Don’t let the breakfast tacos, parties, brand houses, and activations fool you. SXSW is growing up. The festival has shifted from a place of discovering the next big digital innovation to a place for reflecting on how technology (e.g., AI, AR vs.VR, and Blockchain) can impact society, along with focusing on social responsibility and ethics. Five days and hundreds of panels later, here’s a look at the trends and emerging tech that’ll be shaping the future.

1. #HavasSXSW 2018:

2. SXSWi GROWS UP
Don’t let the breakfast tacos, parties, brand houses,
and activations fool you. SXSW is growing up.
The festival has shifted from a place of discovering the
next big digital innovation to a place for reflecting on how
technology (e.g., AI, AR vs.VR, and Blockchain) can impact
society, along with focusing on social responsibility and ethics.
Five days and hundreds of panels later, here’s a look at the
trends and emerging tech that’ll be shaping the future.

3. THE FUTURE IS FEMALE
The most talked about topic at this year’s festival
wasn’t about a new kind of technology or new
company, but about women in tech. Women were
kicking proverbial ass at SXSWi from Melinda Gates’
keynote address being dedicated to “Time’s Up”, and to
supermodel Karlie Kloss for breaking stereotypes and
developing her educational charity, Kode with Klossy.
The all-female “Mo’ Data Mo’ Problems” panel revealed
that while men represented the large majority of
SXSW panelists overall, this year it was split 50/50
(male/female) during the interactive portion. Even if
the sessions weren’t about gender equality, female
speakers often included anecdotes, such as the
importance of women empowering one another
instead of trying to tear each other down.
Kloss echoed other female speakers, like Audrey
Gelman, CEO and co-founder of The Wing, about
building up female-owned businesses and giving
them the tools and safe space to succeed.
There was also an influx of female-driven
sessions focusing on equal representation in the
workforce. Smart, sophisticated females, at every
turn, led meaningful discussions.
Advertising has long struggled with a “boy’s club”
reputation, but the industry is taking a concerted
effort to improve by the minute. Obviously, we
have a long way to go, but the future is most
definitely female.

4. IT’S MORE COOL TO BE KIND...
That’s a quote from Adidas CMO Eric Liedtke during his session on
creating the world we want to live in. As marketers and brands, we
are responsible for taking a stance on social issues and working
toward changing the problems affecting our generation.
This session wasn’t the first time the topic of corporate social
responsibility came up either—a panel on Gen Z also discussed the
importance of brand integrity on influencing a customer’s intent
to purchase. As we move forward, each generation becomes
more and more socially conscious, and brands are slowly making
moves in the positive direction (like Eastern Bank’s wonderful CSR
efforts!). The importance of creating a brand your consumers can
be proud of was the focus of many speakers at this year’s event.

5. ...AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IS
DRIVING THE TECH BUSINESS MODEL
Tech companies are driving the conversation about
taking more responsibility for their actions. As
their products become embedded into our lives,
companies have been forced to police themselves
and communicate their commitment to protecting
consumers more and more. Apple’s Eddy Cue
explained: “It’s about quality, about filters and focus,
and about taking responsibility for what gets into the
Apple ecosystem.”
As a result of the scrutiny tech companies face,
brands are also becoming increasingly aware of their
impact on society and are finding a purpose that
serves the consumer beyond products and services.
Millennials, as we know, will not stand for anything less.
R/GA Chicago’s ECD AJ Hassan, who helped create
“Like a Girl” campaign for Always, explained that brands
can build a purpose into their ecosystem over time—
even if a social mission wasn’t in their original DNA.
“Speaking out is becoming table stakes—it’s not a
nice-to-have anymore. It’s becoming a must-have,”
said Latia Curry, an executive for Rally, an issue-driven
communications firm.
A brand can’t pay lip service to a mission. It has to
take action and motivate others to do the same.

6. AI IS CLOSER THAN WE THINK...
Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality were yet
again key themes, especially since they are steadily
being integrated into almost everything we do. For
years, media superpowers like Google and Facebook
have been using AI algorithms to group, target, and
enhance their product stack. Still, the manifestation
of AI into the modern lexicon has only gained traction
in the past couple of years.
There were over 100 panels on these two topics.
The panels discussed the use of AI and AR in a
variety of areas, such as automotive, content, paid
media, art, and commerce. Predominantly, creators
and media companies alike approached intelligence
as a human task.
But it wasn’t until Uber Experience Design Lead
Molly Nix’s session where you saw how close we
are to having artificial intelligence fully integrated
into our daily lives.
The session looked at how the company already has
self-driving car technology, to the point where these
cars could be rolling out to Uber users extremely
soon. They are currently testing self-driving cars to
ensure strong user experience, and are familiarizing
users with the product so it can release officially on
the app. Are we all ready for self driving cars? Who
knows. But they’ll be here sooner than we know!

