Shouldn’t marketers care more about SXSW London?

We really are in the centre of peak events season at the moment. Whether it’s Campaign’s Media360, Infosecurity Europe, London Tech Week or Money 20/20, the canapes are lukewarm and the flagons of filter coffee are well and truly flowing.

2026 is booming when it comes to in person events, and whilst I want to say ‘At the heart of that was SXSW London returning for a second year’, I’m not quite sure that I can.

Because yes there is huge prestige in the SXSW name, and it hosted (probably?) an unparalleled agenda naming Michelle Obama, Jacob Collier, Linda Yaccarino, Mike Skinner, Mel B and Rory Sutherland to name but a few. But the hype was stark in its absence.

When it comes to the marketing and advertising agenda, SXSW certainly rivals what’s going on in the Palais in Cannes next week. It also had a broader range of topics, not to mention bringing together a full music & film programme. And yet I didn’t see the advertising community get excited about SXSW in the same way that it does other events. I saw no “I’m attending” images on LinkedIn, no “did you get an invite to this gig or that agency presentation” on whatsapp. Even in and around With’s offices in Shoreditch, there were plenty of lanyards, but a distinct lack of buzz.

Which is quite odd. SXSW London should sit exactly where brands, agencies and tech want to be. Trade events are great at talking best practice, at the coal face of advertising and even a level above. But events like this should be unique, talking to community, culture, innovation and enterprise at a level that stretches far and wide. And it clearly has the full weight of the UK behind it, Prince William and Sadiq Khan don’t turn up just to open an envelope.

We have also seen that new events can do incredibly well. Possible in Miami is already so established it’s hard to get your head around the fact it’s only just 3 years old.

Ultimately our industry does still love events. We crave personal connections, we love talking things over – no more so than now when technology is upending so much of what we know. The furore about Cannes is reaching fever pitch for all these reasons.

But something is still yet to grip marketers imagination for SXSW London. It is only in its second iteration granted and so perhaps more will come with time. For me, the reason behind this current apathy is SXSW London’s lack of depth. The original iteration (from afar) has firmly entrenched itself in culture at a human level, right where brands want to be. Innovators and talent, artists and performers naturally gravitate towards it as a week in the year to show off and be right at the heart of all that’s cool. And the audience has swiftly followed. 

What we do know is that kind of deep rooted nuance and (forgive the terminology here) cool, is incredibly difficult to be delivered from the top down. Fandoms and creativity can be bought (see Swatch x Audemars Piguet), but are difficult to navigate at scale.

I heard recently that SXSW has a ten year lease, and I hope over that time it does become something akin to the cultural force that it is in the US. It’s exactly the kind of event that should elevate so much of what the UK, and Europe, has to offer. But it perhaps needs a slightly different approach to get there.