Culture-shaping trends, provocative questions, and actionable insights from the frontlines of marketing’s future

If you didn’t make it to SXSW London this year, don’t worry, I took notes. And not just because I’m a keynote speaker and marketing leader who loves a good trend. I was on the hunt for the ideas CMOs and marketing leaders need now, to lead with clarity, fuel brand relevance, and future-proof their teams.

This year’s programming covered everything from AI-powered creativity and quantum culture to BBC’s brand reinvention and Tony’s Chocolonely’s neuromarketing-driven product strategy. Across all the presentations, the standout theme was this: the marketers who blend cultural intelligence with creative bravery (and a healthy dose of operational sharpness) will win. I also spent a lot of my time at the amazing invite only Brand Innovators side event which I believe had some of the best talks of the event.

Here are the 15 biggest ideas and boldest provocations from SXSW London that CMOs and marketing leaders cannot afford to ignore:

1. AI isn’t here to replace creativity – it’s here to unleash it.

Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason’s session flipped the usual AI narrative on its head. Instead of focusing on automation and productivity, they asked: What if AI’s real power is imagination?

Their live demo asked attendees to sketch the startup they wanted to see on stage at SXSW 2026. Using generative AI, each doodle became a visual prototype and business case within minutes. The deeper insight? AI can democratize idea sharing, lower the barrier to contribution, and help organizations surface overlooked thinking, especially in cultures where perfectionism or hierarchy stifles innovation.

CMO takeaway: Stop asking “How can we use AI to do what we’ve always done, faster?” Start asking: How can AI help us think differently?

2. Most employees have no idea how AI is supposed to help them.

A stat from Upwork hit hard: 96% of execs think AI will boost productivity, yet 77% of employees feel the opposite. Many say AI tools are slowing them down, not speeding them up.

It’s a powerful reminder that if your AI rollout doesn’t come with training, experimentation, and a clear cultural shift, it won’t deliver. Especially in marketing, where workflows are complex and creative by nature, tooling alone won’t fix anything.

CMO takeaway: Don’t just roll out AI. Coach your teams on where it adds value, where it doesn’t, and how to play with it. Curiosity beats compliance.

3. Imagination is the new growth lever.

The most important future is the one we co-create and marketing leaders should be leading the charge. Henry and Rohit’s exercise at SXSW was more than a gimmick. It showed how real-time imagination, facilitated by AI, can fuel internal innovation pipelines.

From idea capture to visual mockups and feasibility assessment, we’re entering a phase where creativity at scale is possible and CMOs should be building the infrastructure to support it.

CMO takeaway: Build tools and rituals that invite bold ideas from unexpected corners of your organization and use AI to accelerate them into action.

4. Brand power needs a new language and a new mindset.

Charl Bassil, the BBC’s first-ever Chief Brand Officer, brought a fresh perspective to legacy brand transformation. His approach? Treat the BBC like a challenger brand and map every brand touchpoint by geography, channel, and audience segment, then define shared metrics across the org.

He’s also focused on usefulness as the true north of brand strategy, not hype. “Imagine a world without the BBC,” he asked. It’s a question every CMO should steal and think about it under the lens of their business. What would your customers miss the most about you if you were no longer in business?

CMO takeaway: Don’t just fight for brand relevance. Reframe your brand’s role through the lens of cultural utility and give stakeholders a new way to measure it.

5. Your content supply chain is about to explode. Are you ready?

In a fascinating quantum computing talk, Unilever’s transition from three product films a month to three thousand, thanks to AI, underscored what’s coming. The point is clear: the scale of content expected from marketing teams is exploding.

From packaging to product videos, AI is enabling mass personalization and asset generation, but only if your systems, standards, and creative strategy can keep up.

CMO takeaway: Get ahead of the chaos. Audit your content operations, train your teams, and revisit your brand guidelines to allow for speed and scale with AI without sacrificing quality.

6. AI won’t replace storytellers – it will amplify our role.

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, shared a hopeful vision of AI: not as a replacement for human creativity, but as a tool for unlocking “root node” problems – those foundational questions that lead to breakthrough discoveries.

I later had the incredible opportunity to meet Demis in the speaker lounge at SXSW (what serendipity, right?). I was able to ask a follow-up question about AI and storytelling. What stuck with me was his belief that great storytelling will be critical in shaping how the world understands and adopts AI. Our stories will frame the possibilities – and the guardrails.

CMO takeaway: Double down on storytelling. In the age of AI, your narrative is your competitive edge.

7. Challenger thinking isn’t about size – it’s about culture.

Whether it’s BBC, Skyscanner, or De Beers, the most forward-thinking brands at SXSW shared one trait: they operate like challengers. That means scrappy execution, cultural fluency, a willingness to provoke, and, most importantly, a team culture that backs bold ideas.

As Charl Bassil put it, “No one is bigger than the brand.” It’s a mindset shift CMOs need to model from the top down.

CMO takeaway: Create a challenger culture inside your team – no matter how big your brand is.

