The Audience is the Author

A look at how social + digital media marketing is evolving in the new era of consumer generated content (CGC)

SXSW 2013

Jennifer Tofanelli, Director of Digital + Social, Sears

Agenda & Implications

•  Overview of event •  The 3 things that matter

–  Hardware AND software

–  Social cause marketing

–  User-generated content (author is the audience)

•  Specific trends in social + digital marketing

•  Examples of what retail + fashion brands did

Overview SXSW celebrated it’s 27th anniversary this past March as it welcomed more than 60,000 registered conference attendees. The conference takes place in downtown Austin, TX and is broken into three distinct sections; film, interactive & music. In the past, SXSWi has been a place for start-ups to launch the next new social product. Twitter and FourSquare were both born at SXSW. This past year brought attention to three main areas of inspiration: •  The convergence of hardware and software development •  Consumer generated content •  Social cause marketing

 

 

Fashion + Shopping Retailers at SXSW 2013

SXSWi South by Southwest is presented in three separate sections; film, interactive and music. The interactive segment is the most popular; growing from just over 9,000 paying attendees in 2008 to over 30,000 in 2013. Content & keynotes : the author is the audience Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, gave one of the more popular keynote speeches, on space exploration, entrepreneurship and the evolving art of connecting with the consumer. Jane Pratt, Matthew Oatmeal, Al Gore and Tim Burners-Lee also headlined with keynote speeches that covered topics like print-to-digital + social evolution, using social to drive global change, pitching his new book and ramblings of a digital genius, respectively. All keynotes managed to address the topic of user-generated content. Traditionally reserved for start-ups, developers and indie designers, conference sessions focused more on examining the underlying traits of the digital age as well as integrated brand approaches to marketing in the digital arena. Brands played a big part in the promotion of content, talks and interactive sessions. The interactive portion saw an increase in support from corporate sponsors that included Chevy, 3M, Target, Samsung, Ford, Fast Company, 3M, American Airlines, Adobe Systems, and AT&T. Fashion + Tech converged with branded experiences and conference sessions that included digital marketing from Target, Neiman Marcus, Modcloth, Pose, PoshMark, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Walmart, Bergdorf Goodman, Free People, Poshmark, Lyst, Kaboodle, Gap, Refinery 29, Kate Spade, Whole Foods and StyleCaster and more.

 

SXSWi : Trends 2013 : Focus on the User  It’s no longer what brand want consumers to digest. It’s now how users prefer to consume and what type of content they consume. The focus for growth is on the mobile user, with user-generated content as the catalyst for moving brands forward and developing technologies that support that growth. Focus on the user was most evident in 6 specific areas: •  Mobile payment apps •  Group chat apps •  Video & music apps & software •  Recharging stations & hardware •  Loyalty programs •  Cloud computing Converging hardware and software development to support consumer-generated content means making sure people are armed with the right brand story to tell. It also means they are armed with the right software and hardware to tell that story in the most dynamic, relevant, innovative way. Otherwise, it’s a risk to the brand and it’s a risk to the author.  

SXSWi : Trends 2013 : Focus on the User  Mobile payment apps :: From Square to Paypal to Level Up to Google Wallet, mobile payment apps were the talk of the town. Seth Priebatsch launched SCVNGR back in 2010 and returned to the keynote stage at SXSWi to talk about his latest venture, Level Up, a mobile payment game-changer. Group chat apps :: The other side to making mobile more trustable is making mobile more enjoyable. Group app chats allow for both as consumers use private groups to control their communications and at the same time, start building a more immediate, more trustful relationship with the behavior AND the device. Group.me was a clear winner at SXSWi. Video & music apps :: amping up what Instagram & Pinterest have perfected, image filtering and video manipulation apps were a plenty. Add in the ability to instantly edit with apps like Camera Plus and Clinch, and it is easy to think that this trend will continue as technology to support UX needs develops at the same time. Recharging stations & hardware :: Mophie partnered with American Apparel to sponsor the Brooklyn Vegans free music. Other branded mobile charging vendors were everywhere, like the AT&T station to the right.  

SXSWi : Trends 2013 Awards programs :: loyalty-based big data repository business models are everywhere. Because loyalty programs can be social intention-based (tweeting or sharing in Facebook) or consumer data driven (tied to credit card info & online behavior) loyalty programs are getting more localized, actionable and social in nature. Example companies like PeerIndex, glocal, Lyst social shopping and speeker.com invite users to discover, share and shop within an awards-based digital experience.  Social engagement dashboards & cloud computing :: in comparing a system of crowd-sourcing data to a single social media dashboard, retailers are shifting resources away from PR outreach teams and into social media/moderation teams, so they can use social conversations to engage in authentic ways. Crowdsourcing data and social dialogue allows brands to determine what content is most meaningful to increase conversion and exceed online customer service expectations. Winners in this category included Amazon Web Services, Mass Relevance, Meltwater, Resource, Bloomfire and a few more.  

