welcomed yet often overwhelmed and undeserving to be in such an unfamiliar and real-stakes environment. I’ve learned that while one can excel in academics and think he knows a lot about the advertising industry, learning to put that knowledge into action can be difficult. Thankfully, that’s what internships are for: to find out what you like and don’t like, learn how to tap into the innate and learned abilities one’s been given, and to conquer (at least attempt to) the imposter syndrome that comes with being surrounded by so many experts in their fields.

I thought it appropriate to write myself a strategy brief to help me through this short summer at Firehouse. After all, writing briefs is my job. It consists of asking questions like, ‘What do I want to learn?’ ‘How can I best accomplish my goals?’ and ‘When I leave, how can I make sure my work has made a lasting and positive impact?’ I hope to find these answers along the way, but until then I’ll just keep bettering my strategy skills, improving my foosball game, and working to make Firehouse a Fire-home (had to drop a dad joke in there somewhere).

My first introduction to Firehouse was during an agency tour with Professor Peter Noble. I’m confident that without his and so many other TAI faculty members’ guidance, this summer would look a lot different. Now putting my degree into action, I’m reminded of all the late night group projects and extensive research papers I’ve worked on, and the professors who challenged us to develop our best, most authentic work. Going back to school to complete a master’s degree when most of your friends and peers are starting their careers is daunting, and I had my fair share of second thoughts. However, I distinctly remember walking out of my first class last fall and thinking to myself, “this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.” And that feeling is even more true today.

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ALUMNI UPDATE: Leah Smith takes on role at the The Richards Group and is starting a PhD in Information Science

Since graduating with an MA in Advertising from the Temerlin Advertising Institute in 2018, Leah Smith has worked in a variety of digital marketing roles. She has done everything from social media, to content marketing, to search engine marketing, and communications. She recently accepted a new role as a Brand Manager for The Richards Group here in Dallas.

In addition, Leah has been accepted as a doctoral student at UNT for fall 2021 in the PhD in Information Science program which she is extremely excited (and nervous) for starting. Leah explained that, “I hope while there, I can apply my mixed background in journalism (BA in Journalism from SMU) and marketing/advertising in the research I undertake.”

According to Dr. Carrie La Ferle, “Leah will be a value add to the UNT doctoral program with her sold work experience, enthusiastic personality and quick to learn nature.” La Ferle went on to add, “Leah will bring fresh and impactful eyes as she works to merge her interests across communication, social media and critical media studies during her doctoral studies.”

Leah reports that, “I no doubt attribute my success and some of the opportunities I’ve had professionally to my time at SMU. I’ve been very intentional in trying to maintain relationships with professors and classmates. No matter what industry you’re in, relationship-building is critical. I also routinely lean back on former professors for their wisdom and wealth of knowledge. ”

Leah wrapped up her update by concluding, “While I will ALWAYS be a Mustang, I really look forward to this new chapter as a UNT Eagle.”

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ALUMNI UPDATE: Leveraging Graduate Education in the Industry

Temerlin alumna Deja Sanders is a global account supervisor at TracyLocke’s Chicago office. She credits her experience in Temerlin’s graduate program with facilitating her pivot into the advertising industry. “Completing my M.A. at Temerlin in 2018 was hands-down the best decision for my career. Not only was I able to stretch myself academically, but I was also able to tap into a wealth of creative resources from the Dallas area and across the world,” she says.

Sanders also credits challenging conversations with professors and colleagues that taught her how to navigate the clients she manages today. “The care and commitment to TAI students and their professional development is something that I will always appreciate,” she says.

“When I reflect on the tools and theories taught throughout this program, I can honestly say that I deploy many of them on a day-to-day basis. Beyond client relationships and good creative, advertising at its foundation is a psychographic tool leveraged to communicate across communities. Understanding these communities and what makes them tick is where my educational training intersects with my day-to-day role,” Sanders adds. She cites Dr. Sid Muralidharan’s graduate course, Advertising as a Cultural Force, as an impactful learning experience. Sanders studied how advertisers represent and communicate authentically with multicultural and international audiences. She aspires to continue these studies through a Ph.D. in advertising; her goal is to increase research and identify additional tools of engagement for multicultural and international audiences.

