Hi, it’s Lucy here.
South By Southwest just pulled off one of the most flawless pieces of event marketing I've ever seen.
2025 sees the launch of SXSW London. They could’ve come over with great fanfare, announcing a headliner list of marketing leading lights, and probably paid through the nose for those speakers.
Instead, they've used their clout as a crucible of creative thinking to get those same leading lights – and many other brilliant industry types – to pitch against one another, in a bid to speak *for free*.
Moreover, they got us all so engaged in the popularity voting contest, that we liberally promoted their festival for them. We’ve seen our emails, LinkedIns and WhatsApps so awash with canvassing, that SXSW London have probably already secured their year one as a ‘must attend’ event.
So…having collectively driven SXSW’s coverage, do those of us who have submitted one of hundreds of entries (with a *rumoured* percentage of just 5% acceptance), feel like we’ve been hoodwinked?
No, not in my opinion. Win, lose or draw for the entrants, I think they’ve given us some great lessons.
Firstly, they’ve unlocked a wave of new ideas, amongst an industry that feels quite jaded at the moment. We talk a lot about the need to spark creativity, but most of us are too exhausted or distracted to set our minds to ‘extracurricular’ ideas. When we are asked to speak, it’s often about subjects limited to commercially viable product, as dictated by agencies – the new Attention Economy model, a proprietary approach to AI. A pitch is rarely as exciting as a passion project.
What's been so beautiful to see with SXSW London is a whole host of ideas unleashed. With an open brief, potential speakers have reconsidered what excites them, what sort of sessions they’d want to attend. It feels optimistic and some of the other sessions I’ve seen listed kicked off a swathe of new ideas in my head, before I’ve even attended them.
Secondly, SXSW have reminded us of the power of properly tapping into a community – in this case, us. By leveraging their existing global reputation, they’ve landed in a new market with what feels like ease. But it’s more than reputation alone that’s driven this success, it’s their ability to turn community engagement into a two-way street. Driven by competition (which can seem ‘old hack’ but still renders results, done well), they’ve delivered something participants and their network can feel invested in. It’s a reminder that through co-creation and collaboration, brands can do more than just broadcast their ‘message’; they can allow their target community to be an effective part of the story.
Thirdly, it’s the community collaboration itself that has been a huge win. Fresh new partnerships have been born out of a call to bring together diverse skillsets. In my own case, I was lucky enough to craft and submit a talk with recently named ‘Campaign Trailblazer’, Asad Dhunna.
Together, we created a ‘Campfire Side Chat’, around the power of camp; that uniquely British cultural intersection between queer and straight joy. We believe it’s a space to unlock new language and territories for advertisers. We netted out the concept, crafted new research and had a *lot* of fun building the proposal – accompanied, of course, by a picture of Cilla Black. Every time I think about it, I feel hopeful. We personally think it's a great piece of work, and intend to take it out ‘on the road’ should we not get picked. I know all the other entrants I’ve spoken to feel the same sense of pride in their work, which is deeply promising.
Indeed, my plan is to host an ‘off Broadway’ version of SXSW, for all the ideas that don’t get selected. I'd like to host it at Sea Containers and call it ‘South by South Bank’, although for legal reasons, I suspect I won't be allowed to.
Either way, I intend to build a space where these concepts may be heard (the committee is gathering!). Creativity is the lifeblood of our industry, and I hope the pride and care that people have put into their ideas won't get lost.
If you submitted and do get selected, then massive bravo – it does seem to be a competition worth winning, such is the potential cache and platform SXSW can afford those who get selected. During 2017’s SXSW, the Washington DC Economic Partnership earned themselves a cool 125M social media impressions for their #WeDC campaign. A job very well done against a relevant backdrop.
If you submitted a talk and you don’t get picked, then console yourself: the people headlining might likely have been there anyway should the open voting call not have existed, but in your efforts, you've managed to create something new. That’s a win, not a loss.
Finally, should you be thinking of attending, what you’ll hopefully see is how much our industry really does care, how creative we can be when given the impetus and how well we win when we collaborate.
Well, if that’s not what the purpose of a festival designed to ‘prove that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together’…then I don’t know what is.
Lucy Barbor
Founder of 'We Are Masterplan'
Further reading:
Discover more about SXSW London
Find more about the 2017 #WeDC case study
