SxSW: Agencies do Austin

While Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive is still largely the premier geek meet-up, many “full service” agencies sent delegations this year. Most notably, Wieden + Kennedy fielded a group of 25, including a copywriter, designer, art director, producers, developers/flash guys and the entire planning department. It’s a significant outlay for a busy agency, but a tiny fraction of the estimated 10,000 attendees, a 40 percent increase from 2007, according to organizers.

Wieden interactive executive producers Marcelino Alvarez and Kris Hanson oversaw their agency’s contingent. Alvarez also attended last year and realized there were great opportunities for acquiring knowledge. “I don’t think it’s hard to get a bunch of interactive people to say, ‘Hey, I want to go to South by Southwest,’” he says. “But Scott Cromer, who heads up our planning group, said that this is a way for us to get abreast of the trends and everything that’s coming down the pipe. Everyone down here works on all the different clients in our office.’”

Hanson emphasizes that it’s important for people with traditional backgrounds to cross-pollinate with the digital crowd. “The digital understanding and digital background of the planning group varies, so I think each person will come away with a different outcome. But it’ll open a lot of minds to what’s going on as well as finding new ways of staying up on what’s going on.”

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky sent eight people, including producers, designers and tech talent. Other agency attendees included Leo Burnett, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Fallon, BBH, Wexley School for Girls, The Martin Agency, DDB, Saatchi & Saatchi, 72andSunny and Austin locals like GSD&M Idea City and Door Number 3, an indie shop that blogged the whole affair.

It’s hardly surprising that so many agencies were in attendance. “Everyone’s heard the buzz about new media and fortunately we’ve gained this reputation as this place where people are on the cutting edge,” says Hugh Forrest, the director of SxSW Interactive. “People from various other traditional forms of media want to learn from people down here.”