These ideas left the biggest impressions on TMA’s delegation to SXSW, the firehose of culture and tech in Austin
MEDIUM, MONEY, AND MESSAGE
While offering unique perspectives on what drives successful advertising and branding, industry professionals agreed on one fundamental factor: a brand must be deeply connected to culture. Their approach to achieving this connection diverged on three key areas: medium, money, and message.
Medium: The Role of Traditional Ads
While C-Suite executives argued :30s spots are indeed not dead, other professionals argued, “when was the last time you truly paid attention to a :30s spot outside of the Super Bowl?” Instead, they advocated for leveraging unique partnerships and strategic social channels.
Money: The Budget Divide
The battle between big and small budgets. How does one break into culture? Some argue it takes millions and a high-profile celebrity, while others believe it’s about sharp strategy and earned media that gets people talking.
Message: Emotion vs. Humor
What moves the needle? Some professionals argue we’re here to entertain through humor, not to advertise. “You’re not competing against other Super Bowl ads. You’re competing against Kendrick and Serena crip walking during the halftime show.” Others argue we must show emotion by highlighting stories of struggle and triumph to truly resonate on a human level. That emotional message, although saccharine at times, was still tied to culture and the NFL as we watched young international children strive to make their dreams come true by making it to the league.
Although their approach to culture varied, they all agreed that brands must continuously test, learn, and refine to find what truly resonates. Consumers will sniff out an inauthentic cultural tie-in in an instant!
-Lyndall Franklin, Sr. Strategist
CHANGE ONE THING EVERY DAY
“You’ll never change your life, unless you change one thing every day,” Sandy Carter, COO of Unstoppable Domains, former IBM and AWS executive, said. Carter closed her keynote address on the future of AI with the idea that everyone must lean into AI, start testing no-code AI platforms, and accept that this is not just technology, it’s a way of life. We don’t really have a choice anymore. Within the next three years, AI is slated to be infused 100 percent into our homes and our work. This may be done via automation, fit-for-purpose AI agents, or robotics. In short, the adoption curve is accelerating rapidly, so get on board.
The crowd at SXSW 2025 did just that. With a mix of locals, industry professionals, academics, and a large delegation from Brazil — almost every session had a shout out, “Onde estão meus brasileiros?” — attendees were hungry for knowledge, networking, and preparation for the next phase of AI. Even will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas came out as a special guest and showcased his AI platform FYI.ai where he demoed a more relatable, human-like AI persona. If he can get on board, as a 49-year-old musician, trust me, so can you.
For those already leaning into AI, you’re ahead of the game. The next step is experimenting with AI agents, understanding how they work, and building your own. Why? Because the prediction — especially important for marketers — is that B2C and B2B will move towards A2A (Agent to Agent), B2A (Business to Agent), and P2A (Person to Agent). Similarly, SEO will move towards GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) as searches increasingly happen via these platforms instead of Google. GEO picks up data more so from Reddit and Wikipedia, now challenging marketers to rethink their strategy. These shifts highlight “superagency,” the concept of humans working with AI. Having it augment specific tasks and capabilities, rather than replacing them.
Smaller sessions focused more on design, user experience, and accessibility in this space. Jack Cunningham, product leader at Livefront, shared that brands that look at accessibility as a strategy rather than a compliance requirement see a 2x return on revenue. This underscores the importance of designing AI and technology with inclusivity in mind.
Overall, SXSW was an amazing experience. While there was so much that happened and so much knowledge shared (shout out to small data!), one thing is clear, all we need to do is make one change today.
And for those that just want the bullet points:
-AI can be trusted, but we must use it responsibly. “Trusted AI” designation on our work will become a competitive differentiator.
-Workforce dynamics will change. Identify AI-enhanced skills needed for your role and start learning. Don’t wait for HR or your product team to define them for you.
-Every brand will be impacted. Think hyper-personalized marketing, GEO, etc.
-No-code AI is becoming mainstream. Everyone can be a developer and creator now, so go out there and try a no-code platform. An example was given how a podcaster used ElevenLabs to synthesize their voice and keep releasing content when they lost their voice due to an illness.
-Company- and brand-specific data (small data) is invaluable. Treat proprietary knowledge like capital!
-AI Agents are the immediate future – A2A, B2A, P2A. With no-code platforms, you can even build one on your own!
AI is not a trend, and is evolving rapidly. TMA has an AI strategy to navigate this growth. Let’s go.
-Lucija Millonig, Associate Director, Interactive Experience
MY FAVORITE SESSIONS
Get Funny
“Happiness is the highest performing category for people remembering your brand, and comedy is the #1 most effective part of that category,” said Daniel Murphy, SVP of Marketing at Liquid Death. In this session titled Entertain or Die two high-level creatives from cutting-edge brands Liquid Death and Duolingo talked about the power of comedy in advertising. The way they spoke about taking risks resonated with me. Because, at the end of the day, we want people to remember our message and ultimately our brand. Especially in “boring” categories (their words, not mine), it is ever important to find the funny. Murphy went on to say that Liquid Death uses comedy as a creative north star. I think a lot more brands would see increases in engagement and affinity if they also took this approach.
Target Communities, Not Audiences
In the workshop titled Connecting Into Communities: The New Route to Brand Growth, I learned about the power of tapping into a community. Now, you may think that a community and an audience are the same thing, but that is not the case. A community is an innately more-connected group as opposed to a limited number of people who fit a certain demographic or even psychographics. Communities have a bond specifically over one or two unique traits. An example used in the session was skaters. The skating community can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. But, if a brand (in this case it was the Samsung folding phone serving as a way to capture tricks and record in the park) can tap into that bond that the community holds dear and show them that they “get” skaters — that’s when you start to see real brand affinity.
Listen With An Open Heart
One of the last sessions I attended wound up being one of the most profound messages I take back with me now. It was titled “Human-Centered Storytelling: Driving Connection & Culture” in which Cheryl Miller Houser, the founder of Creative Breed, spoke about how to really tap into the human experience as a marketer. She spoke about listening with an open heart, something that many companies, marketers, and frankly, people forget to do. It is important to listen to someone with no ulterior motive or further reasoning than to just listen. In today’s divisive world, this message struck a chord deep inside of me. Houser said, “We care about, relate to, and bond with people, even if they’re different from us when they express emotions that we feel. That is the power of empathy.” I absolutely adore this quote because empathy is a superpower. One that can help us understand each other as well as the communities we hope to tap into as brands. I genuinely hope more companies choose to listen with an open heart in 2025.
-Isaac Lippe, Copywriter
TWO BUZZWORTHY TERMS
“Vibe coding” might just be a fleeting catchphrase, but the idea behind it—that the future of tech is shifting from pure engineering to a blend of intuition, taste, and creative judgment—is compelling. It points to a world where technical skills and aesthetic sensibility are deeply intertwined, reshaping how products come to life.
The fediverse (a portmanteau of federated and universe) is a decentralized network of social apps that interconnect using open protocols, and it’s gaining traction as an alternative to the algorithm-driven giants that dominate our screens. Whether this signals a real shift or just another passing trend in the ever-changing social media landscape is still up for debate.
-Fred Schank, SVP of Brand Experience
