SXSW 2015: All The Lab Coverage

Over the five days of this year’s SXSW Interactive, the Lab team produced a prolific amount of original reports, recaps, and trend round-ups, all listed below for quick indexing or catching up.

Previews:

On-location Recaps:

In Review:

 

IPG Lab Releases SXSW 2015 Trend Recap

Download our recap deck here.

Every year, the IPG Media Lab attends SXSW in Austin, Texas, to meet promising startups and attend interesting panels in order to monitor developing media trends. This year, we noticed two key themes: personalization and immersion, both led by the proliferation of mobile devices and aided by other emerging interfaces. And brands can leverage these trends into a deeper connection with their audience, but only if they know how.

To learn more about the trends we saw at SXSW 2015, download our recap deck here.

 

Zombies and Cats and BBQs: The Coolest Stuff From SXSW 2015

Rounding out our SXSW coverage this year, here is the Lab’s pick for the coolest stuff we saw in the past few days at SXSW Interactive:

  • Friskies’ Bacon Flavored Cat Food
    Friskies showcased their new bacon-flavored cat food with their “Haus of Bacon”, where guests played with famous felines like Grumpy the Cat, enjoyed cat portraits made from bacon, dry cat food, and Friskies packaging.
  • CW Promotes iZombie With Edible 3D-Printed Brains
    To promote the new comedy series, iZombie, CW, and Buzzfeed partnered to host a launch party where attendees were offered 3D-printed candy with varying flavors based on their pre-scanned brainwaves.
  • Equinox Integrates Digital Data Into Class
    Equinox integrated digital data shown in the form of games to encourage action in their new fitness classes. The instructor is able to monitor all data on an iPad-equipped bike and participants are able to view the data on a mobile app to track their progress and set goals.
  • Yahoo’s On-Demand Passwords
    Yahoo released an on-demand sign in option available in the United States. Once opted in, the Yahoo user will receive a unique password right to their mobile phone each time they’re ready to sign in.
  • Yoga Replaces Coffee and Happy Hour
    This year Yoga took over the usual coffee meetings and happy hours as the dominating way to socialize with potential clients. Brands like Swarovski and Misfit participated in a “Digital Detox”. Similarly, Pandora hosted Hip Hop Yoga, and Yahoo Health offered a morning reboot session with CorePower Yoga.
  • GE Tracks Brainwaves During BBQ Tastings
    General Electric’s research arm set up 12-foot tall sensor-laden BBQ smoker and a BBQ tasting room called “Brain on BBQ”, where SXSW-goers can taste a variety of barbecued items while wearing EEG headbands to track how their brainwaves changes.