SXSW Is Coming to Town.. What's In It For Brands?

For those in the know, SXSW in Austin is no longer only for tech junkies or film enthusiasts. Its thrill and reach beckons almost anyone looking to be inspired by unconventional thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. In June next year, SXSW is heading to London, with its first European edition, building on the success of the global festival in Texas - where it first launched in 1987. This follows on from its expansion last year to Sydney, Australia.

SXSW London - from June 2 to June 7 in 2025 - will feature a mix of keynotes conversations, film and TV events, music showcases and showcases for innovations in digital and gaming. The London Festival will also include visual arts, design and fashion with exhibitions and immersive experiences in Shoreditch.

SXSW London will feature 25+ venues in Shoreditch, creating a walkable campus to emulate the Austin experience. It will be based in the Truman Brewery and the other venues will be around a 15 minute walkable campus.

A rallying cry to the ad sector

One of the most influential forces behind the UK’s cultural and economic prowess are the creative industries - especially the advertising sector and its massive export potential. For every £1 spent on advertising, the economy as a whole benefits £6 according to the Advertising Association.

So how will the advertising industry fit in with the Festival? How should brands and marketers engage with SXSW London? We sat down with SXSW London's managing director Randel Bryan to discuss what the festival's 38-year Austin legacy can teach and what to expect in London. The Festival aims to celebrate storytelling and experiential activations rather than have a dedicated advertising track. However, previous Festivals have seen brands pull out all stops to grab the attention and time of their audiences with guerilla-style takeovers to major sponsored experiences. Bryan offers his advice on how brands can get involved.

He also highlights the festival's commitment to community uplift, aiming to support local businesses. He estimates that SXSW London is expected to generate more than £75 million in direct economic benefits (Nielsen data) - a figure, he says, is likely to increase as additional programmes for "community and industry engagement" are developed.

SXSW London will feature partnerships with independent and community-led venues throughout the festival’s Shoreditch campus. These initiatives will feature a range of tech and music programming for SXSW, as well as an increased focus on arts and culture programming to bring a distinct flavour to the London edition.

Creative Salon: Advertising, marketing, film and TV not only shape the culture and ethos of London, they project Britain to the rest of the world. And London in particular has long been hailed as a leading creative hub, with a cultural scene that captures the global imagination and drives year-round tourism. In this context, how do you see the role of the advertising and marketing industry within SXSW London?

Randel Bryan: SXSW has always been a home for the pioneers and the innovators. SXSW London will be no different, just that it now comes with an European accent and flavour. If you are a film fan, you will have an entirely different experience to say if you're a music fan - there will be gigs in every single corner of the city as SXSW takes over the town. This festival will provide a platform for world class conversation.

SXSW has always been about creativity meeting tech and the convergence of the creative industries. And like you say, if you look at London, we're a melting pot of creative ingenuity like no other city in the world. We haven't got districts where you have a fashion district, or a film district etc - what we will do is create 25 different venues which will be cross- disciplinary. Art studios, music venues, nightclubs and community centres all working alongside each together to create new ideas, new products, new innovation. So we want people to come and experience the immersive and visual arts in this Festival that leave them in awe.

The festival is going to try to capture the art of great storytelling regardless of what platform or medium it's sold on. And so advertising is an incredibly powerful vehicle to tell incredible stories. So how do we celebrate great content, regardless of where it's coming from? And if that's the advertising industry, then wonderful.

CS: How should marketers incorporate SXSW London in their brand playbook?

Randel Bryan : I've been a fanboy of this Festival for throughout my entire career, and I've seen the festival evolve. I've seen it grow in profile and in shape and it is the only festival that requires you to step out of your comfort zone into conversations that you never thought even existed. SXSW provokes you and inspires you. And you come back from that festival feeling emboldened and enlivened. And that will be my advice to brands and the advertising industry that wants to get involved with the festival.

SXSW has always had a lot of brands turning up and really helping to support the festival in Austin. You probably know the concept of Brand Houses, where brands and agencies turn up and do really exciting experiential stuff. The festival has historically worked with an incredible range of creative agencies and an incredible range of CMOS that are really pushing the boundary. So I think that would be the experience we're looking to create here in London. Currently, there isn't a dedicated advertising track, but it's more about incredible storytelling and incredible experiential activation.

CS: The festival says that it wants to invest in the concept of community uplift. What does that mean for SXSW London? How are you going to achieve that?

Randel Bryan: SXSW London will bring the world's biggest thinkers to the stage, and it would be remiss if we didn't think about ways to connect those thought leaders and innovators and find ways to connect all of that in meaningful activations within the community. It's very much about making sure we support the brilliant community we are part of. And so we'll be developing those programmes as we speak. We are also going to be a really significant contributor to the nightlife economy of Shoreditch. We did a recent survey with Nielsen, which said that SXSW London is projecting £75 million of direct economic impact.

We want to help Shoreditch rediscover its energy, rediscover its rebelliousness, and find its creative roots. And so that's going to be something that we work really closely with the local council on and make sure we're working hand in glove with the local businesses. SXSW London would like to celebrate the city's rebellious identity. And I suppose doing it in Shoreditch is a bit of a rallying call to really help further reinvigorate the area.

CS: The timing for SXSW London - tell us why June when the advertising and marketing industry is getting ready for another big event - Cannes Lions?

Randel Bryan - SXSW London is from 2 - 7 June and Cannes Lions is an incredible destination for the advertising industry, and its programme is getting broader, conversations getting more diverse and dynamic. They do some brilliant stuff that I really admire. But we are so different and there's a huge amount of space for us to both play. What we are celebrating is this collision between the creative industries and technology - with storytelling at its root. So advertising and marketing will have a presence at SXSW and there will be no overlap. Also, our audience is really broad - we have the youth, music, film, business and the community.

I think we really wanted to have a celebration that kind of rolls out into the streets and June is a good bet as any for that to happen.

And that's really important for two two reasons. If we are to contribute towards hospitality - bars, cafes, restaurants - then we do need that daytime trade and a time when people are expected to be outside. We do need people to be engaging with this Festival throughout the day. So that's one thing. The other thing is, it hopefully helps improve accessibility and participation, because often you go to conferences and they're just behind a closed door and you can't get in unless you've got your ticket, and there's just no engagement or access. Whereas we are planning for artistic activations that do show up in public spaces. Hopefully we can have music and performance in public spaces, where people can participate even if they do not have tickets for the actual conference venues.

CS: What is your ultimate ambition for SXSW London?

Randel Bryan: It has to mean something to people. People have got to leave this Festival being moved and being inspired and and I would like us to capture that.

I believe in the power of SXSW. When I first attended the festival in Austin it felt transformative, because you do feel that you come back a little bit moved or a little bit changed. I genuinely think the London festival's got to mean something to people, and then we can go and build on that and develop that and grow it over the years to come.