Attention is the New Currency — Learn How to Earn It at SXSW Sydney

From breakthrough brand strategies to the shifting media landscape, SXSW Sydney’s Marketing & Media tracks, sponsored by QMS, unpack how ideas spread, how culture moves, and how storytellers capture imaginations in a world that never stops scrolling.

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Expect bold conversations with industry leaders, creative disruptors and innovators who are rewriting the playbook on everything from advertising and journalism to social platforms and audience engagement. Whether you’re a marketer, a media maker, or simply fascinated by the power of influence, you’ll find fresh insights and connections here.

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Dive into the Marketing & Media programming at SXSW Sydney:

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Sir Martin Sorrell - Fireside Chat

Sir Martin Sorrell is the Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, a tech-led global advertising and marketing services company, and previously built WPP into the world’s largest advertising group over 33 years. He also co-founded S4S Ventures, supports leading universities and charities, and has been recognised among the world’s most influential business leaders.

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Ndidi Oteh (Accenture Song) In Conversation

Ndidiamaka (Ndidi) Oteh is the CEO of Accenture Song, the world’s largest tech-powered creative agency, with 25 years’ experience advising and operating within leading Fortune 500 companies. She is passionate about driving growth through innovation and design, while championing access, equity, and a better future for the next generation.

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The Marketing Reset: What to Unlearn From 2025

Neil Patel (NP Digital) shares live data insights on what worked in 2025 marketing, exposing the decline of SEO, the rise of AI-shaped media, and the formats driving results.

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Billion-Viewer Platforms and Mega-Deal Makers

Join Steve McLendon (YouTube Podcasts), Josh Lindgren (CAA), and Liz Keen (Headline Productions) for a deep dive into how billion-viewer platforms are reshaping podcasting. Explore video-first content, mega-deal strategies, platform–creator partnerships, and the emerging role of AI in this rapidly evolving $2B+ industry.

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Why Your Brand Won’t Survive 2050 (And Frankly, Deserves to Die Sooner)

Marcus Willis (Kill Boring Dead) and Shanice Leung (Vibes) call out boring marketing and challenge leaders to ditch safe ideas for bold, disruptive creativity.

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Interruption is Not Innovation: The Future of Advertising is Rewarding 

Steve Tesoriero (Thanks) exposes why traditional digital ads fail and shows how customer-first advertising is reshaping the future.

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The Future Is Moving: Why Brands Should Never Sit Still

Mike Tosetto (Never Sit Still) shares why motion outperforms static branding and how animation can transform brand engagement and emotional impact.

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Generation Beta: Getting AI Right by 2035

Louise Cummins (Author), Julie Inman Grant (Australia’s eSafety Commissioner), Annie Liao (youth entrepreneur) and Doug Taylor (CEO, The Smith Family) discuss how to harness AI for Generation Beta while protecting their safety, equity, and future opportunities.

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Crafting Memorable Brand Experiences: The Role of Experiential Design

Sandra Sabatini (Studio Messa), Dean Norbiato (Kia) and Naysla Edwards (American Express) explore how experiential activations create immersive, purpose-driven brand engagement.

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Is Podcast The Democratic Medium It Set Out To Be? And Is It Good For Democracy?

Examine whether podcasting is truly democratic by exploring access, equity, and the formats that can amplify underrepresented voices and strengthen democratic literacy.

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Bravery as a Brand - Choosing to Lead Not Follow in a Time of National Identity Crisis

A case study on Kiwibank’s three-year journey to evolve its brand and reconnect with modern Kiwi identity, reflecting shifting values and national belonging.

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From Passion to Paycheck: Cracking the Creator Economy

Hannah McElhinney and Jamie Searle (Snack Drawer) lead a workshop on the creator economy, unpacking audience growth, revenue streams, and career opportunities beyond influencers.

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Boring Can'ts: The 'Rules' of Comms We All Need to Break

Alex Myers (Manifest) challenges the “rules” of brand communications, sharing case studies on how breaking conventions can unlock more effective, creative campaigns.

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Startup Design and Marketing Clinic: Hacking Organic Growth in The Future of AI

Courtney Ellis (Tangerine Drift) leads a workshop for early-stage founders on bootstrapping smarter, building organic growth strategies, and leveraging AI in marketing.

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Post, Share, Repeat: Streamlining your Social Media

A session for musicians and industry pros on streamlining social media, with practical strategies to repurpose content, maximize reach, and stay consistent without burnout.

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Media careers of the future

Sana Qadar, Jan Fran, Anisha Khopkar, and Liz Keen discuss alternate media careers, exploring how new paths create space for creativity, self-growth, and diverse voices.

