​SXSW 2016 the Fame Monster

I was told several times on my trip about how Austin was the fastest growing city in the United States, How there are 1,000 people coming to the city every single day. That last figure sounded, and was indeed far fetched. The actual figure is somewhere from 110 - 150. That doesn’t account for all the people leaving the city which some estimate is as high as 55,000 per year.

Regardless, there is something special happening in this city. Whether it’s the worldwide fascination with its music scene, its ridiculously good BBQ, or oh yeah, that one festival no one can stop talking about.

Celebs

Each year we get assaulted by headline after headline of the all the movie, television, and even Internet famous celebs that are peppered into the festival. For a midwesterner it can be a bit much at times and could easily be the subject of many stories, so I’m going to try and contain it to just a few highlights, starting with the most important.

Grumpy Cat

You know her face. You know it better than your own mother’s and yet, few people have peeled back the layer of emotion. I had a few moments with Ms. Grumpy and after close examination I could see she was just a cat. A tired and aloof cat that couldn't even keep her eyes open. Boo. I moved on.

Preacher

This perhaps was my favorite screening from the whole festival. I’m putting the restraints on to not spoil any details of the series, but AMC has a real winner here. Preacher is a graphic novel adaptation written by Garth Ennis. It’s being produced by the likes of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It’s piled high with talented actors such as Joe Gilgan (Misfits BBC series) as the insane Irish vampire Cassidy, Ruth Negga (Marvel Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.) the assassin ex-lover, and Dominic Cooper (Agent Carter) as the Preacher. Who wudda thunk a group of Brits would be able to pull off Texas accents? Dear America you need to try harder.

A champ first episode explodes with Jason Bourne-like action smathered with gory dark humor a la Evil Dead. The cast has instant chemistry as they bring life to the Ennis cult classic.

Following the show the cast and producers along with Mr. Ennis himself discussed the film and took questions from the audience. Sadly there were few questions to Garth who mostly sat quietly, almost lonely on the stage. Anywho, keep your eyes open for the gem, it’s going to be the new hot series and if you see Garth Ennis be nice to him and ask him lots and lots of questions.

#brandwhore

It’s a strange world here at Sx Interactive. Part mad alcohol fueled cosplay freakfest, part nerdy techgasm all wrapped up in a tortilla brought to you by Bud Lite or Esurance or something that’s just begging for a little of your attention. It’s become something of a challenge for brands to engage customers with all the competition. It’s just not enough to give out another t-shirt or bottle opener.

When Mr. Robot builds a ferris wheel, Star Wars needs to raise a life size Tie Fighter. Not to be outdone IBM had Watson (yes the Watson that won Jeopardy) curate your drink, because that’s what you do with the world’s most advanced AI. But Sx is in its 30th year maybe they’ve run out of ideas and maybe they are struggling to remain relevant in the post social media era.

No one intentionally tweets about Budweiser but, dangle a free transport carrot to a mass of buzzed and exhausted festival goers and who knows. Bud’s pitch went like this, tweet an idea to stop drunk driving and hash and DM budweiser and we’ll give you pedicab ride anywhere downtown.

At first I just wanted to not miss my next event so I gave the rather sober and thoughtful suggestions of “@Budweiser how about an alcohol tax to fund late night metro travel #TackleImpossible.” But after a few delicious #Budweisers I suggested “@Budweiser #TackleImpossible Clydesdales with jet packs BOOM! Just blew your mind #willtweetforfood.”

With that said, HPR is no stranger to the world of advertising, it’s what makes the ink run black. I might even be a bigger hypocrite that I went to all of that and totally loved it, it’s the spark that makes it all so weird, random and kinda special.

P.S. free high five if you follow me on twitter @ndgomez