SXSW 2025—what brands need to know about AI, marketing activations, creator deals and tech advancements

Austin is being wrapped in vinyl for SXSW—but not because of its deep music roots or love of vintage records. Last year, KAP Media Group plastered six prominent locations in the bustling Texas city with vinyl billboards for marketers at the annual tech, media and music festival. This year, the out-of-home marketing firm is expanding to 11 oversized building wraps, said Lori Brabant, KAP’s founder and CEO. Brands will be "all over town with these massive wallscapes,” Brabant told Ad Age as her agency set up for its third consecutive SXSW. This year, the largest wrap—24,000 square feet—will cover the Fairmont Hotel for HubSpot. KAP is also producing signage for Rivian, Paramount+ and FX (owned by Disney). These billboards have become high-profile marketing tools in Austin, guiding visitors to activations during the event, which runs from March 7 to March 15. View this post on Instagram A post shared by KAP Media (@kapmediagroup) SXSW will offer its usual mix of events, experiences and innovation. Media companies, including Amazon Prime Video, Walt Disney Co. and its streaming entities, Paramount+ and others, will promote upcoming programs. Some tech companies have a lighter footprint than years past: There won’t be official Reddit or Snapchat destinations, after each operated SXSW venues last year. But YouTube and Spotify have robust programming. Keynote speakers this year include Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, Meredith Whittaker, president of messaging app Signal, famed producer Issa Rae, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and rock icon John Fogherty. On Wednesday, SXSW organizers announced that former First Lady Michelle Obama would speak at a session alongside her brother Craig Robinson, who is the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and hosts the “Ways to Win” podcast. There will be plenty of AI as SXSW has developed a dedicated section to the technology over the past two years. Also, this year brings fresh cultural, social and political issues for attendees to discuss, including increasingly fragile global relations. SXSW has always been an internationally supported artistic gathering. Countries often run houses in Austin that make the event an international fairground. This year, Canada’s contingent scaled back its plans amid tensions with the new Trump administration in the U.S. Despite high stakes and broader considerations beyond advertising, entertainment and music, SXSW marches on. Here’s what to expect from brands, tech and media this year. Ad Age Small Agency Awards Showcase your agency’s creativity, business success and commitment to a thriving workplace. Enter today Digg this tech at SXSW One highlight at SXSW will be the re-emergence of Digg under new ownership. The early internet news aggregator and community-building site is relaunching this week in Austin. Kevin Rose, who founded Digg in 2004, is teaming up with one-time nemesis Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, to remake Digg. They recently bought the company after Digg and Reddit had battled for web 2.0 supremacy in the early 2010s. Reddit has become a $28 billion public company, while Digg has somewhat languished; it now wants to mount a comeback. Ohanian left Reddit five years ago and wants to bring features to a new Digg, alongside Rose, to offer an alternative platform. SXSW is a natural home for Digg, or any tech company, to reintroduce itself, Rose, Digg’s chairman, told Ad Age this week. SXSW veterans may remember raucous “Diggnation” events at past SXSW gatherings. “It’s been a home for Digg for a long time,” Rose said. “Some of the biggest events we ever held were at South By.” Digg is attending SXSW to showcase what it hopes will become the future of the internet and online communities, Rose said. Digg’s attendance at the festival could help spark conversations about where the web went wrong and what to do next. The co-owners of Digg launched a new website ahead of SXSW, which simply offers a landing page to sign up early testers for the revamped platform. They are also looking to attract moderators for communities, the people who run the forums, by offering better tools to manage the discussions than are available on other platforms, Rose said. AI is a big part of its moderation roadmap. “Alexis [Ohanian] had a bunch of stuff he had never built at Reddit that he wanted to see,” Rose said. “I had a bunch of stuff that I had always been dreaming of building that never made it out there. And then Justin [Mezzell, Digg CEO] had been straddling both worlds as an old Digg user and Reddit user, and a great product visionary in his own right, and we just started riffing and realized this is a dream team to get together and reboot this thing. “Not in