Last week, Pier 94 hosted Creativity magazine’s CaT Conference.  Backed by AdAge, this is the second year the conference has been in NYC.  The pier, originially constructed in 1894 and serving the Cunard ship line for most of it’s life it is now a “premier event venue” [according to their website]

1961 NYT article

The event started out a little too early in the morning.  Someone had forgotten to tell the super to turn down the air conditioning because it was refrigerator cold inside.

You can see the entire schedule below.  The better events for me were in the morning culminating with a great lunch panel with Boulder Digital Works at CU.  They are spearheading a great hashtag campaign #10rules.  A on-going working list of one liners that everyone in the business should read.  I’ve posted the first 24 they handed out below.  May favorites today are #’s 1, 7, 16 and 19.

These open in Flickr–it’s easier to read.

Alexander's collateral from CaT 6/10/10

The morning was one discussion after another that was engaging.  Thor Watson talking about building truly interactive machines that help a former graffiti artist, now paralyzed write again to environments for kids (and grown up kids).  Nick Law and Gerry Graf going at each other about story-telling. Just check out the schedule above and search for #crcat tweets to see the conversation.

Even though the room was freezing and the WiFi was terrible it was overall a great event.  Though the afternoon was slow, they had an excellent food and cookie spread.  Teressa Iezzi and the rest of the gang from Creativity/AdAge did a great job pulling it all together.  You could even get a real tattoo at the Pointroll booth by an artist from Daredevil/Funcity.  I’m not sure why.

Get a real tattoo courtesy of Pointroll

Cookie Spread

Food Spread

My Card for #iwny (enlarge)

Did we meet during #iwny and I gave you one of my cards? Thanks for taking the time to follow-up.

I post and tweet about many different things.  From advertising to theater to food.  Please read and let me know what you think.

My LinkedIn profile has my professional history with recommendations.

Did we meet at Creativity’s CAT Conference on Thursday?

You can also find me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

I hope you enjoyed your time at the events during #iwny.

Thank you,
Alexander Rea

Contact

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My menagerie at home

Metal Voltron

I wanted to quickly respond to a recent post and 140 characters were not enough.

Ben Malbon at BBH just posted a great article on T-shaped people and the new creative production paradigm and used Voltron as a visual reference.  There have been a few other giant robot mashups since Voltron such as Transformers Constructicons that form Devastator but Voltron is the leader as far as I’m concerned.  And Lion Voltron, not Vehicle Voltron or any other spin-off.

It struck a personal chord with me not only because I personally identify with the T-shape model but also that I’ve been a fan of many of the great robot properties from the 80′s since their original run and long into sydication.  (We’ll keep this with animation only and not get into live-action because this would get long)

When I was a kid I was not able to have the Voltron toy because it was made of metal parts and had spring loaded projectiles.  Remember, this was the era of Kenner’s Boba Fett mail-away action figure that had a spring loaded projectile backpack.  Forcing Kenner to re-tool the line with the projectile attached.  (One of the originals sold at auction for $16,000 in 2003).  I’ve been collecting for as long as I’ve been able to buy my own things.  When I had my collectibles company and was working the circuit my appreciation grew for both products and licensing.  There was a plastic Voltron that was released years later but it lacked the character of the original heavy metal lions.  I finally bought my own metal Voltron off eBay seven years ago.

Voltron is a great reference for the nature of the business right now. The work that’s going on at places like BBH is helping change a business long mired in out-dated practices.  One day the word will spread up to the C-suite and we might see global change in how agencies are structured.  And I don’t think this idea is necessarily restrained to the advertising community but could be adopted across the board to all varieties of client-service companies.

There was a panel at SXSWi 2010, Jack of all Trades or Masters of One? that I covered in my writeup that could serve as a great primer for Ben’s article today.  I’ve included the presentation from SXSWi below and you can read Ben’s article at BBH Labs.

The crowd is about a 1/3 of yesterday’s here at Day 2 of the One Show Creative unConference.  Some great panels are lined up for today including one from Richard Schatzberger of BBH and Anders Wahlquist of B-Reel amongst others.

Search for #unconference to see what others are saying.

The host crowd sources the group of attendees to come up with the ideas for today’s sessions.  No rules or boundaries.  Then we all took our ideas up to the wall and placed in time slots.  I tried to make sure that my act followed something that was appropriate.  Four of the room shave projectors.  I’m thinking about putting together a deck before my time slot.  My session idea is on Content.  It’s openness and accessibility.  Inspired in part by the talk by Tim Berner’s Lee at TED recently.

Search for #unconference and #oneshow to see what others are saying.

