Ever been on a website and have an ad appear that just so happens to be for an item you were recently searching for? That’s no accident, it’s personalized advertising. Marketers target user online behavior to align their product or service with your online shopping or search activity. Another name for it is behavioral targeting and the tactic, when used correctly, can be highly effective in targeting consumers. I myself have been delighted to see a jacket I was searching for last winter pop up on Pandora, on sale. However, not everyone is so thrilled. It has many consumers wondering just how much of their personal information and internet habits are being used in the name of advertising.

One example of personalized advertising that you may have noticed is the automated system Gmail is now using. By filtering your emails through this system, Gmail can detect which emails are most important (based on things like who sent them, which ones you normally read, and keywords). From the emails that have been deemed “important” by Gmail, the system is able to show users ads that are specified to their interests or lifestyle. Additionally, because of this improvement in the type of ads Gmail shows a user, they have in effect been able to use about a third less ads than they used to.

Another thing that advertisers do is attach cookies to the emails they send consumers. This method is part of a tactic called “retargeting”. Consumers are targeted the first time when they get sent an email, and then once they open it, they are retargeted, as advertisers now know they are interested. As a result, the consumer may then see a banner ad pop up on a news site, or even on a search engine. One company in particular that has experienced success with this method is MetLife. “Of people who engage with MetLife because of display ads, about 75% now come through retargeting,”  to Rick Heffernan from MetLife. Pretty impressive.

It was always believed to be a “truism” that personalization automatically increases relevance and therefore increases conversions…however, this isn’t always true. In a recent study done by MIT with data from an online travel firm, it was found that highly specified ads were generally no more effective than generic messages. The study showed the key difference between successful personalized ads and ones that just had average performance was whether or not the consumer had developed well-defined product preferences. To be exact, how close a consumer is to an actual purchase. For example, if a consumer is just browsing travel options versus looking for a hotel room in a specific city on certain dates. The further along in the sales funnel a consumer is, the more likely a personalized ad will be effective. For marketers, this means they should be aware of when to use personalized advertising techniques so as not waste resources when generic advertising would be just as affective.

Aside from personalized advertising being effective or ineffective, the bigger question is, “Is it ethical?”. In a survey done by The Pew Research Center earlier this year, it was found that two-thirds of internet users viewed having their behaviors tracked and analyzed in the name of targeted online advertising negatively.



The good news is, for those who dislike the practice of behavioral targeting, there are increasingly more ways to avoid it. The majority of online ads now include “ad choices” where users can click to “opt out” of seeing ads. Web browsers such as Mozilla and Yahoo have incorporated a “do not track” header/feature that users can implement. At a much higher level, the Federal Trade Commission is working towards passing “do not track” legislation that would allow consumers to avoid online behavior tracking all together. The Digital Advertising Alliance and other groups are working hard to implement recommendations that the FTC put forth in 2010 in hopes of avoiding the need for such legislation. Additionally, World Wide Web Consortium is in the process of developing standards for all sites.

While many consumers have an appreciation for targeted messages, some they feel that the cookies or automated systems used to monitor their internet behavior are an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, some advertisers argue that personalized advertising is nothing but beneficial to consumers. By providing them with tailored messages, less of the consumer’s time is wasted viewing advertising that does not apply to them.

Before venturing into the world of personalized advertising, companies need to consider multiple factors; they need to be smart about targeting consumers in the right environment, under the right circumstances, but also allow consumers the opportunity to “opt-out”.

How do you feel about behavioral targeting?

Meagan Southmayd is an Account Coordinator at Griffin York & Krause.

As marketers, we sometimes forget there are individuals behind the audience profiles, segments, demographics and other classifications we use for consumers. This can lead to marketing copy that’s out of touch and impersonal. In this day and age when brands engage with consumers through various channels, rather than hiding behind an 800 number, we need to make sure brand interactions are relatable, not robotic.

Our friends at Little Duck Organics embrace this idea and their copy reflects their audience. Here are a few lines from the back of their Tiny Fruits organic snack for kids:

Ever experience a toddler meltdown at the bank or while jamming some J. Biebs in your super sweet minivan? Mom. Dad. Aunt Becky. We’ve got your back. Not only are Tiny Fruits perfect for mealtime and snacktime, but they’re also awesome for thwarting any impending disaster with a sometimes temperamental toddler.

Little Duck created a brand voice that’s fun, hip and down to earth, rather than corporate.

