The three days were full of learnings not only from panels and keynote speakers, but from films and tons of conversations. It was so great to discuss our brands and company in the context of digital innovation and evolution with employees and agency teams from all over the country. The music portion also changed the way I think about artists, the music industry and the way our brands can play in this space. I definitely plan on bringing the knowledge and lessons back to my day-to-day in media and entire career in PCNA marketing.

A huge thank you to PepsiCo and Conn3ct for the opportunity to attend sxsw this year and hoping to return in 2011!

South by Southwest was better than ever expected this year.  Being my second year, I had only hoped this one would be better than the last, but what I found when I got there was a sense of belonging.  It’s like the entire conference knew I was back and after only a year, made me feel like a seasoned veteran.  Every goal I set out to accomplish, just fell into my lap at some point during the week (music licensing, film production, and improvement on editing skills).  PepsiCo had a strong presence in several areas at SxSW this year, and being part of the group representing PepsiCo meant something even more.  Pete Cashmore of Mashable (one the leaders in the social media world) even stood a little taller when talking about ” the great things PepsiCo is doing”.  I got to see first hand how much of an impact the Pepsi Refresh Project is making not only on people but also across several industries, film, music and the social interaction, represented at SxSW.  People were happy to talk about it on all levels, and were saying great things about what PepsiCo (and its products) is accomplishing.  I left SxSW with a feeling of achievement on many levels.  The first was personal, I came back with a lot more skills and a lot more knowledge than I ever imagined.  More important than this though, I came back knowing that it’s important for PepsiCo to be there.  I know why we are dedicating so much to innovative thinking in places like SxSW, and this year I actually saw the impact that PepsiCo is making as a result.  PepsiCo needs to be there and I am so honored to be a part of the reason we were.  I can’t wait till next year. See you in 2011, SxSW…

Randy Boggs and Wes Orshoski (Lemmy co-director)

When you look at talk from interactive, you can’t help but be hit by the big “wow” from the year, whatever it might be. 2007 and 2008 were the years of Twitter. 2009 saw the beginning of location-based tools, and this year, it was the big explosion. The two top dogs in the category are Foursquare and Gowalla, but the success of these tools has driven companies like Yelp and Twitter to add location to their basic functionality. PepsiCo got its arms around location before the conference even began, partnering with Foursquare for a number of functions, including the amazing PepsiCo Zeitgeist. Social networking is still rolling strong, and the Twitter stream was so heavy that it was nearly impossible to keep up. And beyond that, there are social networking tools and services, like MyTown, Whrrl, Spotify, and MOG,  that got a lot of attention, both positive and negative.

But for Pepsi, there was other important buzz as well: The Pepsi Refresh Project. As a SXSW ambassador for Pepsi, I could rarely go anywhere without people commenting on or asking me about Refresh. For me, it felt great telling people about the project and getting their reactions, which were unanimously positive. Giving people the chance to engage in a live vote at SXSW for a big grant ($50k) really highlighted what Refresh has set out to accomplish, and garnered an immense amount of good will. Much as with our first year, Pepsi received a lot of positive press on the way they interact with the vibe at SXSW. People were excited about the way we were getting involved and giving back, by empowering real people instead of just generic charity donations, and by using social media to fuel the projects that people really care about. In reality, a lot of this mimics what we saw with the Geo-location tools: Make it local, and you make it matter.

But all social media tools and projects aside, the biggest win for Pepsi is being there in the first place. By sitting on the forefront of the social media conferences that are driving innovation, Pepsi is creating a public image of embracing the social experience. Being at SXSW puts them at the edge of the buzz, ready to capitalize on the newest trends and technology. Social media is the big risk, the big question mark of the moment, but it’s a question that companies cannot afford to get wrong. Both the sponsorship and the SXSW Experience, of which I was happy to be a part, are important parts of our goals for tackling the social tiger, and I can’t help but think it would only be better by expanding it, having more presence, more feet on the ground. I can attest that it’s often more difficult than you would initially imagine to experience the festival and find time to share it all, and there is so much to see, digest, and share that it could only be a net positive to see more people making the trip.

PepsiCo has begun the process of building itself as a strong social brand. There is more work to be done to show the world that we are here to stay, but the work is already going on. By continuing to create strong social partnerships and encouraging social network participation both among our peers and with our consumers, we can participate and share the passions that drive all of us, and make both Pepsi and the world a better place.