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Ethical Marketing is Not an Oxymoron (and Neither are You)

Mark Blackburn (CHOICE) shares how businesses can align ethics and marketing, proving profitability and consumer fairness can go hand in hand.

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Beyond the Last Click: Mastering the Future of Marketing Effectiveness

A workshop on the future of marketing attribution, equipping leaders with frameworks, insights, and data-backed strategies to maximise ROI and challenge outdated models.

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The Cost of Customer Lies: How the Say-Do Gap Wastes Billions in Bad Decisions

Kate O’Keeffe, Sonny Sethi, Alison Hill and Steve Brennan explore the costly “Say-Do Gap” and how behavioural experiments can reveal what customers really want.

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Shit You Should Care About: LIVE

Lucy Blakiston takes the stage to relive how Shit You Should Care About grew from a uni group chat into a global media empire. Expect internet reckonings, hot takes, behind-the-scenes drama and the unfiltered reality of staying “normal” while speaking to millions.

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Everybody Wins: How to Build A Trillion-Dollar Music Economy

Joel Edmondson presents a vision for blockchain in music, showing how new financial models can build a fairer, more inclusive, and resilient global music economy.

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Trust on the Line: Local News in the Fight Against Misinformation

A discussion on the role of local newsrooms in sustaining trust, combating misinformation, and delivering reliable information to Australian communities.

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The best ideas should never have worked

Content experts Anisha Khopkar and Laura McAuliffe explore why breakthrough content often defies formulas, sharing tools for rejecting safe bets and taking creative risks.

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Are You Unconsciously Generating Bias?

Discover how the Santa Clara Project is tackling bias in AI training data and championing equity in AI-generated creativity.

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How to Kick the Sh!t Out of Plan B (7 Lessons in Creativity That Might Change the World)

Ben and Miff Rennie share seven raw, personal lessons on quitting, losing, getting lost and following curiosity—an honest story of rediscovering purpose and creative confidence.

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The Budget Battle Showdown: Creative Refresh vs. Maximising Existing Assets

An interactive, data-driven debate where industry leaders go head-to-head on whether brands should double down on proven campaigns or risk it all with a bold creative refresh.

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Brainwaves to Bottom Line: Neuromarketing in Modern Advertising

Discover how neuromarketing reveals the brain’s response to marketing stimuli and learn practical psychological insights you can apply to boost impact and business results.

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Not Just Adding Dots to the Mainstream Creative: What First Nations Creative Agencies Want You to Know About Best Practice Communications with Mob –  A powerhouse panel of First Nations creatives share truth-telling, lived experience and practical insights on moving beyond tokenism to achieve authentic storytelling with mob.

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If You're Listening - Live!

Matt Bevan dives into the strange history of future predictions—from Cold War visions to today—to ask why we keep getting the future wrong, and why we can’t stop trying.

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Trust Me, I’m Not a Brand: Rebuilding Influence in the Post-Authenticity Era

Explore how to cut through the noise of AI content and algorithmic bias to build real credibility and connection online, with bold strategies and practical tools for showing up with purpose—not polish.

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Virality vs. Credibility: The Challenge of Music Journalism in the Digital Age

A panel of music journalists and industry insiders explores how to balance click-driven pressure with credible reporting, examining the influence of algorithms, the rise of influencer-driven narratives, and the future of music media beyond viral trends.

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Will AI Break the Human Connection of Podcasts?

Four media professionals explore how AI is reshaping podcasting—asking whether creators can use flawed, impersonal tools without eroding trust, intimacy, and the human connection that makes podcasts so powerful.

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Creativity’s new commercial model

Tiffany Rolfe, Global CCO of R/GA, explores how creativity and technology are converging into intelligent, ever-evolving systems that move beyond fixed deliverables to create adaptive, outcome-driven brand experiences.

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Why the New Longevity Should Matter to Your Brand

With people living longer and older generations holding unprecedented wealth, marketers must rethink how they authentically represent and engage this powerful audience in media and advertising.

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Speak the Language of Video: A Marketer’s Guide to Better Collaboration

A hands-on beginner workshop where participants learn video production basics and create a short video, gaining practical insight to better collaborate with content creators.

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The Business of Doing Good. How to Measure Your Brand's Social Impact for Real

Rebecca Blinco (Carbon Creative), Tim O’Brien (Purpose Made), Anna Rogers (Australia Post), and Andrew Davies (B Lab Australia & New Zealand) share how brands can move beyond KPIs to authentically measure and deliver real social impact.

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The Ideas Camino: a morning walk for creativity

A walking workshop for curious minds—part solo wander, part creative jam—designed to spark fresh thinking, conversation, and inspiration on the move.

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Discover the campaigns, platforms and voices defining what’s next in Marketing & Media at SXSW Sydney. Get your pass today and explore more of the SXSW Sydney line up here.

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