I learned some things at last year’s SXSW conference. I learned that polite academic approaches to topics doesn’t get much traction. I learned that getting to the point and telling it like it is works better. People might not agree with you (in fact there are so many perspectives at SXSW that you can be assured a lack of universal agreement on nearly anything), but they will listen, and they will engage in some of the most excellent debates and discussions you’ll remember having since college. Thus the title for my proposed panel for SXSW 2010. Hopefully, you’re interested – and more importantly – feel compelled to go vote a big thumbs up for my panel idea. Maybe you’re even motivated enough to write some great comments about it (please!). You can just click on the ThumbsUp button above.

What’s this all about anyway?

As for the actual idea for the panel… its pretty simple: one of the main ways brands are measured in today’s world is by measuring brand equity. WPP’s Brandz, Omnicom’s Interbrand, and others, have built models to try and calculate the value of the world’s biggest brands. But in the digital world, where most of us increasingly spend the majority of our media-consuming time, these calculations fall short. Working with colleagues at iCrossing, we’ve developed a new model that aims to measure the brand’s equity in the network, or as we call it… a brand’s degree of ‘connectedness’. Brands that kick butt in our model, we think of as true ‘connected brands.’ We think connected brands are better known within the network, and are likely to perform better financially. The panel will explore the old models and the new – giving attendees a real toolkit to evaluate their brands, and develop plans to improve their performance in our digital world.

Who will be up at the speaking table?

We plan to mix it up with panel participants. In some cases, we’ll aim to have representatives from engaged brands like  Zappos, Best Buy. Other participants will come from more traditional brands doing surprising things. Finally, we’ll add an expert or two in digital marketing. And as a bonus we may have a mystery guest from completely outside the industry. The mix of views, and the variety of experiences – along with the background material supporting the panel’s theme, will provie for some great sparks, and useful material for attendees.

How will you be different when you leave?

This is the really important question. The answer: hopefully you look at branding in a very different way. And that new way of looking at it will be understandable by you, valuable to you, and something you can take action against right away. You should leave with a belief that the way a brand behaves in the digital world, and more broadly in the networks where it’s audiences spend their time, will be more important than simply measuring the cumulative media spend of a brand, and its unaided awareness in mall intercepts. (I’m being a little unfair here. Mall intercepts may still be quite useful. It’s just fun to pick on them. At least it stirs the debate. All you clip-board bearing mall-intercept survey professionals are welcome to come and make your case!).