The opportunity to go to Austin for SxSW seemed liked a dream come true and an opportunity not to pass up.  As I’m sure all of my colleagues would echo, I’m so glad I went.
Getting to Austin proved to be a real headache.  As an individual who considers herself conscientious and responsible, I was somewhat amazed and absolutely furious that I missed my flight (due to circumstances mostly out of my control, mind you).  Hopping the next flight out proved impossible as I sat through three additional departures without setting foot on a plane.  It wasn’t until the next morning I arrived – finally – in Austin.

Austin itself is an artistic college town with a western flair.  I can imagine it’s a great place to call home as an undergrad or even young family.  Although it’s a hip and pleasant place, when SxSW comes into town, the place is transformed into an eclectic ball of transformative energy. 

I’ve been in crowds before (I lived a block from Wrigley Field for years) and so I’m accustomed to the energy that crowds create.  But most of the time, it’s a raucous – and oftentimes drunk or unwieldy – energy that pervades a crowd.  At SxSW, it was an energy generated by a group of individual all there for a similar cause and desire.  There was excitement and enthusiasm rivaled by any Texas highschool football game but it was also a harmonious energy.  People were there to create and connect and you were infected by this desire to meet others and learn their stories.

I went for the music but found the “common folk”, my fellow attendees, to be the best part of the experience.  It’s remarkable how so many “ordinary” people have such extraordinary stories to tell!  There were countless aspiring musicians who were corporate moguls by day but there were just as many genuinely good people that didn’t have high powered jobs or fancy cars but had amazing adventures to share.  Carl, a guy from Ottowa, had been to literally every place on earth I could imagine and had some story to tell of each location.  I could have listened to him for hours.

So spending a few days as a wannabe groupie was all well and good but I went on behalf of PepsiCo so shouldn’t I have wisdom to impart on this wonderful and generous organization from the experience?  Well, fortunately, I am not at a loss for juicy nuggets of insight for PepsiCo to use.  So in standard corporate style, I will share my food for thought in bullet point:

• Millenials are all about connection.  Although they claim that being unique is what it’s all about, they really want to belong to a bigger cause, they want to relate to those that are like-minded “rebels”.  Cause Marketing has and does resonate with this target.
• “Branding” is so 2009.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is slapped with a corporate sponsor logo.  In a sea of brands, how does your logo stand out?  Yeah, it doesn’t.  You have to get your brand out there by standing for something – not just being pasted on it.  Which leads to my third point…
• Authenticity is key.  Be true to your brand.  If you’re Depends Undergarments, don’t waste your time trying to be hip and trendy.  The consumer – especially the Millenial – will see right through you.   If you still want to target a younger demographic, you don’t always have to go the trendy, irreverent route.  Quality, heritage, trust can still speak to this target.
• Blogs are hot but people don’t like reading – they like watching.  I appreciate that my mom is probably the only person who would take the time to read this entry in its entirety.  Our generation is all about instant gratification and taking the time to read something just isn’t worth the effort.  So how do we connect through intimate venues like blogs?  Video!  We’re all voyeurs at heart.  Being able to see into another person’s world is compelling to us – even if it’s someone’s world we don’t relate to.

So there you have it, folks.  All you need to know about marketing to Millenials, you can learn at South by Southwest.

As you saw in my bio, I work in Talent Acquisition for PepsiCo. I attend about four major national conferences/conventions per year to recruit candidates and represent PepsiCo. I had expected SXSW to be somewhat similar to these other conferences. Boy was I wrong! It was a power packed event and it was amazing. I thought I would be attending a few seminars and hanging out at the PepsiCo booth. This was so much more… There was so much to do, so much to see and this event definitely put the SOCIAL in social media. Here is a 1:25 second video that is seeing SXSW through my lens….

I really hope you enjoyed my blog, videos, tweets and Foursquare check-in at all hours.

A big, big thank you to the PepsiCo Social Media Team (especially Bonin Bough, Josh Karpf and Jaime Soper) and the Weber Shandwick team. The organization behind this event was amazing – From the pre-SXSW training to the technology help sessions, you were amazing. I also want to thank Conn3ct and especially Christa Cooley for the opportunity to represent PepsiCo as an ambassador as such a cool event.

