SXSW Feature: Amelia Hall

At SXSW ’19 Backslash led a panel called “Wacko World and the Rise of Memelord Brands.” The discussion honed in on a trend that Backslash has identified in culture (we call them ‘Edges’), named Wacko World: We’re all weird now. The absurd, inexplicable and plain silly have become common vocabulary in memes, fashion and marketing. This is a reaction to over-consumption and logic and signals a desire for the unique and irrational.

Injecting weirdness into a product (think Snapchat’s AR filters i.e. the vomiting rainbow) gives people an avenue for exploring their stranger side, and creates space for a brand to become part of the cultural lexicon: “It wasn’t until weirdness got injected into AR that you had hundreds of millions of people using AR every day. It took the propensity for weirdness and self-expression to propel a piece of niche technology into everybody’s pockets on a daily basis.” — Amelia Hall, Snapchat Brand Manager

Learn more about how Backslash can help you translate cultural blur into business opportunity: https://www.backslash.com/