In between some of the best industry parties there are (thank you
@preacheraustin and
@thisiscallen and
@cutandrunedit !), with borrowed badges and an early alarm, I took
@sxsw by the long horns.
This was the first year that South by Southwest fully combined its core categories of Music, Film & TV, and Innovation. The separation between live experiences, content creation, and technology isnāt just blurring, itās disappearing.
A live moment becomes content and the smart brands are already thinking about what happens after that. How it spreads, how it evolves. Tech is the engine.
At
@shortlistmgmt weāve been leaning into that shift intentionally.
Bringing on AI-native studio
@bait.society wasnāt about chasing a trend, it was about recognizing a new creative capability. Adding experiential partner
@sturdy.co was about deepening our ability to create branded content moments that actually live in the real world. Two very different genres on paper but part of the same storytelling lane.
Rivian took over an entire city block and turned it into an off-road playground for their trucks with a full obstacle course complete with 2 story high mounds of dirt and live test drives. It wasnāt just a ābrand activation.ā It felt like an amusement park ride. Families lined up like it was a headline attraction, and without trying too hard, Rivian created something every brand says they want: real-world storytelling that people actually choose to participate inā¦ and then post about. No forced engagement. No gimmicks. Just a great experience doing the work.
A simpler but effective idea was from Netflix with a pop-up for Peaky Blinders. They transformed a raw space into the Garrison Pub. Free drinks, photo booths, haircuts and tattoos. And lots of candy meras out snapping social posts. Actual fans spreading the word. No media required. Itās now built into the algorithm.
Being here, bouncing between things like this, made one thing really clear:
Weāre not choosing between live, digital, or AI anymore. The best work now is about how seamlessly you can blend all three into something that feels cohesiveāand more importantly, worth someoneās time.