Recently the Stephen Colbert exposed the absurdity we sometimes find in marketing copy that doesn’t speak to real people.

Colbert explained to his audience that from time to time he’s presented with a ‘sponsortunity’ for the Colbert Report. Essentially he was talking about sponsored segments, sometimes referred to as branded content.

Take a few minutes to watch the video, you won’t be sorry.

I think the lesson here is fairly obvious. And while this doesn’t apply to every brand, it’s important for us to remember that marketing copy has to keep it real.

What’s your favorite example of a brand embracing a unique tone and style in their marketing copy?

Brady Sadler is the VP of Business Development & Marketing at GY&K. Connect with him on Twitter @BradySadler

Over the last several years, the Internet has begun to drastically change the world of video content. More and more people are ditching their traditional cable packages for cheaper, user-friendlier, online streaming programming. According to comScore,181 million U.S. Internet users watched an astounding 37 billion online videos in March 2012 alone. What’s more, according to Cisco, by the end of 2015 Internet videos will account for 65 percent of consumer Internet traffic. With such trends, online streaming programmers are seeing an opportunity to capitalize. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Google/YouTube, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, among many others, are developing their own original content rather than just re-broadcasting traditional television content. Although this is not necessarily a new trend, it has been picking up quite a bit of steam and advertisers are beginning to take note.

Last week marked the debut of Digital Content NewFronts 2012 (DCNF), a two-week series of events that will showcase online programmer’s original content to advertisers. Hulu, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, Digitas and Google/YouTube have joined together to bring order to the once chaotic world of online ad buys. Each partner, along with a handful of other online streaming programmers, will host their own event over the next several weeks to showcase their original content.

Online video advertisement was approximately a $2 billion business in 2011 according to eMarketer. With the emergence of DCNF, it will be interesting to see if these digital programmers can tap into the $60.7 billion spent on television advertisement, especially, considering they are holding their event three weeks prior to the television upfronts.

While traditional television is certainly becoming more interactive, as we discussed in our post from last year, ‘When TV and the Web Truly Merge’, we’re still in the early stages of this shift. From a marketing perspective, it’s crucial that we’re at least aware of these trends and boldly willing to experiment with newer models when appropriate.

How frequently do you watch online videos? Would you ever discontinue traditional cable to replace it with online streaming content?

Location Based Marketing: Where are we headed in 2012?

With Foursquare Day approaching on April 16^th, I thought it might be appropriate to take a closer look at the trends in Location Based Marketing (LBM) and why it’s a space that all marketers should pay attention to.

2011 saw major acquisitions and partnerships in the LBM world that were too big to be ignored. Facebook acquired Gowalla,  Groupon acquired Whrrl, Ebay bought WHERE and Foursquare, the leading stand-alone location app, partnered with American Express. Presently, there are about 14 million Foursquare users, and that number is predicted to reach 50 million by the end of 2012.  So what has allowed Foursquare to have staying power while other check-in apps have had to change shape? Deals and mobility. In speaking with colleagues and friends, they all said the same thing: they utilize Foursquare to help them decide where to go when they are already out, because it offers them insight on where friends are, as well as where they can use a coupon or discount. This is crucial with more and more consumers adopting mobile technology and using it as a primary information resource. As we discussed in a previous blog, that is why mobile-optimized websites have become vital to retaining consumers on the go.

But while special offers are clearly driving additional growth for location apps, some would argue the basic check-in is becoming passé. Evidence of this is the shift from location check-ins being a standalone and more towards them being a feature of a bigger set. For example, until recently Facebook users had the ability to “check in” through a separate section of Facebook, but now they have incorporated location to be feature of the status section. The same holds true for Path, Instagram and Twitter.

So what are the other location based apps and what are the opportunities for marketers? One brand that has embraced Location Based Marketing through social media is Marc Jacobs. For Fashion Week 2010, Marc Jacobs and Foursquare created the “Fashion Victim” badge, which allowed Fashion Week attendees (and others) to “check-in” at any Marc by Marc Jacobs stores in New York and around the country to unlock the badge. Four people who unlocked the badge in New York were randomly chosen to receive tickets to the Marc Jacobs show. The partnership provided both Marc Jacobs and Foursquare with word of mouth marketing.

