@ JWT BBQ

• SXSWi’s Breakout Performer: Advertising

  

  [Guest Post By Tim Nolan, Creative Director @JWTNewYork] Looking back at my SXSW 2011 experience, I have been trying to determine who and what exactly was the breakout of festival. Last year we of course had the birth of Foursquare, and the years leading up to 2010, Twitter was a huge component in the digital [...]

• Recaps from Brand Journalism: The Rise in Non-Fiction Advertising

  

  It was standing room-only (or sitting room-only for those on the floor) for Brand Journalism: The Rise of Non-Fiction Advertising. Moderator Bob Garfield promised me beforehand that he wasn’t planning on pulling any punches regarding the topic of brand journalism and why it does (or doesn’t) work. JWT North America CEO and Worldwide Digital Director [...]

• Scenes from the Salt Lick JWT BBQ Truck

  

  It was an interesting evening to be giving out free meat in Texas. We gave away hundreds of free Salt Lick sandwiches right around the block from the Driskill (which has officially become the Austin version of the Carlton at Cannes) as well as across from Emo’s on Red River. To give you a flavor [...]

• Ladies Love Furry Mascots

  

  According to this squirrel’s cardboard sign, “10% of women are sexually attracted to men in furry costumes,” so marketers should use more #brandmascots. Agree or disagree? Take the poll below! Use the random Tony the Tiger photo, taken yesterday, for inspiration.

• Now That’s Engagement + Experience

  

  How about this: A publicity prayer circle to hype the new movie Kumare, debuting here at SXSW. The movie follows an enlightened guru who travels the world building followers (not the Twitter kind), while maintaining a double life as filmmaker Vikram Ghandi. The whole thing is a social experiment that seems to have been successful…he’s [...]

• Debating Brands as Publishers

  As a former journalist who now develops content strategies and content for brands, I am not surprised by how vehemently many journalists feel about what I do. There’s a lot of misunderstanding, of course, but at a basic level I get it: many traditional media companies are in decline, and journalists feel threatened by anything [...]

• Do Agencies Need to Think Like Software Companies?

  I’ll be honest: I often find conversations about agencies and the challenges facing them fairly circular — not to mention predictable. Agencies need to change but change is so hard and wait a second! Haven’t we been having this conversation for years? That’s how they always sound to me. At a well attended panel today [...]

• Meat and Money. What else is there?

  

  I don’t think it’s a stroke of genius to figure out that there are going to be a ton of ad agencies at SXSW this year. This is either a good thing or a bad thing. Bad if you feel that SXSW should be pollution free and that we should stick to doing what we [...]