As SXSW Interactive comes to an end I simply must say thanks to Drew and Matt from Radar Creative. I wasn’t going to go this year, and when I told Drew, Radar Creative bought me a badge and a hotel room. It wasn’t a sponsorship in the traditional sense. Matt and Drew are friends and they have helped support Invisible People right from day one. Radar Creative never asked for me to promote them, but I have huge respect for their work and I am extremely grateful for the love.
Last year, as many of you know, Homeless Hotspots turned in to a maddening controversy. [My post from last year: Panhandling or Hotspot Vendor: Which is better?] I really think a lot of the negativity was “link bait” motivated. The whole thing was stupid. Basically, BBH hired homeless people for their promotion instead of college kids, and that’s a very good thing. My biggest concern was, that in future years like this year’s SXSW, no brand or agency would take a risk to help the City of Austin’s homeless (or any other philanthropy effort) and that’s exactly what happened. Except for a weak fundraiser that I’m not sure anyone noticed, and a party for charity: water, there wasn’t any cause campaigns being run.
To me, that’s very sad. With all the brand power at SXSW, and the sheer volume of people that attend, brands and agency’s at SXSW could have huge impact helping the local community.
As time goes on I hope people in charge start using their influence to make our world a better place!