Postcard attached to the Stickybits sticker pad in the swag bag given to all attendees

It has been over a month since SXSW and since then the industry has seen two milestones from Apple and the advancement of Facebook footprint in your life.  First, Apples iPad, which I have not had the chance to touch yet, and iAd, the HTML5 based ad platform.  Then Facebook continuing to change how you syndicate what you like.  All of these will change the playing field for usability and advertising.  I’ve been writing and editing this since I got back home and I would have liked to have published this sooner but it’s been a challenge catching back up with my life after only a few days away.  I hope you appreciate what I’ve been able to compile here.  Your comments and tweets about this article are very much appreciated.

This was my second trip in a row to Austin for South by Southwest Interactive (March 12-16, 2010). Also known as SXSWi, or SXSW Interactive. Whatever you call it, make sure you put one of those number signs before it.  Also known as a Hashtag, this year’s SXSW starred hastags, optical code scanning and check-ins, with supporting roles played by HTML5 and a cameo by iPad.  The architects of the conference assigned a hashtag to as many things as possible so you might be able to track conversations on Twitter about them.

New this year – you could actually get online with your iPhone.  Last year AT&T’s local network was no where near capable of handling all of the 3G traffic.  Imagine that you are at one of the biggest interactive conventions and you can’t use one of the most popular devices.  AT&T was obviously scared of a torch-yielding mob because they had booster trucks placed around the area (medium size trucks with pop-up cell-phone towers).

For the first time, paid attendance is on track to surpass that of the SXSW Music. When the dust settles, Interactive is expected to have grown about 40 percent over last year to 12,000-13,000 paid attendees.

Austin360.com March 21, 2010

This review has been broken up into two parts.  The first movement focuses on aspects of the convention as a whole with no specifics on the panels.  In the second movement we dive into each of my days and the panels/parties that I made it to.

• N^o. 1 •

I know You Passed It

As you walked through the convention center, down the big long hallway, rushing from panel to panel, you walked right by an amazing view into the zeitgeist brought to us by Pepsico.  I saw this a few times but I did not pay it as much attention as it deserved.  I did not know until later that this was a website with so much more than I realized by just walking by.  The 60″ screen definitely did it justice with great resolution, and it was apparent the display quality of the application on a big screen was not an afterthought.  It should have been bigger and in more places.

Below are some screen shots and you can see it here until they take it down.

Agenda

This year for me was going to be different from last.  Last year I attended as the Director of Technology at The Concept Farm, and I went along on their dime to gather information.  I left the Farm last August, incorporated myself as The Rea Company and started working on projects for other agencies.  I wrapped on a project at Berlin Cameron for Movies on Demand called Cable Video Store the Wednesday before SXSW and got to Austin on the morning of Thursday, March 11th.

Yes that QR code worked though no one used it on me. It would take you to the your my.sxsw profile page. The "T" pin is from TypeKit.

(Hint: for those traveling to Austin for something at the Convention Center, stay at the Hilton.  It’s pricey but worth it.  You are right next door to to the convention center and it has a great gym and outdoor pool.)

This year was focused on relationships.  Right now I’m referring to personal, but in fact Relationships between brands and users was at the core of the convention.  This year was less on panels and more on real social networking.  Believe it or not, human networking is important even at a convention focused on digital.  All  year everyone is busy with their careers, family and other personal responsibilites, but for this one week in Austin you have to chance to escape your life and spend time with your peers at this professional retreat.

Of course people were talking about Twitter; they’ve been doing that for years.  But this year marked the one-year anniversary of Foursquare at SXSW and if you used the program then you received a new badge to commemorate the occasion.  The moment was also commemorated by a new player that has entered into the field, Gowalla.  Foursquare has a value-based system where one receives badges for completing tasks.  The Bravo television network has even signed on and you can now receive badges related to programs on the networks.  It has made it into the NYT on multiple occasions and has been the forerunner in the location based phenom sweeping the mobile based community.  Foursqaure is an application that you run on your iPhone, Android phone or the newer Blackberrys.  Gowalla a similar application, running on iPhone and Android phones.  I know some that are using both but I am sticking to Foursquare for now.

The Foursquare badges I received in Austin for SXSW

The Foursquare badges I received (above) from left to right: Panel Nerd; Super Swarm; Early Adopter of Foursquare; Austin Explorer; and Hookup (the latter is not what you may think).  A downside to the application is that any user may enter in any location they choose then check-in.  So the Hilton where I was staying could end up having multiple names because either A) the person who checked in was too lazy to find the correct location on the list or B) wanted to be creative.  The end result is that you could check into the same hotel you are staying in but under two different locations in the system.  This makes it look like you are staying the night in another hotel.  You can understand how getting this badge might get one in trouble. I’ve posted my check-ins during my SXSW trip at the end of this post.