Awards  programs  ::  a  marriage  or  one-­‐night  stand?  Some  were  more  complicated  loyalty  programs  based  on  long-­‐term  commi8ed  rela9onships  and  some  were  simple  points-­‐offering  for  specific  social  engagements  like  watching  a  video,  sharing  a  link,  retwee9ng  or  reviewing  a    product.  Fold  in  the  ability  to  geo-­‐target  and  all  of  a  sudden  global  loyalty  programs  become  more  localized,  more  ac9onable  and  more  social  in  nature.  PeerIndex,  glocal  and  speeker.com  invite  users  to  discover,  share  and  shop  within  an  awards-­‐based  digital  experience.        Social  engagement  dashboards  &  cloud  compu7ng  ::  to  systema9cally  moderate  &  crowd-­‐source  or  not...that  is  s9ll  the  ques9on.  Nothing  really  new  here  except  that  the  idea  of  calendaring  social  media  content  is  s9ll  something  brands  and  technologists  alike  are  s9ll  trying  to  figure  out.  Exact  same  thing  for  cloud  compu9ng.  Winners  in  this  category  included  Mass  Relevance,  Meltwater,  Resource,  Bloomfire  and  probably  a  few  more.      

The Future of Retail is Mobile

Walmart, ShopKick, the Branding Brand and Urban Airship took to the stage for a panel discussion on how the future of retail is mobile. The two areas of challenge for all retailers is 1. evolving the in-store experience to support the capabilities of mobile and 2. getting stakeholders to support the time and resources needed to make it a smooth & enjoyable shopping experience. Using mobile to drive consumer into the store is the wrong tactic, experts agree, because mobile programming is happening at a time when consumers are already forming their mobile shopping preferences. Steve Yankovich, Innovator from eBay told a similar story in a session titled, “Why shopping will never be the same.” Dan Shust of ResourceLAB discussed his work developing innovative purchasing paths from store to online to social and beyond for Victoria’s Secret and Kohl’s while Barry Bourbon of Gensler Group did the same for Gap.  

An Deadly Interview with Nina Garcia & Randi Zuckerberg

Nina Garcia, creative director for Marie Claire magazine, star of Project Runway, style ambassador for JCPenney and leading fashion expert joined Randi Zuckerberg of Zuckerberg Media and formerly of Facebook, in a conference session titled, “Style Goes Viral: the Future of Fashion” at SXSWi. #viralstyle Three things the panelist agreed on: 1.) social mobile is critical to purchasing decisions more than ever before 2.) consumers and brands alike need to own their content but also keep it real 3.) images are everything. Nina said, “If you are in fashion and you are not on Pinterest, you are dead.”

Fast fashion (like Zara & H+M) are places where Nina sees a lot of future growth, as well as brands who use social to have honest and helpful conversations instead of celebrity-heavy paid endorsements. Nina said that editors need to lead the fashion discussion while Randi argued that bloggers had the capabilities to create more influential user-generated content from an integrated marketing perspective. PR media impressions were dead, said Randi. UGC is king, she said.

ModCloth Plays Modest Role in Shaping UGC for the Online Fashion Industry

ModCloth.com, an online boutique specializing in vintage-inspired apparel and decor, was introduced in 2002 and continues to grow into a unique social shopping experience, built around community engagement and no brick and mortar storefront.

ModCloth has two strong digital merchandising campaigns that capitalize on user-generated content; the Be the Buyer program and the Make the Cut Contest. Their social media team manages these regular programs to encourage engagement, content curation and social sharing vetted by crowdsourcing.

CMO/COO Kerry Cooper hosted a session on the challenges and opportunities for brands ready to take on “community collaboration,” in their marketing and merchandising. Modcloth also presented their strategy for infusing crowdsourcing as a way to reach the best influencers and keep the most engaged customers. Don’t try to be all things to all people, you will fail, she seemed to imply.

Leading Fashion Sites’ Discuss Social Strategy DKNY, Bergdorf Goodman and Lucky Magazine hosted an intimate panel discussion on

listening and leveraging your best social media strategies to create authentic relationships in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Vine, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr. #sxswi #llFashion Top take-aways: •  Commit to a brand voice & tone to build a social persona •  Limit traditional marketing & overly promotional messages if brand wants to create

a social persona •  Do not use same messages across channels; recognize that each channel has

opportunity to engage with a new audience •  Listen to your audience to continually reinvent content strategy •  Focus less on conversion in social, more on reputation mgmt & customer acquisition •  End goal should be to add value; delight if you can

 

Aliza  Licht   Cannon  Hodge   John  Jannuzzi  

A Panelist with Leading Fashion Sites Discussed the Role of Female Influencers in Content Curation Fashion editors from popular trend sites HelloGiggles, HuffPo Fashion, XOJane and Jezabel gathered together for an interactive panel on leading content strategies for online fashion sites.

