Quote of the Day – Matt Gipson.
Returning for the second year from Indianapolis, Matt Gipson spent this SXSW in the Interactive side. But while he got a heavy dose of tech speak, Matt kept a keen ear to the music side of SXSW too. Here’s what Matt had to say about the branding of SXSW.
What are you most excited about this year?
I’m excited for a lot of the bands that are coming through. Had I not gotten sick, I would have made it out to iMeem at Beauty Bar last night to hear Flosstradamus.
What products have you noticed?
The first thing I saw when I got to town was the Monster Truck. I saw Microsoft Silverlight, but I hated it. Then I saw Zappos giving out the panchos. It was a little weird since it’s not anything related to shoes, but I thought it was smart.
Do you think the street marketing is effective?
No, not really. I just notice it for the most part, unless it’s really interactive and involves me somehow.
If you attend a sponsored party, are you more likely to use the product?
Maybe. It depends if the product is new or not. If it’s like iMeem, I just go for a good time. But if it’s something I’ve never used before, then I’m more likely to try it out, especially if it’s a good party.
Daily T-shirt
Zappos didn’t get a lot of press with the panchos today because the sun was out for all to see, and so were the great t-shirts. Today my find was Alan Levine, Vice President of New Media Consortium, an Austin-based non-profit organization. Simple and clean, his t-shirt was from Northern Voice, a blog and media conference in Vancouver. His shirt spoke to the inner desire of small companies, bands, and party goers alike. Who hasn’t been or doesn’t want to be featured on a blog? You could say he got what the shirt asked for.
Daily Namedrop: Bloxes
It definitely pays off to pay attention to your surroundings at the Convention Center. While moseying around, I found a guy waiting at the SXSW merch table with a load of oddly geometric cardboard pieces attached to his bag. Though he escaped getting his photo taken, I did find exactly what he had hooked to his backpack in the Interactive Playpen. I present Bloxes, corrugated, locking pieces of cardboard that lock together into this geometric shape. When folded together, these lightweight and strong Bloxes can fit into other Bloxes, making a coffee table, wall, bench, tunnel and potentially much more. The pristine white and modern shape looks like a lamp sold at either Ikea or Design Within Reach, so I am very excited about them, even if I’m not sure I would get a lot of use out of them.
Daily Signage: Bristol
These small pieces surrounded the Interactive Playpen if you happened to look behind the Legos in the windows. They promote the city of Bristol, England, a place that wants to position itself as very cutting-edge and dynamic. Small and intriguing, each one of these unfolds to poster size, detailing the culture of Bristol. Normally advertisements for cities and countries are spotty, but I thought these ranked much higher than the status quo. These mini-posters say just the right thing to intrigue the SXSW crowd. With SXSW Music starting tomorrow, we might even ask a British band to confirm this.
Note: Remember the Fuze posters from yesterday that were attached to Stop signs? Yeah, they were removed. Attaching anything to traffic signs is apparently illegal.
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