Student: Claire Lynton
SXSW was a great experience as a TAI graduate student. Over the course of the weekend, we were able to see many great sessions, speakers, and activations. The expo floor was full of booths displaying the newest tech products, productivity software, lifestyle products, and cultural experiences. We were able to see activations and pop-ups like the Amazon Prime House, Netflix’s Love is Blind, and the F1 Arcade station where they used AI to connect Spotify to a machine that pulled juices and syrups to create a drink based on your song choice.
My favorite part of the weekend was attending a panel entitled “What Happens to Fangirls When They Grow Up?” The panelists where women working in the film and media spaces as well as research who, as fans of franchises themselves, work with brands, studios, and companies to harness the power of fandom to further their IP. They advocate for the power of fans, how they influence the culture around the object of the fandom for the better, and how the teams behind the objects of fandom can have a symbiotic relationship with the fans. I had the privilege of spending a few hours that evening chatting with two of the panelists. We shared ideas about fans in marketing, they offered wisdom about being a creative wanting to work in marketing and fan spaces and bonding over shared interests. That was an opportunity I would have never gotten had I not gone to SXSW with TAI.
