A friend* recently mailed me a box of Twinkies for my birthday. I had no idea she was sending them, and opening the box an unexpected wave of childish glee washed over me. I hadn’t even thought about Twinkies since I was a kid. A montage flashed through my mind: summer, friends, smiles and the simple pleasure of a tasty wedge of cake. I couldn’t wait to tear into them.

The banner ad is 18 years old - which makes it old enough to smoke, vote, join the military, and be publicly reviled as a "symbol of all that's wrong with online advertising." But as Giselle Abramovich laid out in her recent Digiday article 5 Really Creative Banner Ads, "... not all banner ads are awful punch-monkey executions."

Yesterday, I was on a (standing-room only) panel at the BtoB Digital Edge conference along with other top interactive agency leaders Lori Feld from MRM and Dennis Reilly from Digitas to discuss emerging trends in digital marketing. After much to and fro in preparation for our panel, we settled on five trends. Here they are....

Barbecue, cantankerous felines, food trucks, Al Gore, the fear of missing out, and the word "innovate" - Adweek breaks down the data on SXSW with this convenient infographic, including a quote from our very own Adam Kleinberg. 

Like many agencies, we send our CEO to SXSW to network, to check out the latest in marketing thought leadership, and to eat BBQ. In his recent AdvertisingAge article  Is There Still a Reason for Digital Agencies at SXSW? John McDermott asks whether "... digital agencies needed to be a part of that eclectic mix at all."

Did you run into Adam Kleinberg at SXSW Interactive? Brian Morrissey of Digiday caught up with Adam to talk SXSW, Al Gore, growth, and optimization. You can read Adam's thoughts, as well as those from David Berkowitz of 360i, Ben Kunz of Mediassociates, Babs Rangaiah of Unilever, and Richard ting of R/GA, in the article What Caught Marketers’ Eyes at SXSW.

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.

Yes, it is true that we have been having some fun with SXSW and cat memes of late. And yes, perhaps we have already beaten this horse to death, but we couldn't resist doing just one more (we swear this is the last one).

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.

We are looking for a Front-End Developer to join our team. The ideal individual will have the ability to learn quickly and have a keen eye for detail. 

This position is a contract and onsite at our offices in San Francisco.