terms of just wanting to build better forum software or feature parity with Reddit, but really reimagining what’s possible here,” Rose said. More news: How to win Gen Z’s attention in unexpected places While Digg has promotions and events planned at SXSW, Reddit has scaled back. Last year, Reddit had a pop-up venue to promote Reddit Pro tools, as it was on the verge of its initial public offering, making the Austin confab an important stop on its marketing roadshow. Reddit does not plan to attend this year, a spokesperson told Ad Age by email. A few other tech companies visible at SXSW in the past won’t be there either, including Snap and X. In 2007, Twitter got a push into the mainstream by becoming the app of choice during SXSW, a foundational moment for the company. Since then, SXSW has been a launching pad for many new apps. This year, SXSW aligned with Bluesky, a competitor to X. SXSW’s official website posts its main social channels, and Bluesky is among them—not X. Read more: What brands should know about joining Bluesky “We just started our journey into the Bluesky app,” said Katie Perera, senior manager of conference programming at SXSW. “So, we weren’t on the platform last year … and that’s where we saw a lot of our community moving.” “A lot of the tech community migrated over to Bluesky,” Perera said. An X representative said it has nothing planned in Austin. Some tech companies, including X and Reddit, said they are focused on Possible, the advertising retreat in Miami next month. Shoptalk, being held in Las Vegas later this month, is also a popular destination for tech companies and brands, especially retailers. Top AI moments at the festival SXSW has always embraced technology, and with AI still dominating the conversation, visitors can expect to see the latest innovations shaping the industry. Paramount will be in Austin to talk about the more down-to-earth applications of AI. Phil Wiser, Paramount’s chief technology officer, will host a session about how the media company is using AI internally and to improve viewing experiences. Wiser will unpack three of Paramount’s use cases, including how it’s using AI to enhance content production, scale marketing and develop scripts and images. AI-powered synthetic customers, which are virtual representations of consumers for brands to study, are another use case that has intrigued marketers. Synth customers will be the topic of a surreal session hosted by creative consultancy Lippincott. The firm will pit one of its real employees against an AI duplicate—trained on the employee’s personality—to see how accurately and efficiently AI can provide customer insights. Two Lippincott interviewers will simultaneously pose questions to the person and the bot in front of audiences to see how the results compare. The questions at the heart of the experiment are, “Is there a world where AI can fully replace humans in consumer research? Is there a world where AI can speed up the current process?” said Melissa Tischler, senior partner of experience, innovation and engineering at Lippincott. However, some of the hottest AI startups are skipping SXSW, including Perplexity, Runway and OpenAI, the companies confirmed with Ad Age. Recent news: WPP invests in Stable Diffusion owner Stability AI Google’s Lilian Rincon, VP of consumer shopping, is leading a panel discussion called “Shopping’s AI Era: Transforming the Way We Shop” that will include speakers from LVMH and women’s clothier Simkhai. Plenty of lesser-known AI companies will be in Austin to showcase their technology. Compass AI will represent the fledgling AI wearables space with an exhibit for its necklace that “helps you remember everything.” South Korea-based Mingle AI will pitch guests on its AI-powered avatars. And while not an AI company, Blackmagic Design—which developed the DaVinci Resolve AI video tool that is a favorite among agencies—will be at the expo as well. For the real nerds, Tim Berners-Lee—known for creating the World Wide Web—will take part in a discussion on the rise of autonomous robots referred to as “physical AI.” How brands are showing up at SXSW In Austin, it’s hard to miss Whataburger—its restaurants are everywhere—but this year, it’s especially visible. The burger chain is celebrating its 75th birthday with a pop-up museum downtown, which will have digital displays and art inspired by the brand. Rivian, the electric vehicle maker, is an official SXSW sponsor and will offer test drives around Austin. It also has a home base dubbed Electric Roadhouse on South Congress Avenue. KAP is erecting a wrap for the brand atop the Hyatt Regency. KAP is also working with L’Oréal and handling signage for Paramount+ show “1923” and FX’s “Alien: Earth,” among others. The FX spinoff of the “Alien” franchise will host an immersive experience at the Westin hotel downtown that takes SXSW-goers