Top take-aways: •  User-generated content helps shape editorial content •  Best content is real stories from real fans •  Best content invites engagement across channels •  Users are more engaged on Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine than

Facebook, eCommerce site and print magazines

 

Gap & American Apparel were the official apparel sponsors of SXSW 2013

•  SXSW branded American Apparel t-shirts and other Gap gear was available for sale at multiple locations

•  SXSW attendees also received exclusive 30% off coupons from both brands

•  Gap also partnered with TUMBLR to host the TUMBLR house.

•  Gap created a Fashion Style Pinterest board to help people pack for the trip, gaining more than 20k fans before the festival

•  Gap launched their TUMBLR site, “BE BRIGHT” in time for SXSW 2013.

Target, Starbucks, Evite @ the Fast Company Grill won best-in-show for branded experience & UGC-curation

•  The Fast Company grill was a sanctuary in the middle of all the conference chaos. http://youtu.be/AtMG3S-qFP0

•  Strategically located, this invite-only restaurant take-over of a favorite local bar & grill was open for media, artists, VIPs, tastemakers.

•  Breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks, arcade games and daily prizes were offered every day of SXSWi.

•  #powerthemorning was Starbucks hashtag, plus both Target & Evite gave away daily prizes for Tweet and real-time social engagement.

•  Fast Company Grill presented by Lincoln 3M’s “innovation conversation” invited users to take a photo and post it to a virtual augmented reality wall. #fastcompanygrill

•  Hashtags were printed on coasters, freebies, contests and hourly giveaways to encourage collection of UGC.

Neiman Marcus CUSP hosted a beauty bar, blogger apparel shop, VIP party & 2 panel sessions

•  Neiman Marcus CUSP partnered with StyleCaster to present two different branded experiences; a pop-up shop spa afternoon and a closing night engagement featuring “Austin’s 25 Most Stylish.”

•  Spa included mini-mani’s, blow-outs and a charging station.

•  CUSP pop-up shop featured fashion blogger Man Repeller apparel pieces for sale.

•  Media, marketers and bloggers were invited to Austin’s 25 Most Stylish event; encouraging original UGC.

•  Neiman Marcus also hosted two panel sessions: Style to the People and Photo Image Sharing for Fashion Brands.

American Airlines used Vine to cater to the need of technology & wants of UX; optimizing UGC

•  @AmericanAir launched #newAmerican at SXSW with a Vine contest.

•  TwitPic was also incorporated into the contest as a way to encourage UGC & social sharing.

•  Consumers were encouraged to create 6-second videos for a chance to win a free flight on the newest Boeing 777.

•  AA also hosted a recharge lounge; with massage chairs, health juice, refreshments & iPhone charging stations.

How Macy’s Made a Presence at SXSW

•  Macy’s partnered with Vans Warped Tour to host a free concert in a local Macy’s store.

•  Twitter, Instagram were used to gather UGC.

•  Weeks before the event, consumers were invited to visit Macy’s online in order to enter for a chance to win free tix & travel to SXSW 2013. Macy’s promoted the contest and the concert across social & on music sites.

Examples of how brands covered the festival in their own blog sites (Gap, StyleCaster, Starbucks’s, Target, Free People,

Nordstrom, Macy’s)

Other interesting articles on SXSW CNN Tech (http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/tech/innovation/5-things-sxsw) did a quick write-up on their 5 things they saw at SXSW:

1. Hardware, not software 2. 3D printing 3. Space 4. Big data 5. More celebrities

Forbes published a Young Entrepreneurs Council article on the top 5 lessons for marketers at SXSW: (http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2013/03/21/5-lessons-for-marketers-from-sxsw-2013/) o

1. Beneficial consumer engagement 2. Bringing digital CRM into the real world 3. Be authentic to your environment 4. Play your brand position 5. Refresh old brand platforms

A CMO network article by Kristine Segrist outlines a four highlights from a freshman: http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2013/03/13/at-sxsw-technology-meets-humanity/)

1. Work/Life balance 2. Intuition vs. Algorithm 3. The Sharing Economy 4. Technology for humanity

 

Thank you!

Questions? Contact me!

Jennifer Tofanelli

jennifer.tofanelli@searshc.com

@jenntof