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This is not an ad: Whiting wows SXSW

It was a full house for Robbie Whiting’s solo panel at South-by-Southwest Interactive, “We made this, and it’s not an ad.” An actively engaged live audience was echoed in the blogosphere, where more than one attendee called it the “best panel” of “the year,” “the last four years,” “ever.” The premise of the talk was that many of those organizations-formerly-known-as-ad-agencies are now venturing far afield from recognizable “advertising,” even crossing into product development. But it turns out that many of these non-ad projects not only serve quite effectively as marketing in a social media age, but also as a mighty spur to the agency’s creativity, cohesion and contemporary chops. Tip Records, D/C’s music label and home to the legendary Gary Wilson, was just one example. If you’re interested, slides are posted below, audience commentary here.