Another company that is moving above and beyond daily deals with LBM is Boloco, a chain of 16 Boston-based burrito restaurants. The biggest challenge for sites offering daily deals is that typically businesses are able to attract a rush of deal-seekers for the duration of the offer but rarely see repeat customers as a result.  In Boloco’s campaign, they wanted to reward frequent visitors and also encourage repeat visits. While an initial offer through SCVNGR might offer the customer $10 of burritos for $5, they would then get the option to ‘level up’ on their next visit, and get a better offer – say $30 of burritos for $10. This is a great way of encouraging customer loyalty through the use of location based marketing.

As locations become more commonly integrated into social media, and more consumers are adopting mobile technology, companies have the opportunity to be more targeted in their marketing efforts. This is especially valuable to brick-and-mortar retail locations looking to increase customer interaction and brand loyalty. As technology and tactics evolve, many companies who may have already looked into LBM are re-visiting the concept.  Is there a way your company could benefit from Location Based Marketing?

Meagan Southmayd is an Account Coordinator at Griffin York & Krause.

For those of you that may have noticed, the Facebook layout for brand pages has been changing dramatically. Facebook rolled out their new ‘Timeline’ layout to all brand accounts – making what used to be a layout option for personal pages, a mandatory change for brand pages. Recently, Facebook mandated that all brand pages will be shifting to the new Timeline layout by tomorrow, March 30. This new format will provide brands with an exciting opportunity, as the layout is much more visual, vibrant and interactive.

I chatted with Liz Steinhardt Pollock, our PR and Social Media Manager here at GY&K, who has been in the process of transitioning our clients to this new Timeline layout. Below are some of her thoughts on the shift:

What part of Timeline do you think will be most beneficial to brands and why?

Overall, the new Timeline brand page layout allows businesses, brands and organizations to express themselves in a much more visual way to boost the amount of time people spend looking at the pages, and hopefully, the time they spend engaging with the brand.

In this recent post on Mashable (http://mashable.com/2012/03/27/facebook-timeline-brands-engagement/), “a researcher reports that brands are getting an average of 46% more engagement with Timeline.” Although these are preliminary results, this research does indicate what’s to come.

With this shift taking place under a ‘deadline’ mandated by Facebook, proactively upgrading to the new layout has been key. While creating a cover photo is the most time-intensive part of switching to a timeline profile, it’s also the most worth-while tactic as it offers a marketing opportunity on the page. Brands really want to make sure the Cover Photo is reflective of their company and their branding.

What do you think will be the biggest obstacle for brands to adjust to during this shift?

With any change, there is surprise, sometimes resistance, but hopefully also acceptance. Some Facebook users have outwardly expressed their dislike for the new layout, but I feel confident that this a positive shift for most companies to promote their brand via Facebook. As Facebook has said since announcing the shift to Timeline pages for brands, visitor experience is key and so is organic interaction. The Timeline pages will give organizations a greater capability to engage with their audience, rather than the billboard effect of the former brand pages.

What is your favorite brand page that has already adopted the new Timeline feature?

I think there are a number of brands that are using the features of the Timeline layout really well, but a few that stand out are Old Spice (http://www.facebook.com/#!/OldSpice), Kate Spade (http://www.facebook.com/katespade), Nike (http://www.facebook.com/#!/nike), etc. These brands have done a tremendous job of taking advantage of the key features of the page – adding engaging key milestones to the timeline, pinning and starring posts to draw attention to key updates, and of course, paying a lot of attention to detail on the Cover Photos!

As the transition quickly approaches, brands must be sure to utilize all of the new and exciting features that Facebook’s Timeline has to offer! Using these features to your full advantage will serve as a great resource for your brand as well as a great opportunity to boost engagement with new and existing fans.

Before Timeline strikes your Facebook account, there are a few key things you should know.

Here’s the checklist:

1. 1. Cover Photo

A large, 851 x 315 pixel banner photo will be displayed at the top of your page. This photo gives your brand an opportunity to visually display what you’re all about. For example, this photo can show customer interaction with your brand’s product as shown below by Coca Cola:

Photos can’t however, display calls to action, pricing/promotional information or contact information. Also, it’s crucial for your brand to choose a visually appealing, high-resolution photo that will intrigue visitors, making them want to scroll down and view the rest of your page.

1. 2. About Section

Below the cover photo will be your standard profile picture – which stays the same – and will be flanked by your brand name, and two Insights metrics (total likes and the number of people “talking about this”). Additionally, a 150-character ‘About’ section will be featured above-the-fold and offers visitors a succinct “reason to believe” before they dive further into the brand’s story. Be sure to fill out this section so visitors can get a feel for your brand. This includes a company overview, basic information section, and a section for contact information.

