SxSW Panel: Brand, Watch Your Manners (Your Vote Counts)

Hopefully you've heard of SxSW, the premier interactive media and music festival held in Austin each year. All kinds of smart people attend, and many of them make presentations or provide panel discussions.

Tim Brunelle at Hello Viking is partnering with Dion Hughes and Mark Johnson at Persuasion Arts & Sciences to offer a panel called "Manners for the Modern Brand." These are very smart practitioners who are not afraid to deliver substance and results with their creativity.

I will be moderating the discussion and I promise that it will be thought-provoking and lively. Why? Because we are lining up panelists from very diverse backgrounds and environments to offer differing points of view.

To give you a taste of the conversation to come, we are recruiting:

An expert in etiquette.

A leading voice in social media.

A top marketer.

A specialist in business ethics.

A representative or two from the free-market-anarchy POV.

Here's the idea:

"Brands have to start behaving themselves, just like the rest of us. Now that the relationship between brand and customer has been turned inside out, there’s no other choice. But what is the new social contract? This panel argues the options."

If this sounds good to you, we need your vote. The more people who give our panel five stars, the more likely this panel will become an official SxSW event.

Are you glad to have certain brands in your life? I think we can all identify with a story or two from brands that hit our sweet spot and why. And conversely, are the brands that are in your life happy to be there? This might indeed be quite interesting to explore, together.

To vote, you need to register first, it's pretty painless. 

Then go here to vote for Manners for the Modern Brand.

Thanks for any enthusiasm you can muster. And please pass this information on if you feel so inclined.

UPDATE -

The Top Ten Questions This Panel Will Address Are:

1. Are brands true members of society?
2. Do/can the rules of society apply to brands?
3. Is there a universal set of rules for brands to follow?
4. What are the consequences for ignoring or breaking the rules?
5. Would this theoretical rule book constitute a new model for brands to follow?
6. Can we as citizens use these rules to hold back the encroachment of intrusive marketing?
7. What are the rewards for brands that “behave”.
8. Is it every brand for itself, and to hell with the rules?
9. How far can the rules apply, beyond digital marketing, to the entire behavior of brands?
10. Who will win? The rude or the polite?

10a. There are more questions from the fantastic audience, of course!

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

Now I just need to figure out how to get there ;)
Sounds great!

[Valeria Maltoni]

This is such a timely topic! I've now added the questions we propose to answer with the panelists and the audience.

[Ricardo Bueno]

This is definitely a timely topic! It's undoubtedly a big year for social media and moving forward we need to define social norms & social etiquette within the on-line space. Why? Because the consequences are a diminished audience and diminished brand value for anyone who ignores or breaks the rules.

In today's information age, if you step "out of line," it's VERY easy to move from one brand to the next.

[deb schultz]

Great panel idea - I live this everyday - bridging the worlds!! Well said. Look forward to the panel