Creators were all over SXSW. What does that mean for the industry?

The line between creators and traditional Hollywood is so blurry these days that even those with perfect vision are squinting.

At SXSW this year, creator chat wasn’t hard to come by. Whether it was at the Creator Academy activation hosted by Sam’s Club (a major sponsor of the festival), on a panel about creators in Hollywood with Recess Therapy host Julian Shapiro-Barnum, or at any of the many brand events catered toward creators complete with Instagram-ready photo ops, internet stars are mingling with A-listers.

The speed at which the creator economy has grown is a reality that both the entertainment industry and brand world are reckoning with. “In the last year and a half, two years, creators and digital shows became the press cycle,” Shapiro-Barnum said during the panel discussion. “[My show] went from like a thing where we were like, ‘Oh my God, we’re so excited to have one [celebrity] on’ to something where we’re constantly turning people down.”

Shapiro-Barnum was only the second creator the Golden Globes invited to interview celebs during its official red-carpet preshow, following in the footsteps of Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg and setting the stage for comedian Mary Beth Barone, who appeared this year. Inviting creators into traditional and often prestigious Hollywood spaces is just one way brands like the Globes are looking to modernize their relationship with viewers and younger audiences—one that, if many of the comments under this year’s videos hosted by Barone are any indication, seems to be paying off.

“When brands are getting involved, we’re always thinking about, ‘What’s that behind-the-scenes moment? What’s that memeable moment that can really get amplified and matter?’” Amanda McArthur, SVP of client strategy and brand partnerships at Doing Things, said during the same panel. “That’s where events are really serving a dual purpose, because you get that one-on-one for the creators and the fans that are actually there, but then it also needs to translate to an online audience as well.”

Large and in charge

This year, SXSW is a bit shorter than in years past, with the music, innovation, and film and TV tracks all happening concurrently. That mishmash of industries is only allowing the creator economy to show up basically everywhere, which Kenny Gold, managing director and head of social, influencer, and content at Deloitte Digital, told us is happening at nearly every industry conference.

“For a festival that's so steeped in the heritage of music and art and comedy and film, it’s natural that creators would want to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist that exists in a place like South By,” Gold said. “Small-business owners or midsize-business owners or even large-scale business owners themselves are looking to see the way that brands activate here and the way that cultural properties activate.”

And the brands are activating. Over the weekend, Marketing Brew stopped by the Unwell County Fair, where Alex Cooper brought her hydration brand to life while announcing the premiere of Love Overboard, a reality show she’s executive producing. The crowd seemed chock-full of influencer and creator types, with many taking photos to capture their experiences, Unwell bottles in hand.

Other brands had stations, too: local chain Torchy’s Tacos served up nachos, while prediction market Polymarket asked attendees which film they thought might win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. (Sinners was by far the crowd favorite when I stopped by, but Polymarket odds favored One Battle After Another, which ended up winning on Sunday night.)

Experiential is a big part of SXSW, and creators are a big part of those experiences, according to Gold, who had only just arrived at the festival when we spoke but had already seen brands getting set up to cater to the creator crowd. What brands most often get wrong when it comes to creators, he said, is going for mass reach rather than aiming for a niche.

“The average consumer follows 13 creators at six brands, so how are we ensuring that we’re having brands partner with the creators that are going to drive actual results and impact?” Gold said. “Why overspend on mass creators when you can invest in more micro-niche creators?”

Creator at heart

Meanwhile, Sam’s Club seems poised to broaden its creator approach. The national brand was all over Austin, and when we stopped by its Creator Academy, it was just in time for an intimate concert with singer-songwriter Ashe. She played a couple of songs, including the TikTok-beloved “Moral of the Story,” before a Q&A with Sam’s Club’s head of social and influencers, MacKenzie McCarver.

It was an interesting moment to happen upon, and McCarver’s recognition of Ashe as an internet-native artist further demonstrated the convergence of traditional celebrity and internet stardom. It’s true that Ashe is a well-known recording artist, especially as part of the newer band The Favors. It’s also true that she’s an internet baby, which has undeniably contributed to her success.

Across SXSW, another predictable theme emerged: Whether brands are finding a partner or TV writers are pitching a story to studios, a focus on “authenticity” remains omnipresent—and of course now includes the creator set. In fact, our last official event of the weekend was Morning Brew Inc.’s own brunch, called Let Them Cook, focused on the power of letting creators do their thing. While that can be easier said than done for some nervous brand marketers, there’s an undeniable push to let creators take creative control in partnerships and content, wherever they might be showing up.