Bloody Brian Cain, the mind of your children and banking.

Last Monday, March 15th, Campfire’s Brian Cain birthed his SXSW panel to the world and named it “You’re Living in Your Own Private Branded Experience.” Brian and the other panelists, Brian Clark, Dee Cook, Steve Peters and Lance Weiler, did more than explain and discuss a topic with their audience. They made them a part of it through an elaborate “hoax” campaign for TARP that included multiple websites, twitter accounts, protesters, SXSW security and even a little fake blood. It all came together and not so much proved a point as presented one to the crowd and allowed for an incredibly insightful and newly educated discussion during the panel’s second half.

I got into Austin a couple days later than the rest of the Campfire crew. As I wasn’t available to take part in rehearsals, I was deemed cameraman. This allowed for me to be free of the stress or performing and instead sit back and watch everything unfold. Even though it’s what we were aiming for, I was a bit shocked by how quickly and readily the audience unknowingly played along. From annoyance at Brian’s no-show, to outrage at the planted protesters who heckled and cursed at the panelists to a flood of Tweets wondering what the hell was going on. Luckily, everything eventually came to light, people settled down and dialogue ensued. All while Brian sat atop the panel stage caked in dried blood and glitter.

For a great thorough write-up of the entire panel, read this piece by another atendee at Bring Back Gimmy.

Did You Know I Gave A Panel At SXSW?

Let’s meet at SXSW!

I’m heading to Austin, TX this week for SXSW and this time I’m speaking on a panel. Come check out Suxorz ‘09: The Ten Worst Social Media Campaigns on Saturday, March 14th at 5:00 PM. Last year, this panel was one of the most lively and interactive of the whole festival and I’m honored to be sitting on the panel with Zadi Diaz from Epic Fu, Jeff Jarvis from Buzz Machine, and Sarah Smith from Wonkette. Moderator Henry Copeland of BlogAds promises to throw firecrackers into the social media bonfire and keep things lively.

And don’t forget about Campfire Creative Director Brian Cain’s panel,You’re Living in Your Own Private Branded Entertainment Experience, which I promise will be the most unusual panel you’ll see at SXSW.

I’m looking forward to meeting people and eating BBQ so if you are going and want to connect, drop me a note mmonello (at) campfirenyc (dot) com or contact me through my Twitter account. Hope to see you there.

PSFK NY on April 2

I’ve been to several PSFK events and I always get a great deal of inspiration and information out of them, so I want to point you towards the PSFK New York conference, taking place on April 2. This year has a great lineup of speakers already booked, including the fantastic Wooster Collective, a representative from Boxee, and Danielle Sacks, our favorite Fast Company writer. Unfortunately, I’m out of town and won’t be able to attend so how about you go and tell me what I missed?

Craig’s Posts – Some of the Greatest Copywriting Since What’s His Name

Check out the entire series – Absolute genius. And Australian too.

Technorati Tags: Great Writing, Lamp Posts

“Toiling under the Tyranny of the Click”

Randall Rothenberg, the CEO of the IAB, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, gave an impassioned speech last week at the IAB’s annual convention in Orlando, calling on his member media companies and interactive publishers to foster a “creative renaissance in interactive advertising.” He said his members had been “Toiling under the tyranny of the click for too long,” which he attributed to their direct response heritage.

Rothenberg also announced the formation of an Agency Advisory Board which includes Campfire and other creative boutiques like AKQA, Droga 5 and the Barbarian Group. In addition a number of larger creative shops like Crispin and three media companies are part of the effort.

Attending the convention I was impressed that the guys caught in the middle of the digital revolution, the on-line portals like Google and Yahoo and big on-line media buyers, were spending three days talking about creativity. Especially during a severe recession.

One of the high points was a stemwinder of a speech by Wenda Harris Millard, IAB Chair and the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

A few excerpts from Forbes’ report on Millard’s speech:

“‘When I was at Yahoo, one of the people on the tech side called display advertising, ‘non-performing advertising.’”

“…if the industry leaves marketing to “price-setting media agencies and price-cutting marketers, we will kill this business.“ The solution is to help marketers get out of the way of the conversation among consumers and get them into it.”

“’Stop acting like we’re selling schmattes, and more like the makers of magic that we are.’”

Finally, two essential reads, both by Randall Rothenberg: his post, “The Interactive Revolution is Here!” And Randall’s fabulous book, “Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign” about Wieden winning, and then spectacularly losing, the Subaru account 20 years ago.

Technorati Tags: Campfire, Conferences, puppy, Wenda Harris Millard