The other heavily pushed ideas were matrix codes, which are 2D codes that are more advanced that your regular every-day barcode.  The most common out of the lot were QR codes.  The idea has been around for over 10 years and is primarily used in shipping and manufacturing.  This year you were finding versions of matrix codes all on various things.  From the Stickybits UPC scanning and sharing to the QR on the SXSW badges.  I unfortunately did not receive a scan of my badge’s QR code and I know few you have.  You need a special application for the iPhone.  Once you get it you have to scan someone’s code and then it displays a URL (in the case of a SXSW badge) then you go to the website to view more about your fellow SXSW attendee who is standing right in front of you.  Their info does not magically get transmitted into your phone or notebook.  You could have easily passed one of those analog things called a business card and been done with it.  Which, in the end, is what 99% of the people I met did.  And unfortunately, no one asked to “bump” once.  A very simple application that works very well.  Their API is great by the way - AND FREE.  Check it out if you want to incorporate proximity based sharing with your iPhone, iPad or Android app.  Learn more about that at Bump’s site.

The Bag

SXSW 2010 Bag Swag by But You're A Girl

After you waited in the long line and picked up your badge that you hoped had the correct information (mine did not) you were directed to pick up your bag.  I’ve been using last year’s tote both for its part in reducing my use of retail plastic bags and as a badge.  Yes, one of those who carries the tote with a load brand to advertise their allegiance to WNYC or Trader Joe’s.  You see them too, don’t lie, so we all know that it works.

Adria Richards of But You’re A Girl did a great break-out of the bag contents.

Stickybits sticker pad photo by Helen Klein Ross. Click here to read her article on SXSW. If you've never read her blog, Ad Broad, then click here this instant!

Besides the bag and some WordPress stickers the most useful item was the Stickybits pad.  Stickybits is a sharing community built around the ability to scan a UPC and attach a photo, video or comment along with geo data.  The clever pads consist of small stickers that are very easy to apply on the sly to anything or anyone.  In the end however, the stickers are not required.  The iPhone or Android application uses your device,s camera to scan an EAN or UPC.  It uses the Occipital Red Laser free SDK that you can use for your own applications.  The kicker is that you do not need to use a Stickybits’ generated UPC.  Any UCP or EAN will work.  The application scans the barcode and adds it to the database.  If you are the first one then you create the first entry in the database.  Along with the stickers and the ability to download a large image of one, they also partnered with Zazzle to have a unique UPC added to products such as business cards, mugs and t-shirts.

The fine crew over at PSFK liked the business card I gave them last Thursday so much that they decided to feature it on their homepage on Friday.   All of the new content from Friday was sent out this morning at 2 a.m. in their newsletter, New Ideas & Trends Inspiration.  My work is published together in the same newsletter and on the same page with Shepard Fairy, Maurice Sendak and Alex Bogusky.  I’m having a pretty good day so far. Thank you very much PSFK!

On Thursday I attended the Good Ideas Salon with Jan Chipcase of Nokia hosted by PSFK at JWT.  Jan is a user experience researcher who works for Nokia Design. The goal of his research is to understand the ways technology works in different cultures, with a focus on understanding technology 3 to 15 years from now. He takes teams of designers, psychologists, usability experts, and ethnographers all over the world to conduct this research.  In his own words he considers himself an anthropologist. He gave a presentation on Pattern Recognition in different cultures.  The presentation was great and you can find it on SlideShare.  There are also many other presentations of Jan’s on SlideShare worth reading.

PSFK Oct. 2nd

I met some great people that night and my business card, rather my “mini resume card” was well received.  Only a few days before the event I realized that I wanted something more than just a standard business card to distribute at functions like this.  I thought that a standard business card, though tried and true it may be, does not offer enough real-estate to convey a message as a letter or resume would.   It would be awkward to hand out a resume and cover letter to everyone at a corporate mixer.  ”Hi my name is Alexander, pleasure to meet you.  Please take my bulky No.10 envelope that I expect you to carry around all night.”  All of the envelopes would all end up left at the bar.  What’s left is a business card.  The classic 3 1/2″ x 2″ original social-networking profile.  Two sides.  Name and contact.  Simple.  To expand on this classic I decided to design one card that when folded would resemble the dimensions of the classic card but open to reveal more content.  Now add a little copy about the location or event that you plan to distribute the cards and viola, you have created a location based, time stamped, mini resume card.  With a simple opening line on the inside, “It was a pleasure to meet you at the Good Ideas Salon on Thursday, October 1st.” You might be thinking out cost, time and resources but really, anyone can do this.

Stand tall all you DIY folks out there because it is about to get all production nerdy.  If you would like to just know some more about me and be done with reading about this card then go ahead.

