Springbox had an exciting year building new client relationships, launching tools for the interactive community, creating interactive experiences and displays, and celebrating award-winning work. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights:   

New Clients
For Microsoft Advertising, Springbox teamed up with several partners to execute a multi-screen, live-streamed concert series campaign featuring artists like Robyn, Ellie Goulding, Cold War Kids and Rye Rye. For Michael J. Fox Foundation, Springbox created a trial finder tool that connects volunteers with clinical trials to help find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. New Austin-based clients included New Era Portfolio, one of the largest fine art printers in the world, and CSID, leader in the identity protection industry.

Tools for the Community
In July, Springbox launched Mobilizer, a free mobile preview desktop application for the interactive and agency community. The Adobe AIR application lets users preview mobile content on a variety of phone shells. For agency folks, the tool also allows users to export PNGs of device previews – perfect for portfolios or presentations. 

Real-Time Interactive Displays
At SXSW 2011 we hosted a rockin’ party at the W Hotel, right outside of the new Austin City Limits studio, and as part of the party experience, we created a multiplayer mobile game called Capture the Swag. In December, we launched an interactive window display at our headquarters in downtown Austin as part of the Austin Holiday Sing-Along & Downtown Stroll. Visitors could use their mobile phones to dial into a 1-800 number and create their own snowflake using their phone's keypad. Upon hanging up their phone, the snowflake appeared in our windows, and we sent them a text with a link to an image of their snowflake to share with their friends online. 

Award-Winning Work and Culture
At the W3 awards, we took home three awards for our work on Tradewinds' website. At the Davey Awards, we took home Gold for our work on DG's site redesign and Silver for both Central Market's Chocolate QR Campaign and Tradewinds' site redesign. We also received a Bronze Addy award for our Springbox photography website that highlights our L.A. office’s expertise.  

For the second year in a row, The Austin American-Statesman named us a Top Workplace in Austin. The Springbox team takes pride in our culture, and to celebrate our win we decided to unveil a new tradition of bestowing personalized rock star mugs upon Springboxers who have been with us for two years and more. (It is still to be determined whether our Dog Day Friday employees will be honored in the future.)

Thanks to everyone for making the year such a success. Happy Holidays and we'll see you in the New Year!

Between pretending to be a gnome in Muir Woods and checking out a Giants game, I also took in the sights and sounds of ad:tech 2011. The conference is the largest gathering of digital marketers hosting keynote guest speakers, like Arianna Huffington, Antonio Lucio, Manny Anekal and John Bax to name a few. Hot topics on everyone’s lips: tablets, social gaming and mobile. Here are a few key takeaways from top sessions:

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised…It Will Be Tweeted or Facebooked

Speaker: Arianna Huffington
Topic: Recap of how social media is transforming the world.
Insight: As people become more entrenched with technology, hyper connectedness results in missing actual genuine connections in our day-to-day lives.
Quote: “Don’t look at what things [technologies] are dying in our world, look at what is being born.” 
Trends: Localization of news. As international and national media falls, emphasis on quality local news will prevail. AOL’s recent project: patch.com.

Too Big To Ignore – Social Gaming  

Panelists: Jimmy Kim, Tim Chang and Kim Kyaw
Topic: Social gaming has hit and the stats are staggering.
Insight: The key to creating a successful social game is technical infrastructure,
monetized play and culture tie-ins with friends.
Fact: Social gamers don’t think of themselves as gamers — on average, they’re
40+ women in the U.S.
Trends: Anticipate an increase in social gaming with the growth of tablet adoption.
Brazil social gaming market is on the rise.

Trends, Fads & Transformations – The Changing Face of the Internet

Speaker: Jeffrey Cole, Director of USC Anneberg Center for the Digital Future
Topic: Evolution of technology, from the 1950s to present.
Insight: From single hit releases to e-books to an infinite number of cable
channels, consuming music, TV and books will continue to evolve. 
Prediction: Laugh tracks will disappear from shows as users become more
familiar with consuming media by themselves or online with friends. 
Trends: Screen time will increase to over 50 hours per week in the next
3-4 years and privacy concerns will peak.

Here are my visual notes of Lee Shupp's SXSW talk, "People as Peripherals: The Future of Gesture Interface."

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My visual notes of the SXSW 2011 presentation "Augmented Reality for Marketers: Future of Consumer Interactions" by John Havens and Lynne d Johnson:

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Here are my visual notes of Omar Green's SXSW 2011 talk, "Designing a Seamless Mobile to Web Experience."

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