SXSW: Adland Has Its Say

SXSW: Adland Has Its Say
Greg Graham
By Greg Graham



Sydney’s first SXSW festival covered gaming, screens, tech, music, Expo, and a conference with wide-ranging topics from AI to sex toys and tech.

With appearances from Nicole Kidman, Chance the Rapper, Amy Webb, David Droga, Charlie Brooker, and many more, in fact, 700+ speakers, 300 bands, 170+ gaming demos, 200+ screen events, and thousands of activations/experiential events.

But what was the highlight? How was the event received by those who attended? Adland has its say:

“SXSW Sydney has put Sydney and Australia firmly back on the map as the breeding ground of innovation, creativity, and cultural moments – and it’s about damn time!” said Mel Hopkins, chief marketing & audience officer at Seven West Media.

Rose Herceg, president of the WPP for Australia and New Zealand, said: “Seeing Sydney come to life was the great fringe benefit of SXSW. Yes, the content was terrific, but it was just as fantastic to see the night-time economy come to life, laneway conversations, people walking from venue to venue, and big conversations everywhere.”

“With the dominance of AI talk tracks, let us never forget Bill Bernbach’s call to arms that creativity is the last unfair advantage we’re legally allowed to take over our competitors.  Destination NSW has pulled off a major coup to enable us to shine a light on the best of Australian creativity and talent and link it to the global SXSW platform. An opportunity we must invest in every year,” said Sunita Gloster AM, Non-Executive Director & Advisor.

Co-founder of Supermassive, Simone Gupta, said: “There would always be naysayers; thank goodness those people were not charged with pulling it off. The marketing and big names were announced a little late, but that didn’t matter in the end; the deep vertical expertise of SXSW x DNSW teams shone through in the programming. I have full confidence in the city of Sydney getting behind it as it grows. 2024 passes are already in the budget for the Supermassive team. If you wanted to see Charlie Brooker, you got that seat locked down two hours before and crossed your legs for a very long time. That is SXSW”.

SXSW ran in Sydney from October 15 to 22.




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