Al Gore discussed The Future with Walt Mossberg from the WSJ at SXSW this weekend. His new book discusses six shifts that reshaping our planet. One shift that was of particular interest for marketers: an over-reliance on the concept of growth as the core metric for success in society.

SXSW may be known as a launch-pad for startups like Twitter and Foursquare, but like anything that grows big, it has evolved. Just this morning, a Austin newspaper ran a story on how start-ups are having a difficult time launching here.

That may be the case, but SXSW still remains one-of-a-kind and I continue to come year after year. Here are a few thoughts on why.

Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg was recently quoted in the Direct Marketing News article Microsoft's Xbox Runs 360s Around Sony's PlayStation 3. Focusing on the differing brand strategies surrounding each product; the article compares the two platforms in terms of social media, forums, websites, video/print/banner ads, and branding to conclude that: 

Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg was recently quoted in the Digiday article Publishers Push into Agency Turf. Exploring the issue of publisher-driven content creation and what that means for agencies, the article was written by Jack Marshall. 

"Boy, your creative must really suck."

Never one to mince words, Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg expanded on his issues with data-driven creative in the latest edition of AdAge. Championing the value of "insight" as a valuable creative tool that should not be spreadsheeted away - Adam had choice words for fans of Big Data.

Last weekend, I bought a new car. It was the culmination of a month of research, soul searching, exploring, negotiating—and driving. I tried to observe the process I went through as a consumer to see if I might learn something about marketing.

I did.

Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg recently sat down with David Kaplan fromAdExchanger to discuss his thoughts on native advertising. Covering everything from integrated content to social-recognition-as-currency to Traction's recent work for California Bank and Trust, the article can be viewed in it's entirety here: 

Ads Go Native: Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg Dissects the Hype. 

As digital marketers, we're constantly tasked with getting customers to do something. Like this. Click that. Comment here. Buy now. Engage, please.

Brands can successfully and consistently accomplish this by rewarding their customers. Those rewards do not have to be financial in nature....

Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg was recently featured in Adweek magazine giving his thoughts on GoPro cameras' content marketing edge. The article, titled GoPro Boosts Sales via Snap and Share, focuses on GoPro's innovative use of Instagram and YouTube to share user generated-content. 

Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg was recently quoted in the Direct Marketing News article The Battle For Sexy. Focusing on the battle between creative and data; the article featured Adam's thoughts on the "sex appeal of data" and "ROA - return on awesome."