INDUSTRY RELATED: SXSW REVIEW
As the festival seems to be making comeback, here's what we learned on our inaugural visit.
Industry Related is a weekly newsletter to unmask and straight-talk brand comms, from a multi-national, award-winning team that's worked with Airbnb, Diageo, The Eames Institute, Kartell, Harry's, and Savile Row, to name just a few.
Amy reporting here today from Aspen where it’s warmed up dramatically in the last few hours to a balmy 50F/10C, but we’re loving the bluebird skies (and the fact that we’ve had great ski weather prior to aforementioned weather change). While I’m technically on SPRING BREAK 🤟, I’ve decided to get my thoughts down on SXSW for y’all before I completely forget I even went once I’m back in full-on work mode.
We came, we saw, we kinda figured it out
We’ve been circling the SXSW airport for years now, and even while we had clients participate in the past, we never felt the urge to make the trip ourselves. To be honest, we viewed it as more of a TECH event than a DESIGN event - and since there was a phase when it actually deemed itself as such, we weren’t entirely off the mark. While one could say that Alpha Kilo has been in the tech game in some fashion since the jump, especially as Airbnb was our Founding Client, we’ve always remained on the design side of tech (ditto for said founding client) - the side of the tracks where the creatives live, if you will. So when it came to SXSW, we were a bit MEH on it for many years.
Fast forward nearly a decade and the tides shifted as we started digging into it. It seems to have found interesting footing recently - maybe its a post-pandemic, new owner thing or a vibe shift since they smooshed interactive, film, and music into one, big event. The interesting speaking tracks, as well as the ancillary experiential, put it solidly in our radar for thought leadership and profile raising opportunities for our clients. It also started sounding like a damn good time.
So when the invitation came from our brilliant client, Lisa Gralnek at iF Design, we jumped. She was an incredible spirit guide to our first festival appearance, deeply entrenched with a vast array of creatives from different disciplines. Even with all of the guidance, I made a few missteps on my maiden voyage…
Rookie Mistakes
I would describe SXSW as if the cooler cousin of TED and Cannes Lions had a baby. There are so many interesting panels happening simultaneously that my Milan Design Week approach of creating an outline of activity and going with the flow once on the ground DID NOT WORK. I really should’ve done more planning in advance. My plan for next year, and recommendation to others, would be to start about a month out prepping your itinerary and then update in the days before as there are a lot of last minute changes.
Figure out who is going in advance - and when. Like every good festival, there’s strong content happening that orbits around the official SXSW schedule. The best way to truly understand beforehand what is happening in the off-sites is to leverage your network, as there doesn’t seem to be an overarching guide to what’s taking place if it’s not part of the main program. And let me tell you, there’s some brilliant off-piste events.
Don’t rely on the app. This one could also be called - get a map. For a tech-leaning event, with so much content on digital futures and AI, it’s shocking how shit the app is in its functionality. It’s so bad, I was almost tempted to end that sentence with a ‘bless it’. Sure you can scroll panels until you pass out and create some highlights, but there is nothing there to help you map out your time - and the distance between activities. Again, also no reference to the billion aforementioned off-site events, so it’s narrow at best.
Take-aways
So you may be wondering, who is best suited to participate and/or attend? I would highly recommend all of my PR friends peruse the tracks to see where opportunities may lie for thought leadership, especially when it comes to brand executives, futurists, and digital designers. In my opinion, it’s well-positioned to grab the chalice of what could become an American version of Cannes Lions, just saying…
There’s also a ton of potential, with a little creative ingenuity, to build out off-sites and curated exhibitions on par with some of those at Milan Design Week, really promoting where design can take us - and how design will save us. You know we here at Alpha Kilo love our partnerships and I found it to be lacking in those creative intersections where designers and brands flourish, which events like London Design Festival or Milan do so well. It’s a bit TOOO panel centric - going forward, let’s not forget those of us who also learn from visual and physical engagement (all brilliantly on display for the younger audiences at the NASA CreateSpace takeover of the Austin Public Library).
Remember our whole Architecture of Connectivity thing… well SXSW proved itself to be one hell of event for creative connections with participants and visitors hailing from Dubai to Detroit. Here I was planning to shout-out some my new creative friends who are also on substack, but only could find one with a stack 🤔 - so if you’re into FONTS and COMEDY, check out Bill Connolly (and if you’re not, I have questions).
I would be remiss if I did not mention the INCREDIBLE food scene (which seems like it should get in on the creative action in a more thoughtful way in my opinion). My three favourite meals came from: LeRoy & Lewis, Red Ash, and ATX Cocina.
So watch this space, as Alpha Kilo & Clients will be coming in hot next year, and if you don’t know, now you know.
NEW NEWS for our paid subscribers: For any of our paid members that are attending Milan Design Week, please slide into our chat or comments and we’ll send you invites to our events (it’s an incredible roster, if I do say so myself).
Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and being part of the community.
With love from Alpha Kilo
Yay it was so great seeing you ! Come back next year ! x