UK adland packs its bags for SXSW in Austin
The UK Advertising Exports Group (UKAEG) and the Department for Business and Trade are taking their wares to Austin, Texas, for the SXSW tech fair in March, one of 40 UK participants.
The aim being to showcase the UK’s “global leadership in embracing technology and changing the way brands connect with audiences.”
Advertising Association international trade director Aisling Conlon says: “We are delighted to return to SXSW and launch this new campaign in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade. This year is set to be our strongest year yet, as we continue our mission to showcase the power of the UK advertising industry as a true force for economic growth.
“UKAEG is delighted to open the doors of UK House and co-host two exclusive networking events with the AAF at SXSW 2023. The UK is a concentrated hotbed of new ideas, diverse skills, global talent and smart thinking and we look forward to bringing US businesses and UK talent and innovators together for the first time.”
Creative industries do, indeed, contribute a lot to the UK’s depleted coffers but one can hardly say that advertising is in as rude health as, say, film and TV (helped enormously by generous tax breaks and streamers.)
Advertising creativity is at a low ebb with the rush to digital decimating agency resources for anything that isn’t a pop-up on a website. Note that, in the film above, ads as we used to know them, are described as “data-driven storytelling.” Which kind of says it all.