This One Time at SXSW…

We’re sorry if you’ve run into any of the Black Sheep Agency members lately, and they’ve seemed a little less than their energetic (and slightly crazy) selves. You must understand, we’re all in a bit of a post-SXSW-induced coma brought on by six sleepless nights, seven jam-packed days exploding with inspiration and approximately 21 meals comprised entirely of breakfast tacos. In short, we’re recovering.

But what we really want you to know is it was worth it. Each member of the flock has their own reasons why. We’ll let them explain it for themselves.

Aimee
I loved being able to take our entire team to SXSW this year. Getting out of the office and spending time together in Austin made us feel even more like a family, and we came back fired up and full of new ideas.

Beyond that, I caught nine or 10 sessions that centered around one common thread: companies doing good. And, if you know me, you know I like that. A LOT.

Since our agency’s inception, we’ve been laser-focused on making social giving a part of every client’s strategy — and a high priority within it, so I’m thrilled it’s becoming a topic of discussion across the board in our industry and a pervasive theme at SXSW.

But now I think we’re faced with a new issue. If social good becomes an expected part of every company culture, how do we keep it unexpected? And, more importantly, how do we keep it true and authentic? This is something we plan to address with vigor, and something I’d love to talk to others about. (Seriously, come talk to us!) I’m excited to see where this new phase of marketing and public relations goes and how Black Sheep can be a part of it — and hopefully lead the way.

Jess
The best part about SXSW? Well, it wasn’t seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt since we missed him by 25 minutes at Iron Works (all Logan’s fault). It was, however, being in such close proximity to some highly inspirational people, most of whom I had the pleasure of listening to at the Fast Company GenFlux panel on Sunday morning.

There were leaders from all types of organizations in the room — GE, Atom Factory Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., The Black List, RGA — and they all agreed on the same message: We have to get comfortable with the uncomfortable because change is constant.

That’s a scary thought, but amid change and chaos comes great opportunity. Like the Gen Flux members said, there’s two ways we can respond toward such change and chaos: become extinct or become excited for the future. And they choose the future.

That really made me wonder in what ways am I stifling progress in our company because I broke rather than flexed? I can’t wait to make Black Sheep better, so I’m going to take GenFlux’s ideas about change and see how far we can bend. Just after I finish reading all of JGL’s tweets…

Taylor
I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s novels, short stories and graphic novels since I was a teenager with braces and pigtails and somehow stumbled upon 2001’s American Gods. Since then, I’ve devoured anything and everything he’s put out and nearly died when I saw his name printed in the SXSW program.

Naturally, I hightailed it to the Long Center for the Performing Arts with Jo in tow and settled into my very comfortable (and conveniently located) seat on the front row. He was everything you or I could possibly imagine — simultaneously gracious and hilarious as he interviewed producer Chuck Lorre.

Shortly after the interview, I noticed two or three other nerds had stopped him for autographs. IT WAS MY CHANCE, Y’ALL. By the time I made my beeline, he was furiously scribbling his name on badges and papers and looked ready to go. When he got to me, I blurted out (without shame, trepidation or a looming sense of embarrassment), “I’ve read everything you’ve ever written. You’re my best friend.” He laughed, a deep, genuine belly laugh, and shot right back, “You’re my best friend, too.” As you can see, he proceeded to personalize his autograph with a few magical touches.

SXSW is a magical place where you can meet your heroes and see that you’re not so different. (In fact, you could be best friends.) And that made spending three hours in the car with five people and all their personal belongings completely worth it.

Jo
Yes, SXSW is all about hipsters, music, start ups, booze and waffle cones full of meat (I promise this exists, and I ate it.), but it is also a professional conference, and as such, we felt compelled to learn stuff. My personal interests this year became two very opposing forces in the world and in marketing: “big data” and anonymous online communities.

Big data has been developing along with the Internet. It’s basically a massive, never-ending collection of data being constantly created through online usage by anyone and everyone. It comes from the social media platforms you use and the videos you watch, the sites you visit, the cookies that live on your computer, and basically any interactions you’ve ever had online. It’s also quite possibly the creepiest, most useful source of information for marketers… well, ever.

And then there’s the idea of anonymous online communities. These grassroots communities fight big data (in a sense) by throwing a wrench into large-scale information of all sorts. They rebel against being treated as a predictable group and mostly everything else: religious groups, political groups (of both sides), advertising, SOPA. Online and real-life demonstrations are incited by culture preachers and malcontents, and it appeals to the online crowd because of its basis in individuality.

As a designer who’s worked in both advertising and now public relations, it was fascinating to learn about the larger industry trends. Sometimes we get so caught be in the day-to-day activities of our jobs, it’s nice to be able to step outside and look at a larger landscape, and SXSW allowed me to do that.

Kellie
So I didn’t meet my hero at SXSW or even eat an entire waffle cone of meat. I went to a series of panels, and all of them were great: Insightful, engaging and intelligent. But it’s hard for me to pick a real favorite. For me, the most rewarding part was listening to others share their amazing ideas — like Michele Norris’ Race Card project or ModCloth COO Kerry Cooper’s model for engagement — and then using them to spawn some new endeavors at Black Sheep.

I must admit I actually almost didn’t apply for a job at Black Sheep because I was afraid I wasn’t creative enough. But leaving SXSW with a whole notebook full of ideas (although some are far better than others), showed me how silly that was. Sometimes you just need to be in an inspiring environment to come up with some good ideas, and SXSW is certainly that.

Logan
My takeaway isn’t necessarily about the takeaways. The most important thing about SXSW was the team building within our agency. Spending every waking (and non-waking, for that matter) hour together can do one of two things: drive you apart or bring you together.

For us, SXSW did the latter. Our week of navigating public transit, finding breakfast tacos, discussing the day’s panels, saving seats in over-filled keynotes and nursing each other’s hangovers brought us together in a way that few “offices” get to experience. And I think this family is all the better for it.

Excuse us for gushing. Wait, no, don’t. We’re not sorry. Not even if we made you barf while reading that last paragraph. We loved SXSW, and we needed to share it.