Four months has passed since SXSW 2013, and it’s very interesting to see what has lived up to the hype, what has passed and what deserves another look.

Google glasses

The hype is strong with this one. Google Glasses and the digitisation of, well, everything. With Google beginning the gradual roll-out/seeding program of their incredibly hyped glasses it was inevitable that the buzz around this was going to remain. 

In fact, another developer has already hacked the OS to enable the glasses to recognise faces – something Google was keen to avoid.  This presents huge potential for brands to open up their advertising to everyone involved.

Socialisation of advertising content

The continued growth of Buzzfeed – with editorial staff being recruited in both the UK and Australia has shown that there is still a role to play for brands to create social content that engages and encourages sharing. 

Five months ago there were only a small handful of brands creating content in partnership with Buzzfeed – now brands are falling over themselves to get their content uploaded. Expect more in 2013.

3D printing

Whilst technically the 3D hype is still riding high, the fact that 3D printing has continued to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons means this technology hasn't lived up to the hype. 

There is clearly the potential for great things to be done for humanity – printing limbs for victims of landmines in war-torn countries and printing custom parts for surgery are just two – yet sadly the ability to 3D print guns relatively easily has taken the sheen off the potential for the common good.

Nibble content

Almost before it even began, nibble-sized content has ridden the hype wave.

For a time Vine looked like it would be the next big thing and nearly overtook Instagram as mobile social platform of choice, but the latter’s decision to launch their own, smarter, longer, video platform as potentially rang the death knoll for Vine at only a few months old.

To wrap up, regardless of whether a SXSW trend lives up to the hype or not what is important is that brands should open up to new ideas and embrace new technology – it might just revolutionise your marketing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Lefley is head of digital at Edelman Melbourne. An award winning digital and social media specialist. Alex has consulted and led digital and PR campaigns both here in Australia and in the UK for brands including Shell, Grolsch, American Express, Pfizer Viagra and Hewlett Packard. Follow Alex on Twitter @AlexLefley.

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