See you on Twitter or Foursquare,
@jimschnyder

The camaraderie established among all the ambassadors elevated the trip exponentially. Most of us had never met each other, but I felt we all meshed well. Everyone in attendance had a vested interest in being there, and our mutual passion allowed us to connect almost immediately. After the obligatory introductions, we all hit the ground running. We conversed about the panels we attended, bands we wanted to see, and blog topics to write. To quote the iconoclastic Quentin Tarantino, our conversations lacked the “uncomfortable silence” that usually occurs when hanging around new people. When I think of SxSW 2010, I’ll remember the Stone Temple Pilots concert where Scott (Fagan, not Weiland) and I “negotiated” our way to the upper balcony for the best seats in the house. Andrea and I dancing our hearts out at the Ra Ra Riot show. Listening to metal legend Lemmy Kilmeister talk about 4 decades as a rock god with Randy and Brianda was another seminal moment. And mucho thanks to Christian for introducing me to the music of the charismatic Theophilus London.

Austin was definitely painted blue this past week. The PepsiCo presence was ubiquitous. From the Podcast Playground, to the Pepsi Refresh ads, all attendees and townies knew Pepsi was there and active. SxSW is an epicenter of innovation, and it’s important to be an early adopter in such a competitive industry. PepsiCo recognizes the need to keeps its hand on the pulse of what’s emerging within the digital media, film, and music industries. The times they are a changin’, and I’m proud to be with a company that understands that, and is being proactive about it.

A special thanks to the CONN3CT group, Pepsi social media team, and the guys at Weber Shandwick. Their coordination and insight was a helpful roadmap, and made our jobs (yes, we were working) that much easier. They took the time to fly to Dallas and put us through SxSW “boot camp”, and always answered our calls and emails – no matter the time of day. And an extra special thanks to Brian Katz, who pretty much gave up any R&R time to ensure we had everything we needed. It was comforting to know they had our backs as we dove into the mayhem that is the SxSW conference.

All in all, I feel reinvested in this company. I’ve worked enough to know that not just any employer would send me to a conference that doesn’t necessarily fit with my job function. Yet they recognized my enthusiasm for music and its culture would bring an interesting perspective to this “social experiment”. It speaks volumes about PepsiCo and the power and necessity of ERGs (employee resource groups). At previous jobs, I felt like there was a caste system where only the most senior employees got to experience the perks of the job. An experience like this informs me that I have found a home here at PepsiCo. And it is my responsibility to pay it forward. My obligation is to preach to all my coworkers about the importance to get involved. There’s a rich variety of Diversity and Inclusion groups at our disposal, and I implore everyone to join not one, but two or three. Not just to bolster one’s PDR, but to engage in new experiences, befriend your fellow coworkers, and subscribe to community service. I know firsthand that doing so will make everyone truly understand the “Performance with a Purpose” ethos that many PepsiCo employees already possess.

I hope you enjoyed the content provided throughout the week. It was a pleasure to document such an epic event. I’m already looking forward to next year.

I would like to thank Pepsico Conn3ct for giving me the opportunity to attend this event.  This was an experience that I typically would not have done on my own, but am thrilled that I did.  Before SXSW I despised Twitter and never would have thought to use it.  I now see value in it, specifically for getting exposure on an event or item or getting new valuable information out to the public (not updating the world on your every personal activity or having lame petty arguments between celebrities).

I can now say that I am a fan of independent music and film and plan on continuing to expose myself to these forms of media.  These niche industries are where the most radical form of innovation occurs in the entertainment industry.

Coming from a large company such as PepsiCo, it was a very different feeling to be surrounded by so many entrepreneurs. Besides admiration for their brave forays into the ranks of the self-employed, I feel greatly inspired by everyone’s willingness to collaborate, to help one another, to be open to new technologies and readiness to turn on a dime and head in a completely new direction. I assure you that I am hard at work on making sure that I infuse as many people as I can with that same inspiration.

Besides the feeling of inspiration, in my capacity as the Marketing lead for CONN3CT (TX), I want to harness the best ideas Austin Convention Center had to offer. The overarching topic of most panels I attended was the importance of social media in branding, marketing, communication, and engagement. This very site demonstrated to me just how much untapped talent resides in our little group – we embraced social media, became exemplary brand ambassadors, and genuinely engaged with our readers (who were fellow employees and consumers). My goal is to give CONN3CT members even more opportunities and platforms to represent their company to the world as brilliantly as they have done in the past few weeks.

Now, who’s with me???