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Picture of Sir Martin Sorrell at SXSW Sydney
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SXSW Sydney: Key takeaways for marketers

Earlier this month, thousands of marketers and tech innovators converged on Sydney’s Darling Harbour for the third annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney event. 

Tami Iseli
Tami Iseli

29 October 2025

4 minute read

This article was originally published in Marketing magazine.

Part conference, part festival, SXSW Sydney is a melting pot of marketers, tech-heads, gamers and music lovers who come together for a week of knowledge sharing, inspiration and entertainment. This year, the event, which is modelled off the original SXSW in Texas, offered up over 1600 sessions and events, with a lineup of keynote speakers including Neil Patel and ad industry doyen Sir Martin Sorrell.

Below are the marketing-related themes that repeatedly popped up over the course of the week.   

The search landscape has evolved 

If you think search is all about Google, think again. The landscape of online search has undergone a metamorphosis. We’ve moved beyond it being the sole domain of traditional search engines to a more fragmented and AI-driven environment. That’s not to suggest Google’s dead. Far from it, in fact. Despite the fragmentation, Google has actually reported an increase in search volume year-on-year. 

But the goal posts have changed. These days, a significant proportion of Google searches now end without a click, thanks to AI Overviews. According to Ahrefs, these ‘zero-click’ searches have led to organic click-through rates dropping by as much as 12 percent. AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Dexa are also becoming key entry points for search, summarising information directly instead of linking out.

At the same time, consumers are increasingly using social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Reddit as search engines. This is especially true for Gen Z, where Instagram is the preferred search platform, followed by TikTok – with Google coming in at third place. 

We’ve gone from SEO being about search engine optimisation to search everything optimisation. 

Content diversity is key

The result of this decentralisation of search is that marketers need to think about diversifying their channel presence and content formats. A staggering six billion searches are happening every day on Instagram, and more than three billion on YouTube. Longform content is not dead (yet) – it’s still relevant for AI-curated search results – but it’s becoming less effective as fewer people are clicking through to read it. So if you’re focusing all your content creation efforts on written content, you’re missing a big chunk of opportunity. AI models analyse a broad range of content formats, including videos, infographics, podcasts, forum discussions, reviews, wikis and social posts. 

Authenticity is the new currency

The good news for marketers trying to be everywhere, on everything, is that ‘raw and real’ content seems to be the order of the day. Shortform video platforms like TikTok and Instagram have given rise to a wave of unpolished authenticity. As Lucy Thomas, CEO of youth online advocacy group Project Rockit, put it: “The shift now is more towards raw, unedited stuff, and being vulnerable. People are sick of filters and photoshopping, they want authenticity”. Neil Patel backed up this view, saying, “Unscripted, authentic content drives more conversions than highly polished content.” The benefit of this rise in low-fi content is that brands can afford to take more risks and experiment with different formats. 

Reining in the ‘wild west’ of AI 

Not surprisingly, AI was still the buzzword on everyone’s lips, but this year the focus moved more towards the challenge of harnessing it for good, not evil. In a session on safeguarding brand integrity in an AI world, Adobe Director John MacKenney revealed that Australians are one of the least trusting nations in relation to AI. In a study conducted by The University of Melbourne and KPMG, only 36 percent said they’re willing to trust AI. 

The challenge for marketers is to find the balance between using AI to streamline processes and enhance creativity, without compromising trust in their brand. Companies that have clear internal guardrails about their use of AI and maintain transparency around its use, will fare best against consumer scepticism. Government regulation will also be an integral aspect of harm mitigation – although Sir Martin Sorrell postured that “the cat is already out of the bag” on this. Transparency is also not without its challenges, with SBS’s Sneha Rathod pointing out that determining when and how to disclose AI can be difficult, especially when human and AI contributions blur. A possible lifeline for brands trying to do the right thing with AI is the Content Authenticity Initiative, which is working on a trust marker to verify factors like creation date and origin – akin to a ‘nutrition label’ for content.

Picture of Sir Martin Sorrell at SXSW

Death of mainstream monoculture

Just as we’ve seen the fragmentation of marketing channels, we’re now also seeing the breakdown of ‘mainstream’ culture. As a report by Hopeful Monsters highlights, “We no longer consume content en masse, we consume alone, fed by algorithms that reflect our interests.” 

What does this mean for marketers? It means that the messages we consume are no longer dominated by the big players with enormous budgets. Brands are being built from the ground up, with the help of micro-influencers, partnerships and collaborations. It also means there’s more demand for storytelling over selling, and providing value to build brand trust. 

If a YouTube channel called ‘Drain Cleaning Australia’ (which offers exactly what it says on the label – videos about drain cleaning) can amass a following of more than 320,000 subscribers, there really is no limit on building an audience around quirky creativity. 

Tami Iseli
Tami Iseli

29 October 2025

4 minute read

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