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FACULTY RESEARCH: Graduate Student Co-Authors Article with Temerlin Faculty

Dr. Sid Muralidharan, associate professor, and Dr. Carrie La Ferle, Marriott Endowed Professor of Ethics and Culture, have been researching the effectiveness of domestic violence messaging on bystander reporting. Last fall, Dr. Sid invited Temerlin graduate student Lauren Howard to join their research for a third study exploring domestic violence prevention messaging.

The first two studies explore the outward-facing emotional response to ad messaging. The first study, published in the Journal of Advertising, compares guilt and shame ad appeals. A subsequent study published in the Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing focuses on opposing emotional ad appeals – shame versus hope. Between both these studies, hope is found to be the more effective emotion in motivating bystanders to intervene. The most recent study, which Howard co-authored alongside Dr. Sid and Dr. La Ferle for Social Marketing Quarterly, pivots inward to compare the effects of guilt and hope messaging in relation to “independent self-construal,” the extent to which people view themselves as separate and distinct from others. Those with high independent self-construal are more apt to promote themselves positively and tend to be driven and have high self-esteem. In contrast, people with low independent self-construal tend to be less ambitious with lower self-esteem.  Findings reveal that hope messaging engages both low and high independent self-construal, whereas guilt messaging pushes those with low self-construal to distance themselves from potential bystander intervention.

“Through this independent study, I learned a lot about how we are still facing the impact of patriarchal societies’ dominance in many cultures worldwide,” says Howard. “This is important as it affects how people see, feel, and act upon domestic violence and the advertisements associated with bystander intervention. It is crucial that advertisers pay attention to what emotion resonates with consumers and encourages action when creating ads to promote bystander intervention.”

Temerlin faculty engage graduate students through a variety of work such as case studies, primary and secondary research, and agency internships to ensure students have exposure to the vast array of disciplines within the advertising industry. Learn more about Temerlin’s graduate program here.

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SXSW: Neuroscience Proves Advertising’s Effectiveness

Conrad Li and Lauren Howard

“Great creative is about the gut feel and neuroscience proves it to be real.”

As advertisers we assume that great creative pieces will automatically result in high-recall and brand recognition. Human brains are decidedly lazy and have to be working all the time to gather and understand information, which means that advertisers need to work hard to make both the advertising message interesting and memorable.

In order for brands to be successful with their advertisements, they need to be understanding of the different ways to connect with consumers. They need to reduce the cognitive load that consumers are experiencing through their advertisements so that viewers don’t feel overwhelmed, but still understand the idea and message of the ad. Brands need to focus on three kinds of thinking to be successful and reduce the cognitive load: Brand Kind, Behavior Kind, and most importantly Brain Kind.

Brand Kind is the reality or relationship consumers have with brands; they are looking for “friends with benefits” relationship where they get what they want from the brand without too much effort. Behavior kind deals with the ability and opportunity for ads to bring a change in behavior such as making a purchase. Brain Kind is the most important one for brands to focus on and it deals with the visual shortcuts that allow brands to connect consumers using as many senses as possible. When ads only use one sense to reach consumers, there is not as much engagement, recognition, resonance, or relevance.

The speakers throughout this session showed that they used neuroscience to measure the key metrics stated above. Some of the world’s most memorable and well performing ads rated highly in engagement, but sometimes had the lowest brand recall. By using neuroscience, the presenters were trying to find a sweet spot between creativity and memory. Since memory is a finite resource, creatives need to find the best way to garner as much of it as possible. They believe that better experiences and engagement of senses can help with brand recall, but too much will lead to cognitive overload.

Brands that use creative ways to create moving ads (such as video) and experiential setups have the highest recognition, resonance, and relevance. Ads such as Sony’s Bravio Balls and Apple’s 1984 have high recall and recognition because of the ways they engage the brain. In the end, ads that have great creative elements that involve using different senses and direct brand messaging are the ones that stay with us the longest.

