We continue to experience ongoing real-time shifts in the way consumers engage with content and commerce. From a business opportunities perspective, none of these patterns is more electrifying than the amazing evolution of e-commerce. While it is true that there was a time when, "If you built a website ... they (customers) would come," this...
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5 Pillars for Your Social Shopping Plan
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The Future Is Digital, but Most Marketers Overlook the Value in Human Connection
As marketers, we know the oldest, most basic form of brand marketing is also the most powerful: word of mouth. In spite of highly advanced digital marketing tools, massive amounts of data and infinite ways to connect directly with our audiences, it's more important than ever for brands to endemically infiltrate the conversations of consumers...
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Where to Eat in Austin During SXSW, as Voted by Marketers
From some of the country's best BBQ to tacos and margaritas, Austin, Texas has a serious restaurant scene that's an added treat for South by Southwest attendees. The festival also makes Austin's top places nearly impossible to get into, with people waiting hours to get into locations like Franklin's BBQ and Torchy's Tacos. To find...
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G.I. Joe Dances His Way Through MoneySuperMarket’s Hilarious, Mustache-Filled Spot From Mother London
How do you, the cost-conscious consumer, feel when you've just saved a bunch of money by using a price comparison website? Is it anything like meeting Mr. Right, the man of your dreams? Might you even call him ... an Epic Action Man? Mother London's latest 60-second romp for MoneySuperMarket, which helps British consumers find...
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LinkedIn Is Prepping for Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation
LinkedIn announced several changes to its terms of service, saying that many of them were driven by the General Data Protection Regulation, which takes effect in Europe in May. Vice president of legal intellectual property, product and privacy Sara Harrington detailed the changes in a blog post, highlighting the following: The professional network added more...
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Programmatic Advertising Failed to Meet Expectations
Over the past five years, programmatic advertising has become one of the most common buzzwords in our industry. Reams of articles, white papers, industry conference panels, et. al., have been devoted to positioning programmatic as the savior of digital advertising. A few years back, it was even dubbed the "Word of the Year" in some...
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5 Execs Discuss the Challenge of Incorporating New Technologies Into Their Work
As the speakers at Adweek's Elevate: AI conference grappled with the big picture, conceptual possibilities of AI now and in the future, we wondered what the on-the-ground realities looked like for organizations actively working on incorporating machine learning into their practices. We asked some of the sold-out crowd of attendees about the challenges they are...
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Inside HBO and Giant Spoon’s Massive Immersive Westworld Activation at SXSW
In HBO's Westworld, people come from all over to experience what it's like to "live without limits." This weekend at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, attendees can give that a try at a recreation of Sweetwater, the world within Westworld. After meeting at a tavern and finding out whether you'll wear a white hat...
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Twitter Is Revamping Its Verification Process
Twitter is exploring how it can overhaul the path to the almighty blue check mark. According to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the San Francisco-based social media platform is developing a process to allow users to become verified in order to better distinguish real people from Russian trolls and bots. According to Dorsey, the move could...
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The 3 Areas Where SXSW Both Shines and Stumbles, According to Top Execs
SXSW Interactive is under way, drawing tens of thousands to Austin for the opportunity to network, learn about new tech and bask in the glow of some of the world's most ambitious marketing stunts. The festival often sparks debate among marketers and agency staffers, who admire its role as a creative showcase but question its...
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Video: What It’s Like Inside Ready Player One’s Oasis at SXSW
In Ready Player One it's 2045 and most people spend their time inside a different world, the Oasis, using immersive technology. Warner Bros. wanted to bring that experience to life ahead of the March 29 release of Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the book; to do that the studio partnered with Giant Spoon to create an...
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Here’s Why This Film Is Partnering With a Threesome Dating App at SXSW
In 2015, Alex Garland's Ex Machina got major buzz from a sneaky promotion it ran on Tinder at South by Southwest: Attendees who encountered a woman named Ava on the app soon found that she wasn't a potential match at all but a way for you to learn about the film. It's fitting, then, that...
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Under Armour Brought Its Sneaker Dome to SXSW and Added a Few Austin Touches
Under Armour wants its customers to hover-literally-at the brand's South by Southwest activation. One interactive portion of the "Hovr House," named for the brand's new smart running shoe, includes jumping on a trampoline and taking a photo of the moment. Since launching the Hovr line in February, Hovr House has toured in Shanghai and Los...
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Vimeo Is Bringing Films Like ‘Hi Stranger’ and ‘Marcel the Shell’ to Life at SXSW
It's impossible to look away from Kristen Lepore's peculiar yet therapeutic film, Hi Stranger. The animated short, which has been watched 2.4 million times, features a tiny claymation man speaking softly to you about life, how difficult it can be to create things, and a what a gorgeous sunset can do for the soul. Now,...
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The City of Atlanta Now Has Its Own Video Streaming Platform to Lure Millennial Workers
The city of Atlanta has a new marketing tool that it hopes will help them court milennials to live and work in the city. ChooseATL, an initiative launched by the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2015 to get more millennials working in the area, decided the best way to accomplish that was to launch its own...
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Google Turned an Austin House Into a Giant, Connected Fun Home to Promote Google Assistant
Artificial intelligence is definitely about to take over your living room--that is, if Google has anything to do about it. For South by Southwest, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company souped up a house nearby downtown Austin with its AI and voice platform, Google Assistant, to show how everything in everyday life--from lights, blinds, appliances and...
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Outdoor Voices Promotes Its AR App at SXSW to Get People Outside—and Shopping
For a company whose slogan is "Doing Things," Outdoor Voices couldn't have picked a better weekend with great weather to promote its new augmented reality app. Outdoor Voices encouraged consumers and Austin residents (where the company is headquartered) to leave the convention center at South by Southwest and instead head to a nearby park to...
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Video: What Bravo Hopes to Get From Its SXSW Activation
Ahead of its season two debut, the Bravo series Imposters is getting the SXSW treatment. Fans of the show, which follows the story of Maddie, a persona-shifting con artist and the trio of her recent, heart-broken victims. In Austin, Bravo partnered with Priv to give fans make-up touch-ups and manicures. Guests can also take photos...
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Infographic: What Marketers Need to Know About Changing Customer Service Expectations
Nearly 20 percent of U.S. households now contain 10 or more connected devices, and as consumers increasingly work new communication tools into their daily lives, they are also demanding multichannel options when they need customer service and expect it to be faster and easier to use than ever. Not all companies, however, are meeting those...
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Tech Is Transforming the Role of CMO. Here Are 20 Execs Driving the Innovation
These days, if you're going to successfully market goods or services to digitally savvy consumers, you better be skilled at using the latest technologies and hippest channels to forge meaningful messages that delight and inspire. Toward that end, "It's a tremendous competitive advantage to have a leader who can survey the confusing and rapidly changing...
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