SXSWet 2012: Long live the Newsjack

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Screen shot 2012-03-10 at 8.03.52 PM.jpgGrant Hunter, regional creative director APAC of Iris Worldwide – who divides his time between Singapore and the rest of iris’ offices across the APAC region – is at SXSW in Austin, Texas this weekend, and reports exclusively for Campaign Brief.

 

Screen shot 2012-03-10 at 8.01.19 PM.jpgSXSW interactive has kicked off. The Texan sun from last year has been replaced by what feels like weather imported from Manchester, England. It’s been wet, very wet. And it feels like the world has descended on this Texan town.

The latest trend this year has to be queues. The queue for a cab was an hour at the airport. The queue to pick up your pass seemed to snake around the whole conference center and was even longer. The queue of people moaning saying South By isn’t as good as it used to be. There’s loads of chatter about too many people and the fact the festival has jumped the shark. The long termers are always protective of the festival and they hate the fact that the ‘douchebags’ have invaded their territory. So the weather isn’t the best and it’s made everything seem congested but there are almost too many things on the schedule that demand your attention.

SXSW still has masses to offer. And it can be quite overwhelming as you try to pick the right panels out of the schedule. Using the SXSW Go app on the iPad has certainly made it easier. Over the next few days I’ll share a few of the things that have captured my attention over here.

 

Screen shot 2012-03-10 at 8.01.03 PM.jpgThis afternoon we caught up with David Scott (middle of pic with myself and Jon Burkhart, Social Media Creative Director at iris Worldwide) who was talking about his new ebook Newsjacking. Scott’s Power Law states that a News story has a shelf life of 48 hours if you want to ride its trending wave.

Screen shot 2012-03-10 at 8.28.53 PM.jpgIdeally if you can strike in the first few hours you’ll stand a better chance of being successful. David shared a few examples including the Tio crocodile insurance that the Northern Territory Government presented to the U.S. President when he flew into Darwin. The 6 dollar policy would pay out $50k if the president got attacked. It generated loads of press coverage in Australia and showed that the territory was sparing no expense when it came to looking after the political leader. David stated that you have to act NOW before the opportunity passes.

 

Screen shot 2012-03-10 at 8.00.50 PM.jpgIn a second example he talked about another politician and the infamous picture he sent to a lady friend. Anthony Wiener (a left leaning politician according to Scott and the picture) hit the headlines and had to step down. Within hours Larry Flint of Hustler offered Wiener the new role of VP for Hustler’s Internet division via a blog post. This cunningly became the second paragraph in many News pieces. By giving journalists a new angle it added spice to the story and guaranteed Hustler free press. He also talked about the unfortunate incident that saw Richard Branson’s Necker island home burn down. Kate Winslet ran in and saved Branson’s mum and it was all over the News. In another second paragraph example the London Fire Brigade offered free firefighting training to Winslet on her return to London. Again it gave the press something else to add interest to the initial story.

 

Scott concluded that Newsjacking is a mindset. He recommended that companies should implement three things:

 

1. Appoint a Chief Real-Time Officer

2. Develop real-time guidelines

3. Invest in systems that monitor in real-time

 

Scott looks at Newsjacking through a PR lens. Tomorrow our Urgent Genius panel explores real-time creativity and Newsjacking from a creative perspective. We’re talking with satirical animators NMA from Taiwan, Michael Logan heads up their content arm and he’ll explain the magic behind their rapid-fire animations.  IKEA365 creator Remco Marinus from Lemz Amsterdam is our second panelist and his team shot a new ad ever day for a year. And last but by no means least @Bronx ZoosCobra (who has been trending today as people heard that she’s going to be in town for our panel) is the second most followed animal on Twitter. I’m looking forward to hosting the panel and the debate that ensues. If you’re out here, in Austin, pop along to the Sheraton at 11am.