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Navigating the Waters of Data-Driven Storytelling at SXSW Interactive 2018

Temerlin Advertising Institute graduate students Jessica Phillips and Catherine Scholl

Complexity, Complexity, Complexity

In an enlightening talk about data-driven storytelling, we heard from a panel of professionals about how they combine art and scientific data to execute seamless storytelling in their companies. The panel consisted of Renee Lightner, User Experience Technologist at Viacom, Russell Goldenberg, Editor at Polygraph / The Pudding, and Alex Simoes, CTO at Datawheel. Each member of the panel provided unique insight into perspectives and paradigms within data-driven storytelling through the lens of each of their respective disciplines.

Lightner opened by explaining the importance of online versus print graphics. Online graphics allow users to see the full picture and interact with the content, allowing for a better experience. A strategy she keyed in on was “complexity,” repeating a visual over and over so the reader grasps the content. Additionally, she said it’s important to allow the opportunity for the reader to explore the data on their own. Graphics should inform the reader while still allowing room for them to explore and take in the information at their own time in their own way.

Goldenberg explained the process that The Pudding goes through when providing content.

  • Start with an idea. Collect data. Analyze. Present.

The first three phases explore, while guidance is the final outcome. Great data does not matter – unless, it can be explained with a great guide. As we enter a world of AI with more data and more accurate data, consumers will be overwhelmed if it is not curated in meaningful ways.

Simoes’ approach to storytelling integrates data, extracts and matches entities and indicators, and builds integrated stories. Entities can be, for example, Los Angeles or coal mining, while the indicators within these categories can be something like exports or employment. Together, this information leads to integrated stories on the economy, education, health, etc. The outcome must be aggregated data that is easy to read, interactive, and entertaining. These three ideas seem to be a central theme to creating rich storytelling.

This panel was just one of so many incredible talks that we have attended this week. The atmosphere is absolutely electric as people immerse themselves in SXSW Interactive and all Austin has to offer.

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There is diversity at SXSW Interactive 2018. Yet, it is more of the same.

The United States, Australia, Brasil, Mexico, china, Indonesia, Belgium, Great Britain, Iceland, Canada, Portugal, Italy, France, Turkey, Poland, The Netherlands, and Argentina.

What do all these countries have in common? For the next few days, representatives from each country are occupants of a single room at the South by Southwest Interactive trade show in Austin, Texas. 

SMU graduate students Christopher Calhoon and James Williams explored the SXSW Interactive Trade show and discovered that nearly every country was at the show offering a similar mix of products. Tech ruled, with emphasis on demonstrations of different realities (xR) including VR, AR and MR (mixed reality).

 

PhotoBloomAR is an interactive print platform that allows photos to come to life with movement and sound. Basically, they’re a Shutterfly for videos. The demo was a photo of a dog that when viewed through the app came to life as a video of the dog licking ice cream. 

After doing a few laps around the trade show floor and spending a few days here, we did not find one killer app, groundbreaking technological breakthrough or “paradigm shift” to come out of this year’s SXSW. Along with the country booths promoting a country’s technical abilities for business, there were many booths from biotech and medical tech companies promoting various products and services, but each seeed to be applications of current technology.

One fun idea from a startup based here in Austin is a sock subscription service called Sock Club. They started small by curating socks from other labels, and soon decided that they wanted to focus on their own manufacturing. Now all of Sock Club’s socks are designed in Austin, and the company has CSR at heart by controlling the entire production process, sourcing high-quality cotton, following eco-friendly processes, pay their workers are a living wage. 

While there were many countries represented on the floor and many languages being heard at the festival, the products being featured at the show are becoming more similar, competing on incremental improvements of already advanced technologies. Funny enough, this is where branding has it greatest power. When products have similar attributes, messages and brands become greater points of differentiation.

 

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Health and Wellness at SXSW

Advertising students Joél Garza and Gabby Axelson stretched out at the health and wellness expo at SXSW.

From acupuncture to mushroom jerky, and sex toys to dental freshners, the Expo was booming with many people of many backgrounds. The sessions on health and wellbeing, understanding the importance of health to attendees of SXSW.

One vendor, Joaquin Brown, demonstrated an app called Yoga Wake Up. After attending a yoga class, he realized the value of breathing and relaxing when waking in the morning. An App idea was born. Instead of an annoying alarm, Joaquin created an app that wakes you with relaxing music and voice of a coach who leads breathing exercises to ready you for the day. With 40 different teachers and 120 different classes available, the app is adding more languages to their classes, to expand their reach globally. 

