South By Southwest is almost upon us and the buzz is reaching fever pitch. As a long-time SXSW devotee, I couldn’t be a bigger fan of the festival. And while there’s no denying SXSW has changed dramatically over the years, I disagree with the critics who argue that it’s jumped the shark, that the conference has become too big or too saturated or too diluted or just plain too much for the human brain to process.
I’ve always called SXSW the “Davos of Digital,” because it is the only time each year that literally thousands of the world’s most influential digital minds bump shoulders. Just a few short years ago, these minds used to be primarily startups and a handful of other digital geeks like myself; almost every digital startup looked to SXSW for a launch platform, and many still do. But now that all media has been digitized in one way or another, digital is the most competitive brand battleground and you see that playing out in the sheer volume of big brands that spend massive time and effort to make an impact on the digerati in attendance. By reaching a relatively small group of hyper-connected conference-goers, companies hope to tap into South By’s global digital echo chamber.
Some brands approach this differently than others. When I was at PepsiCo I actually led our investment in SXSW, and Pepsi was one of the first consumer brands to partner with SXSW, other than beer. We always approached the event by making sure we were delivering value to the event, not just seeing it as a sponsorship but actually creating experiences that enhance the festival-going experience.
Following this approach of adding value, this year I believe the influx of brand participation might actually lead to more deals being struck between startups and brands. If you look at the progression of CES, it began as an event very similar to SXSW with a small close knit community of passionate purists. In fact, 10 years later, I still remember the days when that was SXSW. But now CES has blossomed into a market place where some of the largest media deals are struck. Same with Cannes. I think that SXSW is next, but actually think it has the potential to be even bigger. More value creation is happening in the Valley driven by startups than any other place in the world. At the same time the media industry is shifting their focus, finally, and looking at emerging forms of media in completely different ways, which means they are looking to invest in the startups that define SXSW.
I quickly see this becoming the largest marketplace for media and startup deals. Viva La SXSW!
The reason SXSW matters so much for brands - and by extension, for many startups - is much less about raising awareness or generating press, and much more about the unpredictable, often implausible connections that people forge in the chaotic ‘pop-up city’ that is the conference. Cities have always been hotbeds of creativity and economic growth because of their diversity and close quarters. It’s why I love New York - you never know who you’ll run into on the street from another walk of life, someone whose ideas or relationships might just change your life entirely. I think that temporary cities like SXSW are no different, and for brands and startups, that means business.
We live in a world where brands and startups are collaborating more and more, cross-pollinating their talent, and where one of the Valley’s biggest names in venture capital, Andreeson Horowitz, is investing in not technology, but in a beauty product. These are all big, exciting developments, and at Mondelez International, we’re committed to taking brand-startup collaboration to the next level. We’re doing so through structured platforms like Mobile Futures, but also through less formal approaches like the event we’re hosting to bring brands and startups together to chat about what brand-startup collaboration really means and how big companies can bring entrepreneurial thinking to life within their organizations.
I firmly believe that, by design or by accident, the biggest stories out of SXSW won’t be written during the conference, or even weeks after it. They also won’t center on any one brand or startup. The biggest stories will be shaped, over months and years, by this new landscape of brand and startup collisions: the deals that get struck, the light-bulbs that go off, and the relationships that form at SXSW but last far beyond it.