8. Packaging isn’t a technical detail – it’s a storytelling tool.

Tony’s Chocolonely’s CMO Sadira Furlow shared how neuroscience informed their chocolate bar design. Turns out: the moment a piece of the bar becomes visible, the brain perceives it as food, not product and emotional engagement spikes.

What took Pepsi 12–18 months took Tony’s just six. When you lead with imagination and insight, the product becomes the story.

CMO takeaway: Obsess over the moment your customer touches the product. The story starts sooner than you think.

9. Creators are not a trend – they’re infrastructure.

The creator economy has matured and brands that treat creators as media partners and not as a one-off or side project are outperforming. Diageo’s approach stood out: identify creators already talking about your brand, offer them creative freedom within a clear framework, and measure what matters across the funnel.

Visit Britain’s strategy was also sharp with licensing regional creator content for use across their own channels, adding scale and authenticity.

CMO takeaway: Your creator strategy needs to live inside your media, brand, and content functions as an always-on strategy and not just as a one-off for a new product or campaign launch.

10. Global campaigns don’t work unless they’re locally fluent.

Indeed, Zurich, and Unilever all echoed this: AI can scale creative production, but cultural relevance is still human work. Zurich’s “Insurlish” campaign rewrote 4,000+ documents across 15 markets using AI to simplify language and make it easier to understand for consumers, but only after getting deep insight from on-the-ground teams.

CMO takeaway: The most powerful marketing today is global in ambition but local in tone. Use AI to scale execution – not insight.

11. Culture is a strategic growth channel – not a mood board.

The most successful campaigns aren’t chasing trends, they’re participating in cultural shifts. Knorr’s campaign with Tinder turned cooking into a green flag for modern dating. Channel 4’s “carbon skidmark” ad dared to provoke environmental action. And Liquid I.V. reminded us that cultural insights start with observing people, not just personas.

CMO takeaway: Don’t just “tap into culture.” Pick your spot. Make it strategic. And give your team permission to go deep.

12. The future of brand-building is emotionally intelligent.

Roger Wade, founder of Boxpark, said it best: “AI is the hype. Emotional intelligence is the edge.” He urged brands to remember Maslow’s hierarchy. If your product doesn’t make people feel something, it won’t survive.

With VC money flowing into purpose-led brands and quantum computing threatening to upend entire industries, emotional connection is more than a nice-to-have. It’s the moat.

CMO takeaway: Reinvest in emotional resonance. Brand love is still your most defensible asset.

13. Purposeful partnerships are your growth multiplier.

Typically, when we think about partnerships, we think about external ones. But, what about focusing on growing partnerships with your agency relationships? Bayer’s marketing lead shared a “pitch in a day” model that’s breaking hierarchy and building better agency relationships. Internally, they’re organizing around circles, not org charts, to keep teams agile and collaboration high. Leveraging sprints for special initiatives has also created an opportunity to pull in key people across the business on urgent projects.

What struck me? Their ambition to be a client agencies want to work with. That’s a growth strategy in itself.

CMO takeaway: Rethink your agency and internal partnerships. Speed, collaboration, and trust are the new currency.

14. Brand leadership starts with showing, not telling.

Skyscanner’s Head of Brand didn’t win the C-suite over with decks. He did it by rolling up his sleeves and showing creative progress. His team simplified brand guidelines, built templates that scale, and proved value with metrics the CFO could rally behind. Simplification allows for them to move faster – despite their growing company size.

An example was a clever out of home stunt during the NBA playoffs where the company purchased a 100 ft billboard outside the Crypto.com Arena which read: “Dallas to Cancun. For great flights to Cancun, visit Skyscanner,” ahead of the playoff game between The Dallas Mavericks and the LA Clippers. The billboard is in reference to the beloved NBA meme of players departing for Cancun following playoff elimination. Read more here.

Their mantra? No assholes, lots of data, and a creative playbook rooted in purpose.

CMO takeaway: Brand doesn’t need to be defended. It needs to be demonstrated. Regularly. Relentlessly.

15. Trust is your ultimate differentiator.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales shared a truth every CMO should hear: in a world of deepfakes and misinformation, trusted brands will win. When AI-generated content floods the web, consumers will seek sources they can believe.

It’s not about perfection. It’s about transparency, consistency, and values your customers can see in action.

CMO takeaway: Invest in trust like it’s a performance metric – because it is.

Final Thoughts

SXSW London reminded me of something simple yet powerful: the brands we love most aren’t just selling, they’re shaping the future. The top brands now and in the future will do so with bravery, imagination, and with a relentless commitment to their customers.

So if you’re a CMO reading this, the real question isn’t What trend should I chase? It’s What future do I want my brand to help create?

Let’s go build it.

Jessica Gioglio is the co-author of The Laws of Brand Storytelling and The Power of Visual Storytelling. Professionally, Jessica has led innovative marketing and public relations programs for Dunkin’, Nokia, TripAdvisor, Sprinklr, and more. Today, Jessica is a keynote speaker (book her here) and founder of With Savvy Media & Marketing, a strategic branding, storytelling, and content strategy consultancy.