1. 3. Page Apps

To the right of the ‘About’ section (relocated from the left navigation sidebar) will be where your brand’s apps (formerly ‘tabs’ will be located). These can include anything from photos, videos, and events, to your brand’s custom apps. It is important to note that only three Custom Views will be allowed ‘above the fold’ (photos will be ‘locked’ into that first App View spot), while the rest of the apps will be featured through a drop-down menu. You’ll want to choose the four key apps to feature on this App View bar.

1. 4. Messages

Another feature of Timeline allows users to send direct messages to your brand’s page. It is important to note that fans can only proactively message the brand, so the brand will never be able to reach out to fans with a direct message. However, this new feature provides you with the ability to address particular user concerns and questions without having them appear on your wall.

1. 5. Milestones

Setting up milestones on your brand’s Facebook page provides fans with background information and allows you share your brand’s story with them. The Milestone feature makes storytelling easier than it ever was before! Brands can use this tool to craft their story, and can update the Timeline with new milestones as they happen to help to stimulate conversations around major achievements.

1. 6. Pinned and Starred Posts

Two important features surrounding the Timeline’s content is having the option to ‘pin’ a posts, old or new, to the page, as well as ‘star’ posts. If you pin a post, it will automatically appear in the top left spot of your Timeline feed, making it the first post visitors see, for up to seven days. This feature allows your brand to have control over what important information you want your visitors to see first. Starring posts allows brands to highlight important posts visually. When a post is starred, it expands to widescreen (or ‘double wide,’ stretching to the width of both Timeline columns) and is always visible.

1. 7. Friend Activity

Another new feature is the ‘friend feed’ section which will now be displayed on the top right of the page – under your page’s apps. This feature allows your visitors to see which of their friends also like your page, and it also displays updates from other Facebook ‘fans’ who have mentioned your brand in a status update. This content will rotate, again putting emphasis on the user experience, ensuring that no two visits will be exactly the same.

How are you utilizing your Timeline page?

Kelsey Benjamin is an Account Coordinator at Griffin York & Krause.

Twitter has been an unofficial advertising platform since its beginnings, and has been a natural fit for services like Pay4Tweet and deals where celebrities are paid to mention certain products. But as brands began to develop their overall social media presence, and found the value of producing content specifically for Twitter and engaging with users, Twitter introduced “Promoted Tweets.” Earlier this week, they introduced the same concept for Twitter on mobile devices. This allowed a single tweet to appear at the top of a list of Twitter search results, similar to a Google AdWords placement. This strategy is similar to Facebook’s “sponsored stories,” which increase the visibility of branded posts in the Newsfeed and on the right hand column. I have noticed three distinct approaches to promoting content on Twitter recently, and each involves a different level of brand control.

The first strategy is to promote branded content on a pre-existing hashtag. Last year, as NH’s First In The Nation primary started to heat up, Mitt Romney’s campaign “purchased” the #FITN hashtag, which included commentary and tweets from a wide spectrum of users, all somehow related to the primary. So any time a voter, journalist, or any other Twitterer clicked on the #FITN hashtag to view the real time primary tweets, the first result was a Tweet from the Romney campaign.  This was a focused effort that reached exactly the people the Romney campaign was targeting.

Brands can also promote their tweets across a variety of pre-existing hashtags, based on select keywords. Of course, many of the hashtags that trend on Twitter are either offensive themselves or contain offensive tweets. Yesterday morning I clicked on one such hashtag,  the number one trending topic on Twitter, and saw at the top a tweet from Motorola. I screencapped the surprising image, and tweeted my surprise at Motorola. They responded quickly, letting me know they had not chosen that topic specifically, but that their ad was placed based on “family-related keywords” in the hashtag.

Jaguar is taking a different approach to promoting their “Feel Alive” campaign on Twitter by creating and promoting a #FeelAlive hashtag, and promoting a Jaguar tweet at the top of that Twitter search.  Looking through that search, there are a mix of tweets talking about Jaguar, and plenty of tweets that Jaguar would probably have preferred were not associated with the brand.

Brands that choose to market themselves using Promoted Tweets are taking a calculated risk. While Twitter brand pages are “owned channels,” hashtags are completely open for public interaction, and can be hijacked to include content that might not be “brand-appropriate.” This means that brands like Motorola have to be quick to react and adjust their strategy.