Blast Oct. 3rd

It would be difficult (and not to mention expensive) to get cards custom for an event printed by offset or digital.  Don’t get me wrong.  I use printers whenever possible but right now I am still working out designs and experimenting with a new brand identity.  And yes the paper choices aren’t cheap sometimes when you go DIY.  Luckily in NYC we have many great printers and paper suppliers. At least five shops I know of within a couple blocks of each other than all sell great paper, folders and some also print on site.  Letterpress too.  All around 5th Avenue in the between 23rd and 14th streets.

My favorite paper for business cards right now is Strathmore Bristol 88# Ultimate White. For this job I went true DIY and went to Staples and picked up a box of 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ invitations from Gartner.  White 80# card stock.  Maybe too thick to go through all of the rollers of a laser but I was planning on using my inkjet because there are no rollers other than the feeders.  Also I’ve found that the registration when printing double-sided is better with inkjets that most standard office laser printers.  Next steps were straight forward.  Design in Illustrator, print with trim marks, lightly score the fold, trim and fold.  Tip: When you are looking for company logos consider checking out Brands of the World.  I’ve been using them for years.  They are free and you can get vector for most logos. Nothing looks worse than a low-res JPEG of the company’s logo on the cover of your presentation to them.  Remember what Charles Eames said,“The details are not details. They make the design.”

I have an interactive portfolio complete with video walkthroughs here.  Below is the deck from that presentation that you can walk through hosted at Slideshare.  You can also get my resumé and portfolio as PDFs here.

Originally posted on Fresh Ideas 365

Alexander here.  Interactive Director for The Concept Farm.  Before I post any official reviews of Griffin Stenger (Partner) and my time here in Austin at SXSW Interactive, I wanted to post a quick little pre-review. I like to watch people.  Living in New York City it’s really easy.  Riding the subway you are forced to.  It’s a way of life.  Here in Austin I’ve been doing much of the same.  Since Friday I have been observing how many of the thousands of the attendants have iPhones and then how many have Apple laptops and any combination there of.  I would say at least 60% of the attendants have both.  And on these iPhones we have all been loading up all of the schedules and tweeting about this that and the other.  The only downside, AT&T’s infrastructure simply can not handle all of the iPhone data concentrated in one area.  So at one of the most important Interactive conferences in this country, the users of a device (argumentatively the most popular device) can not fully benefit from the very services being championed.  You have to wait until late at night before you can expect any true activity or be in the convention center on the free WiFi.  And even that shows signs of heavy load.

These above images are from today’s keynote in one of the three larger rooms.  Virginia Herrfernan of the New York Times interviews James Powderly of FATlab and Graffiti Research Lab (GRL).  Click to enlarge.

Regardless of the individual attendant’s gear of choice, that gear runs on good old American electricity.  One of greatest faults of this convention (and really there are not many) is that there is no convenient source of power.  All of the outlets run along the floor.  Every panel room regardless of size is surprisingly short on outlets.  Don’t you think that the organizers of the event would have coordinated with the Freeman union controlled convention center to install power strips?  The results are obvious.  You enter each panel room and everyone is huddled along the walls.  Death traps by laptop cords.  Between events you find people by the droves forced to camp out on the floor as if their flights were delayed at a crowded airport.

Surprisingly Apple does not participate in conventions like this.  Despite the large percentage of people that would enlist immediately in an Apple army if one existed.  Those companies, authors and aritsts that have been conducting panels or signings have really been inspiration to many.   When my tour of duty expires on Wednesday, I’ll have the chance to go through the pages of notes, business cards, tweets, scratches, scribblings and memories and post something slightly more helpful here on 365.

Tomorow afternoons final keynote of SXSW Interactive will be the long-awaited Guy Kawasaki (Alltop) interview of Chris Anderson (Wired) on the power of free.

There is no way to post this without sounding like I am plugging MTV Networks’ Comedy Central so here goes. Tonight, on my way to SXSW I was able to catch The Daily Show (the photo shows everyone in my view also watching). For those that don’t regularly follow the show, tonight was the long awaited episode when Jon Stewart would face Jim Cramer of CNBC. Ending or potentially fueling the recent widely publicized fued (Google that). Jon rails into Jim on how Jim and those like him admit to knowing how the market can be cheated and where the holes in SEC regulations exist however they do nothing to stop it. Plug the holes over the last ten years that have caused the market free fall we are now experiencing. Jon suggests that perhaps Jim should go back to reporting financial news so John can go back to fart jokes.

I won’t profess to knowing about the markets. We at The Concept Farm are not and should not be regarded in whole as financial experts. So there will be no further exposition on a point of view. Just please watch the entire intetview.

And during the closing credits they show a clip from Jim on Martha Stewart (earlier in the day). Martha says “Jim does what Twitter does”. Alexander Rea from The Concept Farm asks “WTF!?”.