Heading to SXSW? This is the guide I wish I'd had on my first trip. After eight years attending South by Southwest, I've figured out exactly how marketers can get the most out of the week—from scheduling strategy and what sessions to prioritize, to what to wear, what to eat, and how to navigate Austin without any FOMO.

In this video we cover:
- Where to stay & how to get around

- What to pack (including the shoe rule)

- How to plan your sessions (and when to ditch your plan)

- Why panels are overrated & what to attend instead

- The #1 way to network at SXSW

- Brand activations worth your time

Whether it's your first time or your fifth, there's something here for you.Drop your questions in the comments — and let me know if you'll be there. The Monday team will be on the ground as always.

#SXSW #SXSW2026 #MarketingStrategy #SXSWGuide #ContentMarketing #MarketingTips #Austin #SouthBySouthwest

Every year we make a series of predictions that sit at the crossover of marketing and active / outdoor / wellness brands. We call it our Crystal Baller. This is the 6th edition—the second to make it on My Best Campaign. From cortisol to vintage gymwear, it's a non-so-comprehensive list of what we'll all be talking about in 2026.

LINKS

Read the original Crystal Baller post

Good Thinking Podcast

The Business of Fashion Podcast

Articles of Interest Podcast

Running Supply Substack

The Sweat Lookbook Substack

As Seen On Substack

Fitt Insider email

The Future Party email

The Running Event

Switchback

made-for-social minidramas

Jacquemus

Ffern

Burberry

Chanel

Satisy Running: I think I saw you on my run today

Diadora's Cinematic Social

Shawna Olsten on My Best Campaign

Coperni’s probiotic "bacteria-infused" clothing

Huha

Celliant

Hikerkind

Westbeach

Marco Langon x Diadora

the 12-hour walk

Brick phone-blocker

The Bandit Grand Prix

Tracksmith Twilight series

Rapha Prestige

Redbull Rampage

Mara Hoffman on Substack

Tory Daily

Melani Masarin’s Nightshade on Substack

Wellsaid by Madewell

Rare Beauty Secrets.

Our past predictions from: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021

Brogan Graham built a global fitness revolution with 250,000 committed members across the globe. We sat down, literally on the floor at The Running Event, to talk about how he did it and what brands can learn about growing organic communities and foster die hard fans. We cover: how to turn fans into evangelists. What is the right amount of friction for a branded event? And what is the biggest barrier that makes it impossible for some brands to partner with local community crews.

LINKS

• Brogan on Linkedin

• Outward Agency

• The November Project

• Your Story in 60-seconds photos by Tony with a Sony

• Training Group

• Philicia Douglas

• Laura Green

• Brogan on Rich Roll

Baby food sensation, Little Spoon spent a decade as a DTC brand, building a massive following through customer-first thinking and killer—unconventional—brand partnerships... think Graza, Rachel Antonoff and Dusen Dusen. But this year, it did the biggest single brand food launch Target has ever seen: 23 products across six different aisles. Caryn Wasser has led marketing for all of it and has thoughts about what brand moments to seize vs ignore, and how to make the leap from pure ecomm to retail sensation.

LINKS

Caryn Wasser on LinkedIn

Little Spoon Target Launch

Little Spoon x Meet Cutes NYC

Little Spoon Taylor and Trave memes

Little Spoon + Sauz

Little Spoon + Graza

Little Spoon + Dusen Dusen

Little Spoon + Rachel Antonoff

Little Spoon + Grillo's Pickles

Skin Deep + Little Spoon

CAVA

Dunkin

Liquid Death

Ryan Air

When it comes to advertising, what is the far edge of edgy? How much risk is too risky? Niclas Bornling thinks maybe we're playing it too safe, and letting the algorithms dumb down creativity. In this episode, he talks about his days at Salomon and the campaign that almost cost the brand its biggest retailer. We look back at the heyday of print advertising in ski and snowboarding and consider what we can bring to our marketing and brand campaigns today.

LINKS

Niclas Bornling on LinkedIn 

Fact check: 3,000 injuries a year by beach umbrella. One death. 

Ingemar Stenmark 

The New Canadian Air Force 

Intersport 

Jean-Luc Diard 

Salomon S-core surfboard 

Scott Mellin, Chief Brand Officer, Salomon 

Austin Hodges was running NBA partnerships at adidas when he got tapped to make what might sound like a surprising leap: lead global marketing at a baby brand. Since then he brought the adidas sports partnership playbook to life at Nuna—and Nuna's sub brands, Tavo and Hedgren—totally changing the game in marketing to parents. This episode is a masterclass in sports partnerships. It's also an incredible lesson in leadership—Austin spells out his distinct approach that has rocketed him from a single brand CMO to global oversight of three verticals for three brands.

Remember that shiver of excitement that comes with opening a fresh box of 64-count crayons? That's what Crayola CMO Victoria Lozano has been capturing for more than 15 years. In this episode we dive deep into the world of location-based brand experiences, creating original brand IP and how to keep a campaign fresh when it runs over multiple years. She even gives the secret to getting a competitive brand management role without an MBA.

LINKS

Victoria Lozano on Linkedin

Campaign for Creativity

Crayola Creativity Week

Creative Acts of Color

Crayola Experience

Pablo animated series

When you get a Nike VP on the show, you make the most of it. Julie Igarashi joined us to give the MBC treatment to 3 iconic Nike campaigns: the Air Max Day campaign that took over Shinjuku and garnered millions of views on Youtube; the Jordan sneaker revival in Japan that pushed the brand from #9 to #1 in youth consideration; and the global 2024 Paris Olympic campaign that marked a major reset for Nike. What's more, she gives us a playbook for working your way up at Nike, and a window into how Nike cultivates world-class creative ideas.

LINKS

Nike Secret Tournament World Cup 2002 campaign

Faith Kipyegon Breaking 4 attempt

You Can't Win, So Win Super Bowl campaign

Nike Unlaced at Paris Fashion Week

Is Nike Finally Winning With Women?

Charette

Nike Japan Air Max Day 2022 campaign

Naomi Osaka, Awich, Yuto Horigome and Hiroshi Fujiwara courtside in Jordans

Nicole Hubbard, Nike Inc. CMO

David Lynch: The Art Life

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Charlie Grinnell was one of the creative brains behind the viral Red Bull Raw 100 video series. In this episode he talks about the birth of Raw 100 and why it worked. He also goes deep into how to build a social calendar and budget that give you flexibility to jump on cultural moments, his process for inventing a viral content category, strategies for how to allocate your social ad spend, and his theory of how to work with the social algorithms right now.

LINKS

Charlie on Linkedin

Rightmetric

Aritzia

Arcteryx

Invoke Media

Redbull Raw 100

Brandon Seminuk & Rupert Walker's Raw 100

Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Katie Wilson believes in trial and error, but she had no idea that her days of consumer research in the vitamin aisle at Walmart would unlock a viral TikTok strategy and 2,000% growth. In this episode she talks about how she cracked the code, how she evolves her TikTok strategy to keep up with algorithm, and why she's newly a believer in brand building that doesn't show an immediate ROI.

LINKS

BelliWelli Tiktok

BelliWelli Instagram

Fiber Fest

David Cod

Dillon Francis