This is my third time attending SXSW in the last five years. It’s amazing to watch first-hand what a year of time can bring in innovation, discussion and subject matter. SXSW has also become a less intimate, mega-conference thoroughfare that brings together not just people in the marketing, advertising and creative space but also start-up jockeys, media marketing and tech all-in-one place. There are so many people (brands and companies) that one no longer needs an official pass to engage in highly valuable dialogue or networking. In fact, many of the most engaging conversations I experienced were those picked up as we struggled to keep up with the endless list of parties, musical acts and mobile food trucks. Not to mention the conversation piece that is our OldsMO-Bile–the customized 1979 Olds that we drove around Austin, jokingly taking on Uber and SideCar one ride at a time.
SXSW has reached a major crossroads in which it needs to help re-establish itself or diversify into more organized, highly targeted conferences (or micro conferences) that doesn’t try to spread itself so thin. If you ask creatives–there are too many startups here. If you ask startups–there are too many media folk here trying to sell ideas and messaging platforms the startups can’t afford. It’s segmenting and, to a certain degree, marginalizing a physical audience that just becomes lost at the wheel. Need a ride?
For the last three years, SXSWi has been “the year of mobile” and if you didn’t jump on the wagon your brand or your client was lost. This wasn’t the year of mobile, but the year of figuring out where content and digital build the bridge to mobile. Many brands, agencies and tech companies still experience challenges in trying to build ideas and propagate content that doesn’t fit an audience’s needs or address a clear technological challenge. The reality is, the Big Idea and Storytelling are still alive and more important than ever because customers always desire a journey. A well articulated, impeccably planned journey that solves brand and content problems by understanding its audience. The increasing crossover between SXSW’s big three–Interactive, Film & Music–speaks to that desire. The customer lives, breathes and behaves very differently in 2013. Data is readily accessible to help brands take a more platform agnostic approach, thus creating a more healthy and performance-based approach in building systems of ideas and content.
As for SXSW: I still love you and I have an undying love for the city of Austin, my former home. I think it is important to question when an event has become too big and understand how to protect its original integrity. It’s great that the advertising industry has a so-called Cannes of the US, but SXSW has so much more to offer than parties. Promise. I’m super-excited to see what the future holds. Innovation is the reason I love what I do; even if sometimes that means going grassroots, taking clients on a ride through a busy city, cutting through the clutter with a bright green 1979 Olds.
Peter Yesawich Jr., a.k.a. PJ, is creative director at Modus Operandi