Have you seen any other interesting cases of brands using this feature, or any potential pitfalls that they should avoid?

Nathaniel Grimes is the Business Development Coordinator at GY&K. Connect with him on Twitter:@Nathaniel_g

Many of the talented folks working in the GY&K schoolhouse also pursue ‘independent studies’ to flex their creative muscles outside office. It turns out we have enough musicians here to form an Arcade Fire cover band.

One such musician is GY&K’s Director of Digital, Dustin Ruoff. In this Q&A we learn more about Dustin’s love of music and why he pumped out more than thirty-five hours of original music in the month of February!

Q: How long have you been making original music?

I’ve been attempting to create music since the early 90s, and bought lots of gear when I should have been paying rent or tuition. It wasn’t until 1997 when I teamed up with a friend to record an album as a band called “Minds of Minolta.” We did a few shows at the legendary Stone Church in Newmarket and The Elvis Room in Portsmouth, and had fun entertaining the folks who attended. He moved to NYC and I wound up going solo as “Mosfet” in 2000. It wasn’t until 2005 that I really kicked it into gear and got serious in trying to establish myself locally. I played shows and parties, and during the first RPM Challenge in 2006 I recorded my first album, which was pretty much an EP, but set the tone for my future sound. I like to call what I make ‘darkwave electrobeat ambient funcore’. It’s all those things in one.

Q: Are you professionally trained in any instruments?

Oh, I wish – I can barely play the same melody twice on a keyboard. I am more of a producer who has an ear for combining elements. I would love to learn how to really play keys or drums, but just haven’t had the compulsion to take lessons or practice. When I get the itch to work on music, it’s all about just noodling around to find melodies and riffs, creating beats and using MIDI sequencing to store that information in software. Then I can combine, mix and layer the results and really delve into tweaking digital audio and virtual synthesizers. I used to have a ton of ‘real’ synthesizers, drum machines and the like, but wound up selling everything for a much more consistent and portable laptop set-up. I am a big fan of the old-school analog electronic sound (think Emerson Lake and Palmer or Styx) and it’s really amazing how closely the software available now (specifically Ableton Live) can replicate that sound.

Q: What is the RPM Challenge?

The RPM Challenge is a creative experiment that challenges participants to create an album during the month of February. It must contain 10 songs, or 35 minutes, worth of previously unreleased material. The event was created by The Wire, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based community newspaper.

Q: What drew you to the RPM Challenge?

Well, I was already in New Hampshire’s Seacoast music scene, and knew all the organizers. I also was eager to record my own album. I was in the debut class of participants in 2006 and one of the 165 bands who submitted an album. I also got involved with the online RPM Jukebox back then, and worked with some co-workers at my (then) job to create a really slick Flash-based player that was fed by XML. It was really cool! Then over the years I grew to be their ‘web guy’ and ran the site with the main organizers for several years, until I just got too busy with family and work. I am now just a participant, even though my heart is still with the core of the challenge. I love the concept of taking the bleakest, shortest month of the year, and doing something really creative and unexpected. The challenge pushes me on many levels in ways I don’t push myself normally!

Q: What’s the hardest component of the Challenge?

It’s all about finding the time in my busy life. When I can focus and work, it flows quite nicely! Back when I had a lot of gear, it was all about getting things (equipment) to work properly that had likely been sitting idle for months. Now with the laptop set-up and the deep familiarity with Ableton Live, it’s really easy to get cranking when the time allows.

Q: What’s your all-time favorite original track that you created?

Wow, that’s REALLY hard. But I gotta go with the final track called “Elf” off my 2nd RPM album – Hemetite Fragments. I’d have to say that THAT album is likely my favorite album of all RPMs. It was my most authentic work – not sure how it really came out of me. That album has a lot of nostalgic aspects to it as my daughter was 2 months old and I recorded most of it holding her late at night. Also the tracks are all named after really sentimental things. My daughter is named Stella, and one of the tracks is named Stellaluna for example. Elf is named after my obsession of elves and Iceland – it goes on and on. Check out the album and let me know what you think!

Q: Stuck on a desert island, what three albums are you taking with you?

Impossible! I like everything from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, to MGMT and Interpol, to Autechre and Orbital, not to mention all the classical music and everything I listened to while DJ’ing at WUNH 91.3 for 6 yrs in the 90’s. I can’t even imagine only having 3 albums! I rely so heavily on Pandora now for music….ARRGH!