7. ...BUT THERE NEEDS
TO BE A BALANCE IN AI
As discussed in the “Will AI Change the Future of Creativity”
panel, we must find ways to use AI as a tool to advance our
successes while balancing its “authored” and “generative”
qualities. Creators of AI can still hold on to control through
authorship and directive inputs. Though the feeling is that
generative qualities of AI are moving quickly beyond structured
control. The clearest example is in our Smart Homes where,
for example, the AI from a front door camera can speak to
the AI for the speakers inside a house, which can then speak
to the lighting fixtures, or even the refrigerator. The possibility
of all AIs speaking to one another, beyond authored control,
looms in the not-so-distant future.
The conversation at SXSW focused on how we work with
the everyday digital intelligence to focus on tangible ways
we can use AI to enhance our everyday lives. AI is currently
a passive process (i.e., as we talk into a speaker, a thought
or recommendation comes out). Though it’s quickly moving
toward an active process.
An active AI world includes one where an expressive,
emotional, and more “humanlike” connection is made,
much like having a friend who can understand your moods,
know your surroundings, and help enhance your experiences
(e.g., picking the best music for your rainy car ride home).
Though this future feels collaborative and universal, AI has a
long way to go to make it inclusive of all members of society.
Artist and professor Stephanie Dinkins said AIs and lifestyle
bots currently struggle to recognize race, social status, and
disability. Creators, tech partners, colleagues, and citizens
alike have a responsibility to enhance and author AI in a way
that is useful, inclusive, and interdependent. We all have a
duty to interact with AI in a way that pushes the technology
toward what matters most for ourselves.
Our everyday use creates more and more data sets, the
AI “food” that will make it smarter and more apt for use.
We also have a duty to champion companies working
toward making AI inclusive and accessible to all. To quote
Elon Musk, “We have to figure out how to make the digital
superintelligence symbiotic with humanity.”

8. Using technology to drive empathy seems like a very exciting path
to follow in the healthcare environment. VR experiences to better
understand the symptoms of a rare disease or how a patient might
cope with it, or how the use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence can
predict the behavior of diabetes patients, are just a few applications
presented this year at SXSW that can help us deliver solutions more
deeply integrated into people’s’ lives and needs. Although we can
always research and interview patients to understand the burdens
they face, technology allows us to put ourselves in their shoes and
experience their drama, and to better understand the emotional
drivers that help us communicate with them. This could even lead to
developing better products for these patients. The exercise of empathy
can ultimately drive better outcomes in treatments, and technology is
playing an important role in this process.
LET’S TALK ABOUT EMPATHOLOGY...

9. ...BUT, CAN HEALTH BE COOL?
Although the Health track at SXSW has gained
prominence in the last few years, it still lacks keynotes
and themes that go beyond the technical stuff. Of course,
we want to know the latest cases of VR, AR, AI, Big Data
and so on—and this year the number of practical cases
was certainly high, helping us in the industry to design
solutions inspired by these successful cases. But where
are the health visionaries? Where is the thinker that can
give us a glimpse about what the future of health can be,
beyond the technology? We’re all overwhelmed by the
tech possibilities and the changes they could bring to the
industry. But we’re missing speakers who fill us not with
answers and examples, but with new questions. After all,
that’s what SXSW is all about.
The word “health” was mentioned in more than half of the
presentations. It seems that every single tech innovation
will potentially revolutionize the healthcare system
for good. Healthcare is definitely demanding urgent
transformation, but we’re already full of tech-for-health
ideas and products that just don’t work. The problem
is not always with the product itself. Most of time, it’s
that the innovation is not user-oriented. The wearables
frenzy has passed (at least at SXSW), but there are
still tons of devices and solutions being created to help
you “track”, “understand”, “discover” or “predict” health
issues—but who’s really asking for them? Are patients,
physicians, or caregivers ready for all these innovations?
We’re missing a real dialogue between the innovators,
specialists and users of these products, in order to
focus on what’s really important.

10. Laura Alesci
Content Director
Havas Sports & Entertainment
Nathan Joslin
Mobile Supervisor
Mobext
Jessica Galoforo
Associate Media Director
Havas Media
Ze Roberto Pereira
Chief Strategy Officer
Havas Life Sao Paulo
Sofie Guariglia
Social Media Specialist
Socialyse
Jessica Santini
Communications
Havas Media
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