experience matters

Last week, a number of CMers flew from all of our offices into Austin for one of the year’s most hyped industry events. For 6 full days, we were completely absorbed in the world of SxSW–the speakers, the vast campus, the BBQ, the karaoke… and lots of noise! We’ve come back (well, those that didn’t stay for the rocking music portion!) to our respective offices and departments with lots of inspiration and lessons, to be shared more  in-depth in a few days. For now, let’s look at some of the quick hits in the Pro and Con lists for SxSWi 2010 from my perspective, with cameos from a few others who managed to make it back!

Let’s start with the areas that were lacking and work our way up to the highlights, shall we?

I’ve seen a lot of posts about how the “content was weak.” Chris Pirillo even went so far to say that the “speakers weren’t entertaining,” and gave some great feedback for next year. I know I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I directly attribute that sentiment with the fact that most SxSW sessions are pitched 8 months in advance. How can those topics stay relevant with the pace of cultural change? They can’t.

That rant aside, I did find reasons to be inspired by my industry peers…

1.     The crowd speaks for itself. I can’t find a SxSW source, but hck2 says that registration was up 40% this year. Geek love is forcing new application and ideas into the mainstream. Location based apps like social networking, video, & QR codes were not only used, but used a lot!

2.     Not only were real-time social apps used, but they were used for utility. A while back, we were using augmented reality and iphone apps just because they were a bright & shiny objects. Now, we’re using them together to provide utility and to add value to “traditional” consumer experiences. While the SxSW app wasn’t perfect, I used it constantly to navigate my way through the maze of conference rooms and panel topics.  And, while I’ve been on foursquare for a while, I’ve never felt prouder to get a badge titled “Porky” or “Panel Nerd.”

3.     Conferences don’t exist to deliver a “silver bullet” or the next “disruptive” idea. They should, however, inspire smart people to cultivate ideas on their own. Here are a few that kick-started my creative thinking: #mindcontrol, if you want to be inspired by how “influence” works… and the “Snark It” app by Powered, if you want a good laugh.

Lastly, I had a wonderful time sharing ideas, banter and beers with all my @criticalmass SxSW travel companions: Jessi Odenbach (@jessio), Greg Arnanitakis (@The_Promethean), Dave Vieser (@dvieser), Adam Bracegirdle (@richinminerals), Mike Lanyon (@lanyonm), David Fasullo (@livebrush) and Kerry Janes.

Here are some of the lessons they were each inspired by…

David:
Inspiration Point 1: “Committing to an idea is the hardest part. Starting an idea doesn’t make you a startup.”

Inspiration Point 2: “It’s not just about telling your story. You need to be competitive in how you add value.”

Jessi:
Inspiration Point 1:“Looking to the future, employees will have a growing need to be well advised in multiple disciplines. Designers need to know social media. Social media needs to know technology. And so on. Our worlds are colliding and we need to expand ourselves even more.”

Inspiration Point 2: “No brand will build a lasting relationship with consumers without a valuable digital engagement.”

Greg:
Inspiration Point from the Gary Vaynerchuk: “His emphasis on doing what you love for a living is inspiring, but above all else he pushes loving your family and spending time with them being more important than a job. Work-life balance matters. A whole lot.”

Adam:
Inspiration Point from Brendan Dawes: “On some level, to be a good designer you just need to be an interesting person.”

What were you most inspired by at SxSW? What lesson did you learn that will change the way you work/create/adapt/ideate/think?

According to ABI Research, people spent approximately $1.6 billion via m-commerce last year. Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones for financial transactions and there is no question that the opportunity is huge. But what is the best way to go about it? If you’ve surfed the mobile web, you’ve undoubtedly encountered some pretty terrible experiences.

So we set out to identify the best practices that make a mobile experience extraordinary. Why are sites such as m.espn, m.google, mobile.yelp, bbc.co.uk/mobile, mobile.nytimes, iphone.ebay, m.facebook so effective? What makes them almost as indispensable as our mobile phones themselves?

With such a diverse client roster, we’ve created mobile sites for retail, travel, banking and fashion. Though each client had distinct needs and business challenges to solve, clear patterns emerged and this post synthesizes our POV on the best ways to craft a mobile site experience.

The Insights
We took a look at how Google breaks down mobile users into 3 behavior groups: (A) Repetitive Now, (B) Bored Now and (C) Urgent Now. We outlined their similarities and differences. We also looked at how consumers use mobile for multi-channel retail. Here are some shared behaviors we uncovered:

• People usually have a goal.
• They’re doing something in real time.
• They’re looking for seamless experiences.
• They’re comfortable shopping online.

The problem is that most mobile experiences fail to deliver on these essential needs, especially for consumers on the go.  We’ve outlined a toolkit of mobile best practices to ensure that your mobile site delivers the value that consumers have come to expect.

Click Here for our 8 Best Practices in creating mobile sites

Preface: This article is written by and addressed to marketers. While it certainly addresses very serious questions in the publishing industry, many pieces of this puzzle are left out as they pertain less to the advertising industry.

The concept of “Separation of Church and State” has long been the model of publishers who generate the majority of their revenue from advertising. They have been two separate departments that have had little influence on each other. But given the current economy, bankruptcy of publishers, and the now prevalent move to online-only editions, should (or rather, is it necessary for) professional content producers and their promotional counterparts to start working a lot more closely? If so, how does this effect advertiser? Consumers?

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The tag line of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK is “Great engineering is great engineering at any size.” With the goal of capturing this concept and providing the audience with information relevant to their lifestyle, the “GLK Live-Well Dashboard” was born.

Critical Mass partnered with Conde Nast Digital to  create an experience that leveraged the power of 18 trusted magazine properties and fused then with the matching attributes of the 2010 GLK. The Dashboard, a first of its kind roll-over rich-media unit within Conde Nast, mashes-up Video, Editorial, Voting, Sharing, and of course, Mercedes-Benz content into one centralized location that follows Conde Nast readers across their network. Every week for the next 10 weeks, new content will be added to the unit to keep each of the lifestyle pillars (Personal Style, Wellness, etc) fresh for readers who frequent the various Conde Nast properties. For those interested in returning to the GLK experience, the banner can be bookmarked and reopened as a standalone page.

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