Nick Cummins @ SXSW: A coming to Jesus
Nick Cummins, creative director at The Royals, is covering SXSW exclusively for Campaign Brief until March 17.
I know it sounds lame but SXSW is a pilgrimage.
It’s a filter for like-minded people. So if you don’t find enlightenment or redemption in one of the hundreds of events each day you will find it in the bar at the end of the day or in the random person standing next to you. Or in my case, on the plane over to Austin.
Our plane was full of excited hipsters and tinkerers. I, by chance was lucky enough to sit next to Ben from Snepo. Check them out. They made Alert shirt and Fundawear. Ben reminded me of what is great about this festival. It isn’t about awards or who has the best boat, it’s about making stuff. Making the kind of stuff we all want and love to make. And sharing ideas, not protecting them. So as one of the many who are reporting on SXSW I will try and tell you who to check out. Who are your like-minded.
Check out The Crossroads of Should and Must. Elle Luna, cool name huh? Wrote a blog then a book about doing what you have to do – not what everyone expects you to do.
An hour later, I was talking to Sarah who works at Apple during the day – and volunteers with Save Democracy after hours. You know, like stopping big American business shaping political policy. Shit website but great cause : wesavedemocracy.org.
Another mob to check out are teamdetroit.com. Michelle Silvestri talked about creating beautifully designed content with threesomes : analysts, strategists and designers. They make some bold statements on their site but the quality of the work they showed was insightful and creative. Smart beautiful creative for social which a lot of time effort and thinking had gone into – not just slapping stuff up on facebook.
If you haven’t been to SXSW before, you need to get here. If you can’t, I’d download the app and see what you would have wanted to go to then check them out online. You may not find God but you will find that inspiration to help you do what we do.
See the full SXSW On Streaming Schedule here.