6 Insights for Creators from SXSW London

Editorial Staff / 6 minutes
June 19, 2025
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3 min read

SXSW London event signage outside building

I recently attended SXSW London – here are my top insights for creators.

I recently hopped a six-hour flight from Lagos to attend my very first international conference: SXSW London. Full disclosure — I had no idea what I was walking into.

You might know South by Southwest from its annual Austin takeover: wall-to-wall tech demos, indie film premieres, breakout music acts, and enough brand activations to fill a small city. Since launching in 1987, it’s become synonymous with creative experimentation and culture-shaping ideas.

This year, the organizers packed that same energy into the London neighborhoods of Shoreditch and Hoxton for the festival’s first-ever European edition earlier in June.

I went in with two simple goals:

Learn from the people who are building the creator economy.
Connect with other creators and marketers.

The reality was a bit more nuanced. Queues fo rsessions snaked around the block, venue-hopping required a crash course in the London transportation system, and I definitely missed more sessions than I attended.

But the rooms I did squeeze into delivered deep-dive panels on the future of AI, brutally honest talks about pay for creators, and conversations that rewired how I think about content creation and career longevity as a marketer.

My main takeaway? The creator economy isn't just about influencers anymore. It's about anyone using the internet to make their work visible, build an audience, and create sustainable income streams. If you've ever posted about your expertise, pitched yourself via LinkedIn, or wondered how to turn your knowledge into revenue, these insights are for you.

1. Audiences crave presence over polish — and your "rough drafts" might be your best content

Audiences tend to scroll past perfect, studio-level posts and stop on anything that feels real and in-the-moment.

"People don’t open Instagram looking for a billboard — they’re looking for someone to hang out with." — Charlotte Stavrou, SevenSix Agency

Behind the scenes outperforms highlight reels. Charlotte Stavrou, founder of SevenSix Agency, said her client, who has 15,000 Instagram followers, routinely outdoes creators with six-figure followings in engagement because she posts raw, day-to-day snippets — not glossy shoots.
Brands are now briefing for imperfection. Max Fosh told the Think Like a Creator crowd that shaky, hand-held clips of his filming process spark more comments than his fully produced pieces — and clients have started requesting that vibe on purpose.
Lo-fi content signals trust, not sloppiness. Several speakers noted that bad audio, and shaky camera clips signal that a human made a piece of content which in turn cues engagement.

What does this mean in practice?

If you’re a creator

Show the process: post rough sketches, messy whiteboards, or bloopers.
Narrate in real time with captions like “Testing two intros, tell me which one resonates.”
Leave minor flaws — shaky footage or your “ums” and “ahs” make content relatable.

If you’re a brand

Rethink the brief: if you want “authentic,” skip the studio-lighting requirements.
Measure conversation (saves, shares, thoughtful comments) alongside reach.
Budget for multiple touchpoints — teaser, main post, follow-up Q&A — so the story feels organic.