Dustin’s 2012 RPM Challenge Album, Solar Bliss:

Dustin Ruoff is the Director of Digital at GY&K. You can follow his music career and other musings on Twitter.

To hear more and meet the participants, attend the annual RPM Global Listening Party Saturday March, 24th at 6pm at the Portsmouth Music Hall.

Facial recognition technology has existed for years now, specifically used for security systems but advertisers are just beginning to see and take advantage of the potential uses of this technology. A global charity, Plan UK, has begun using facial recognition technology for their “Because I’m a Girl” campaign, which uses an interactive billboard to raise awareness about the choices unavailable to women around the world. The London billboard scans faces to determine gender and then displays one of two messages based on that information.

Gender is not the only feature these facial recognition billboards will be able to recognize. Attributes such as a person’s age and race can also be accounted for. This will allow advertisers to hyper-target their messages based on the consumers’ demographics. For example, if a 55 year old man comes up to an interactive billboard, he might see an advertisement for a new line of Infiniti cars while at the same billboard, an 18-year-old girl might see an advertisement for the reasonably priced clothing store Forever 21.

According to CBS Boston, there are indications that this technology could also be stretched to recognize shopping habits and spending. With technology such as this, stores would be able to provide deals based on past purchases if the machine were able to recognize a customer from a previous purchase.

As exciting as this opportunity seems to advertisers, some individuals are arguing that there are privacy issues to be taken into consideration. In fact, according to a Huffington Post poll, 41.9% of readers called the technology “creepy, it’s an invasion of privacy.” Therefore, going forward it will be important for brands to weigh the benefits and implications of using a technology like this.

As marketers, we’re excited about the possibilities of this technology and are looking forward to following this trend as it continues to grow. Tell us what you think – creepy or creative?

Jessica Moran is a Marketing Coordinator at Griffin York & Krause.

This week a few of us from GY&K head West…..South by South West to be exact.

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a conference in Austin, Texas that encompasses technology, music, film, fashion and more. As I said in my post last year, the SXSW event tagline sums it up – Tomorrow Happens Here.

The tagline is a nod to the fact that products often launch or release major updates during the event each year, hoping to catch the attention of the predominantly tech savvy audience.  Speaking panels tackle forward thinking topics like the future of video on the web, and companies of all sizes mix and mingle at more events than one person could possibly attend.

Three years ago I took personal time off from work to see what the SXSW hype was all about. The experience was truly life changing, and the education, networking and entertainment far exceeded my expectations. I immediately recognized the need for GY&K to have more of presence at this event, especially given our commitment to marketing innovation.

So with that in mind, we teamed up with our fellow Granite State innovators from Dyn Inc., and pulled off our first SXSW event in 2011. This video shows how the Foo Fighters almost spoiled our fun by forcing a last minute venue change!

Adding to the 2011 SXSW experience, a few of us from GY&K and Dyn launched 1band 1brand, a platform that aligns musicians and brands for collaborations that help both break through the clutter. The inspiration for 1band 1brand came from our collective experiences in marketing and tech, our passion for music and fashion and the way SXSW brings all of this together.

The panel discussions are incredible and the events are over the top, but the most important aspect of SXSW is the personal networking.  While we’re all connected online, there’s no replacement for the unique face-to-face interactions we have at SXW. I truly believe many of the relationships that begin here will significantly impact our businesses in the future.

In fitting SXSW fashion, as soon as I hit the streets of Austin I ran into one of my favorite entrepreneurs and marketers Gary Vaynerchuk. He sums up the importance of these relationships in this video.

With the Dyn crew leading the way once again, we’ve turned it up a few decibels this year. Over 1,300 people have RSVP’d to attend our event today, as SXSW Interactive overlaps with first day of SXSW Music. Representatives from tech titans like Google, and startups like our event partner FanFound, will rock out to eleven emerging bands curated by 1band 1brand.

Then on Wednesday we host 1band 1brand LIVE and bring together friends in music, tech and fashion with help from our partners Widmer Brothers and vitaminwater.

Hit me up on Twitter if you’ll be in town and want to stop by. If not, watch for the hashtag #MusicMeetsTech which will be tied to events all over the world in 2012.

What’s the ‘super bowl’ event in your industry and how do you make the most of it? If you haven’t identified one yet, get out there and find it.

Brady Sadler is the VP of Business Development & Marketing at GY&K. Connect with him on Twitter @BradySadler