IanSchafer.com

Listen to My Panel @ SXSW Here.

It's been a while, but SXSW finally got my 2008 panel titled Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists posted online.

Here's the description:

Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists

SXSW Interactive PodcastsUse the Internet before the Internet uses you. Thanks to blogs, web-video, and social networking sites, the online universe is a valuable (but no less intimidating) landscape for artists. How do you get the best out of blogs and other sites, to maximize your potential for an audience. Or, how do you get yourself introduced to the booming industry of online journalism and video sharing? These experts dig deep into these ever-changing trends.

Paul Harrill Lovell Films

Karina Longworth Film Blogger, Spout.com

Alison Willmore IFC

Ian Schafer CEO, Deep Focus

Victor Pineiro Writer/Producer, Second Skin

Listen to the panel here! It was most definitely a good one.

Reminder: See me at Media Summit NY on Wednesday, March 12th.

Remember, I'll be attending the Media Summit NY on March 12th, presented by Digital Hollywood where I'll be speaking on the following panel:

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Session C:
Advertising NEXT: Social Networks, User Generated Video, Blogs, IMs, Podcasts, Broadband and Mobile

In this session, we will look for a comprehensive understanding of what advertising in the next generation will look like. The world of advertising has been completely dislocated by the acceptance and integration of the new technologies, from PVR and Broadband to Social Networks, VOD, Mobile, Blogs and ITV, the consumer is being both barraged by content and choice, he/she is being overwhelmed by the technology itself. While the decisions being made by the advertising community are always measured and incremental, the technologies at hand are profound and will only move forward. How fast and at what rate of impact is still to be understood, but the question is no longer about consumer acceptance and proof of distribution, it is about when the roof is going to cave in. The new technologies are successfully invading traditional media and the good news is rather than leaving the advertiser without a way of reaching the audience, the new technologies may ultimately prove to be better and more comprehensive vehicle for reaching and developing relationships with an even larger customer base.

Bant Breen, president, Interpublic’s Futures Marketing Group

Kevin P. Ryan, Co-Chairman, Alley Corp., former CEO and co-founder, DoubleClick

Anne Hunter, Vice President, Platform-A Strategic Advertising Solutions, AOL

Scott Kessler, Senior Director, Information Technology, Internet Software & Services and Internet Retail, Standard & Poor's Equity Research

Marc Ruxin, SVP, Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation, MCCANN WorldGroup

Ian Schafer, President and Founder, Deep Focus

Dean Carignan, Director, Ad Business Strategy, E&D Division, Microsoft Corporation

Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners, Moderator

Registration is here. See you then!

Good Podcast Alert: Joseph Jaffe ’ s Across the Sound (the episode on movie marketing)

If you're in the mood for a really good podcast about the world of movie marketing and the web (I mean who isn't?!) take a moment to listen to Joseph Jaffe's Across the Sound with special guests (and experts and friends of mine) Chris Thilk from MovieMarketingMadness (and other various publications) and Kirk Skodis from Real Pie Media.

I was dying to call into this podcast, but the window happened to be at a time that I was on a plane coming back from Los Angeles. But thanks for the shoutout anyway, Joe.

Here's the table of contents for the conversation:

2m15 - I am addicted to Facebook. Become my friend on Facebook and also join the "Jaffe Juice" group. In doing so, you'll help me best Mitch Joel and his illustrious 6POS group. I'm using Facebook to activate call-ins, so you definitely want to be a part of this. I'm also bringing every 100th member of Jaffe Juice onto the show.

6m15 - Project "House" Update #3 from Tim Coyne. Be sure to subscribe to his podcast, The Hollywood Podcast. Don't miss the episode titled, "The Friend"

11m55 - Welcome back Kirk Skodis from Real Pie Media and Chris Thilk from the Movie Marketing Madness Blog...but first a quick word about the Experiment Case Study Challenge

19m onwards...we discuss the Entertainment Industry and Change, video ubiquity, choice, rights, transparency, word-of-mouth, the new influencers, Snakes on a Plane, Arctic Tale,

30m - Overnight success (3-day opening weekend) versus The Long Tail; The Industry's obsession with opening weekend...

38m30 - Vince Lombardi and the movie business - revisiting SoaP in context of experimentation; Success is often measured - instead of thinking in absolutes, consider relative disproportionate victories (examples: Evan Almighty versus Die Hard with a Vengeance), especially when it comes to independent movies

46m - A brief discussion on "platforming" and the difference between big-budget (big stunts) versus small-budget campaigns (nurture conversations from the inside-outwards)

52m20 - It almost seems like a no-brainer that conversational activation is mandatory in movie-marketing...but if that was the case, the studios would be all over it, right?

56m30 - A lot of studio blogger outreach looks very much like mainstream "journalist" outreach. There's also a lot of 30-second repurposing. We discuss (sigh) the 30-second spot.

1h01 - We talk about Poseidon and a great example of influencer outreach...but at the end of the day, the product has to be able to save the day.

1h06 - A summary of our conversation, touching on two categories which make a lot of sense for new marketing experimentation...to be continued

Excellent job, gents.

Jaffe Crayons Coca-Cola in Second Life: Schafer Gently Scratches Head

The interactive marketing industry is better off with Joe Jaffe around. He gets us talking about conversations, rethinking the :30 spot, podcasts up a storm, and just generally makes us all smarter. I've known him for years, and respect him greatly.

But I just don't get the Second Life thing.

I mean, I get Second Life. I get why some people use it. I've spent lots of time in there (most of it wondering where people were, then realizing they were all in strip clubs, brothels, nude beaches, and casinos). There is just SUCH a limited number of people that are reachable via SL. And one has to wonder just how much influence they actually wield in real life. I can understand if you are trying to reach a highly technical or tech-savvy audience with an appropriate experience, but does an effort like this for Coca-Cola really amount to anything with measurable results?

There are just so many other communities and virtual worlds that cater to teenagers (i.e. MTV's Laguna Beach, Gaia Online) out there that would make more sense to me if you were going for some kind of brand association (not to mention a bigger, and more influential [and influence-able] crowd).

The era where there was media value in building islands in SL for a press release's sake has passed us by. If you want to get press from SL now, Crayon's effort is certainly one way to do it -- create an alternative to the "classic" island-building experience. But for the money it cost, I'd love to know if it was worth it.

Without sounding contradictory, though, I do applaud the effort. Someone's got to do something new, for us to learn something new. But that doesn't mean it feels 100% right to me.

Or, maybe I'm just still feeling the Nyquil.

**UPDATE**
AdFreak covers this as well.

Everything Bad is Good For You.

I often refer books to clients and colleagues. In the last year, there has been no book I've recommended more than (fellow Brooklynite) Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You.

Why? It's concise, inspirational, and explains why content continues to get more complex and why we continue to get more and more involved with it. It uses television as an explanatory vehicle, but the explanations can apply to ALL forms of media.
Since I've read the book, I've begun to look at things (or at least understand them) differently. Things from social networks, to vlogs, to podcasts, to mobile content all make more sense.

What it has also led me to understand is that all this Web 2.0 hoo-hah is less the evolution of technology, and more the evolution of human behavior.

Read it.

While you're at it, check out Steven Johnson's blog as well. He's been working on a fascinating project called Outside.in, what very well might be the future of locally-focused online communities.