Last week I attended #SXSWSydney. Having been to #SXSW Austin several times, I was intrigued and excited to see how Sydney would bring this incredible festival of creativity and innovation to life. I was ready to soak up the latest trends, tech and topics. What I discovered was a little different 🤔 .
Amidst a jam-packed week of talks and some fantastic rally cries to take action, 4️⃣ recurring themes stood out and made me feel a bit like I was on Groundhog Day! 1) Climate change - as corporates and citizens, we must do more, and our investors and governments need to stop asking for a short-mid term ROI on saving the planet! 😵💫 2) Social Media - one entertainment platform claiming to be the first to enable anyone to become a storyteller 🤦♀️ and the hot topic of 36 Months (if you haven't signed - please do it NOW) ; 3) Women in business - not enough, it's a struggle, and of course, we're great! 4) How to be creative, use creativity more and think creatively...the irony that the gap in this style of thinking has to be discussed and taught to the thousands of leaders and marketers of our top businesses and corporations at the conference should not be lost on us! 5) AI - How are we doing, and what's to come next?
Over the next three days, I’ll be sharing my takeouts from SXSW Sydney on from three themes that were highlights for me:
1) 🎨 What does being creative take?
2) 🔥 The progress - or lack of it, on how our companies and as individuals can take action for climate change,
3) 🤳 Tik Tok - How brands can play, and why they should be on this channel.
There was so much to take in and enjoy, and for year two, it seemed a brilliant turnout (inspite of the strange October weather patterns). The 100’s of event organisers, stewards and volunteers did a fantastic job of guiding us around the rabbit warren of rooms and locations, all with smiles on their faces, and the multiple free (and good) coffee carts were a welcome touch! Thanks #SXSWSydney team.
But for me, whilst I came away with lots of interesting facts and thoughts, there weren't any big ‘wow, how did they achieve that?’ brand moments or ‘that’s wild! How could I use that thinking or tech in my work?’ moments. And I wonder, perhaps it wasn’t the curation of talks, brands and tech, but rather the rate of tech innovation and the brand activation legacy that is making us all a little numb to where we are today? And the topics we are tackling are just so big that they need more air time?
Thanks to all involved in hosting, producing and talking at SXSWSydney - as a colleague said, it’s no easy task to host and participate in an event for us critical marketers!
Would love to hear your views on the week? And I hope you enjoy my upcoming learnings.
#SXSWSydney #DestinationNSW #Marketinginspiration
Country Manager
2wNice party, nice year and very nice people 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🎄🪅🎊🍾🎄🪅🪅🍾🎈🎉🎉🎉