Maker Culture & Digital Marketing

#sxsw #DIYMkt

Our culture has transitioned from the top-down consumer culture of the 80s, 90s and early 00s to a one-to-one DIY culture focused on Making. Younger consumers are growing up in an era where they can immediately influence brands through social media and can create physical objects with 3-D printers. From coding digital dreams in HTML5 to crafting their own prime time TV narratives on Twitter, consumers expect the ability to produce personalized experiences and products. So why should they care about your brand when all the awesome they need can be made themselves?

We'll outline the implications for brands trying to engage with these consumers and provide principles and steps for switching from top down communications to collaborating with consumers to make these products and experiences better. And we'll demonstrate the inherent possibilities of this cultural shift with examples ranging from entertainment to finance and apparel.

Presenters

Mike Senese

Exec Editor

Make Magazine

Mike Senese is the Executive Editor of Make Magazine, and has a background in publishing, television and media-related commerce. He has worked at Wired as Senior Editor, focusing on developments in 3D printing, microcontrollers, and the maker community, and ReadyMade magazine, where his tasks included overseeing the brand's product line. Mike is also a TV host, starring in various engineering- and science-based shows for Discovery and Science Channel. Mike has an MBA from Arizona State/Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and a Bachelor's from UCLA. He is an avid maker whose interests range from remote-control vehicles to amateur woodworking to anything that involves making pizza. He currently resides in the San Francisco region with his wife.

Richard Goldsmith

Dir, Digital & Social Media

Mark Anthony Brands

Richard leads digital for Mike's Hard Lemonade - finding new ways to remind people they need more drinking occasions in their lives. With more than 15 years experience in digital he's worked with brands like Microsoft, Capital One, Jim Beam and Craftsman to change the way they engage with their consumers. In addition, he spent time at USA Today as a working journalist, where he developed an eye for identifying the trends that seem poised to shape our culture going forward.

Growing up as a Maker (and causing far too many fires and explosions during his model rocketry and home distilling years), Richard is fascinated by how these technologies have changed the way people interact with the world around them and, in combination with new manufacturing technologies and growing programming skills, how they've created the expectation that brands will help people make the narratives, experiences and things they're making better instead of the traditional top down approach.