into a “mysterious wreckage site,” FX announced. DirecTV, meanwhile, is sponsoring the film and TV portion of SXSW, which centers around the Paramount Theatre. Amazon Prime Video is returning to Hotel San José, where it built an attraction last year. Amazon is promoting streaming programs by adorning parts of the hotel in themes inspired by its programming, such as the new “A Simple Favor” sequel “Another Simple Favor” and the series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” What to know about international brands at SXSW Some of the intrigue at SXSW is around the international community descending on Austin. A Canadian group pulled back on its presence—the Canadian Independent Music Association decided against hosting Canada House. The group’s president told Billboard Canada that there were many factors in the decision, but among them were souring relations between the U.S. and Canada. This week, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on goods coming from Canada, which has been a close U.S. ally. Telefilm Canada, a TV and film group, still plans to attend and host an “innovation” lounge at the Fairmont Hotel. “It was unfortunate that that situation came to pass,” said Peter Lewis, chief partnerships officer at SXSW. “But we’re very fortunate to still have robust participation from Canada. We’ve got entities from Quebec and Montreal coming in that are going to continue to participate, and Vancouver.” SXSW has always been a place where hot-button politics meet culture. In 2021, as new laws started cropping up, including in Texas, restricting women’s health care, some longtime attendees of SXSW questioned whether they should support the state by attending the festival. @mariavehera257 @fixdessertchocolatier WOW, JUST WOW!!! Can’t explain how good these are! When a chocolate, a dessert and a piece of art meet this is what you get! 🍫 "Can't Get Knafeh of it," "Mind Your Own Busicoff," and "Crazy Over Caramel." Order on Instagram Chatfood or Deliveroo and let me know what’s your FIX? Instagram : fixdessertchocolatier #asmr #foodsounds #dubai #dubaidessert ♬ оригинальный звук - mariavehera257 Dubai is one of the foreign entities that will plant itself prominently at SXSW. The delegation from the United Arab Emirates city is bringing a version of its Museum of the Future to Austin. Dubai also has a chocolate brand, which has already cultivated a devoted following through TikTok, to promote. FIX Dessert Chocolatier is among the attractions expected to be on offer at the museum. Dubai’s SXSW organizers also plan to showcase some of the local flavors with a demonstration by Project Chaiwala, a Dubai tea shop. “It points to just the amazing diversity of the event overall, the brands and organizations that are coming in,” Lewis said, “and just the global nature of SXSW.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Museum of the Future (@museumofthefuture) How creators are joining the festival The creator side of the festival continues to grow, according to SXSW’s Lewis and Perera. SXSW is “really tailoring that content to up-and-coming creators,” Perera said. Spotify, known for creators and podcasting, has a house on West 4th Street. Chris Williamson, host of “Modern Wisdom,” and Rachel Lindsay, host of “Higher Learning,” are among the guests. YouTube is bringing creators as well, including “Hot Ones” talk show host Chris Evans; tech and gadget YouTuber Marques Brownlee; Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of “Good Mythical Morning;” and “Your Rich BFF” Vivian Tu. More: Gen Z marketing glossary—key terms to know in 2025 Austin-based agency GSD&M will participate in a creator panel called “The Brand Risks and Rewards of Creator Rizz.” Speakers from two GSD&M clients, Southwest Airlines and Crocs, will appear, as well as a speaker from Instacart. They will talk about the effect of Gen Z’s growing obsession with pursuing creator careers, said Maria D’Amato, executive creative director, GSD&M. “When you’ve got literally a majority of an entire generation of people who want to turn this thing into their job, what does influence become,” D’Amato said. “Something that was a bit more organic in the past is getting monetized to a really extreme degree.” TikTok, the highly coveted creator launchpad, is sending staff to SXSW but will not have official, public events, a spokesperson told Ad Age by email. Same as last year, the company plans to spend its time in meetings and talking with clients, the spokesperson said. ~ ~ ~CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly named the brand of chocolate that will be available at Dubai’s Museum of the Future at SXSW and incorrectly described Dubai’s showcase plans.

SXSW 2025—what brands need to know about AI, marketing activations, creator deals and tech advancements

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