AOMA Graduate School of Integrated Medicine was there promoting Chinese and integrated forms of medicine. One of the TAI students even experienced the benefits of acupuncture first-hand. Pain is really on everyone’s mind when thinking of acupuncture, but Hannah said, “The whole process was painless. Bassically less pain or similar to a bug bite.”

It was interesting that while SXSW attracts people from all over the world to communicate and learn about themselves and about each other, the Wellness expo provided opportunities to learn about health and living your best life. We left feeling immersed in the SXSW community, the wellness culture and were ready to get back to the action at Interactive.

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Brand Experiences Standout at SXSW Interactive

SMU graduate students Lesley Warren & Allison Farris explored brand activations at SXSW Interactive.

– A brand activation is a campaign, event, or experience to engage with consumers. They are generally interactive and at SXSW are almost uniformly over the top.

  • Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One places you in the world of the the OASIS
  • Google provides phone booths to promote Google Assistant
  • Prove It introduces new trivia app
  • Social Imprint is branded swag company with a pop-up shop on the trade floor
  • YouTube took over a building with “The Greatest Stories Retold,” in 6, 15, or 30 seconds

Ready Player One
Warner Bros is really going all in for Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One this year. In addition to a sort of creepy flash mob that’s been walking around downtown telling us they’re looking for Wade Watts (code name Parzival), they have a large activation on 4th Street that never seems to have fewer than 50 people waiting to go in.
I waited in line for about an hour. The activation featured gamer/sci-fi memorabilia from the 80s and 90s, including a ceiling-height bust of The Iron Giant and a DeLorean for photo ops. The main attraction was a seemingly very cool VR experience that puts you in the virtual reality world of the film, the OASIS, but I did not do this because, yikes, lines. The tech they’re using to capture data is particularly impressive for a pop-up experience, including lightweight wristbands containing your avatar name that you scan for each experience you participate in. To be honest, I don’t know anything about this film, and it isn’t my typical genre, but I do feel like I have to see this movie now. I’m too involved!

Google Assistant
Google’s pop up activation in the Fairmont had four different “phone booths” immersive set up to demonstrate the Google Phone’s virtual assistant. SXSW participants were guided through scenarios like “Make Google Book It” which demonstrated how you can book a trip completely through voice commands and “Make Google Order It” which demonstrated how you could order mittens for your grandma. The AI was shockingly sophisticated and responsive in real time, and there is great potential for brands to utilize voice search in their digital marketing strategies through paid search for #HeyGoogle. Most people were delighted by their interaction with the AI, but I did see one man who was frustrated by the experience. Not everyone is ready for a world run by smart computers.

HQ Competitor Prove It showed up in full force with multiple touchpoints in the downtown Austin area. Tampa-based PROVEIT is a new trivia app in direct competition with HQ. Founder Prem was handing out “Trivia Cash Cards” redeemable for $1-$1,000 cash in PROVEIT and offering smart phone users a place to charge their phones. This week they will be giving $25,000 to one player in Austin only to promote the 3-month old app. Also seen around town, a branded armor truck promoting the $25,000 prize. Users are encouraged to create and share a public selfie with the truck with the #ThisIsMoney and the funniest post of the week will receive $500 account credit.

Social Imprint, a branded swag company that hires adults who need a second chance in San Francisco, set up a pop-up shop on the trade show floor complete with an onsite screen printing press to demonstrate their process. The company was raising money for a local non-profit called The Front Porch by requesting a suggested a $5 donation for a free SXSW T-shirt. Trade show attendees could also see the full range of branded products that marketers could use for swag.

YouTube
Another interesting activation was from YouTube. The company recreated fairy tales for the modern age with help from top creative agencies and celebrities like Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch. With “The Greatest Stories Retold,” YouTube proves impactful stories can be told by a 6, 15, or 30 second clip. This pop-up was another impressive display of tech, with different video scenarios that are activated by motion and touch. My particular favorite was a shoe display that was activated when a person placed their foot in the large plastic heel. While not quite as grandiose as Ready Player One, “The Greatest Stories Retold” was entertaining and impressive.