Day 2: Copycats are the future of innovation ft. Casey Neistat

SXSW: An Australian’s story

Yep. Copycats are the future of innovation and China is (naturally) leading the way…

Copying is good

by Raymond Chin (CCO at Publicis.Sapient China)

So the day started off with a banger.

raymond chin tells it like it is — because we all know about China’s love of copying; from high street knockoffs, to fast food chains and experimental eggs.

You get the picture

But what about the opportunities that copying provides?

“Real” fake art has become a huge industry in China, with artists replicating some of the most famous artworks, by some of the most famous artists of history.

While the famed masters are long-gone, do we always need to be starting from scratch with new artwork? Can we not improve on their famously beautiful styles?

In copying, a new generation of artists are learning.

So, when we give them a new brief of their own, they can innovate:

Zhao Xiaoyong uses the skills he learned from copying, to create his own masterpiece

It’s about standing on the shoulders of giants — it’s about agility. It’s about learning and then developing.

Another copycat Chinese artist updates the Ming dynasty style when she’s briefed with new work. You don’t really need to see these vases, but I just thought they were too beautiful not to share. Pretty colours and whatnot.

And this thinking doesn’t just apply to art. Without Facebook, WeChat has evolved to be the big social gun of the East.

From humble beginnings copying Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype, Uber, Tinder and the like… WeChat has evolved ahead of the West in its secluded Chinese ecosystem.

Taking its learnings from the Western players, they’ve expanded their services to include investing, banking, hospital appointment booking systems, heat maps for crowded shopping malls and more.

In fact, there’s a really great New York Times video on the breadth of their innovation that you should totally watch [when you find a spare 5:44]:

How China Is Changing Your Internet

Oh, and it’s not just China’s WeChat who are doing this either.

Apple took learnings from (re: copied) Dieter Rams’s Braun products, in designing their own:

To give you an idea — Dieter Ram’s work is above, Jonathan Ive’s is below

And guess what? They only have kind words to say about one another!

Shocking, except that Jonathan has been honest and open to the references in his work; in fact, he celebrates the genius of Dieter’s work.

In the same way a uni student could write a whole essay using only quotations, it’s the respect in the reference that counts.

Copying isn’t about blatantly ripping something off — it’s about taking an idea that we admire, and then figuring out how we can make it better.

Ray’s lesson: Why go back to zero, when you can take the best parts of an idea and improve on it?

Starstruck Animals

Post copycat session, I grabbed a quick turkey sanger [pre-made, it was probably my biggest regret and lesson of the day — because why eat soggy bread when you can have tacos?] and made my way over to see the Animals creators, Mike Luciano and Phil Matarese, with their Co Executive Producer, Jen Roskind.

I lined up a full hour and a half early so I wouldn’t miss them (front of the queue, no less) — and it was totally worth it!

The guys are ex-advertising creatives themselves, who developed Animals for funsies [I think passion project is the common term], in their downtime. [Ahh, the mythical downtime…]

The supers really speak for themselves

They spoke about how one thing led to another… and now their web series is soon to premiere its second season on HBO with an all-star cast [think: Whoopi Goldberg, Usher, Aziz Ansari, Kesha, Emilia Clarke and more]!

I honestly left in awe — knowing how much work went into producing the few minutes of animation in our Pfizer ads <shameless plug here>, I can only imagine how manic their year has been in producing hours of footage.

Fun fact: all the voice scenes are very loosely guided, and shot in just the one recording session (usually 2–3hrs long)!

The man, the myth: Casey Neistat

From one queue to another, I soon left Animals behind to join the giant one forming for the keynote by Casey Neistat, YouTube legend and millennial hero.

Real talks: he spoke to a full house

And he is just as much a legend IRL as his videos would lead you to believe.

Sharing with us the video that kicked it all off:

Watch this in its entirety, I promise it won’t disappoint

He discussed being authentic and letting your gut guide you to success — to take the opportunities as they come, and always keep moving forward.

Think like Tarzan and grab every vine that hits you.

Casey’s newest favourite video

I squeezed in another quick panel

Key learnings for leadership: Up your empathy and give more hugs

And I need a dollar, dollar… A dollar is all I need…

Well, what I really needed by now was a nap… but I pulled myself together and dragged my solo butt over to the Capitol One gig at Antone’s, where I made a new friend in line, fellow SXSW-er and local Austin-ite, Jo.

[Sorry no pics — my phone battery died]

Jo gave me some SXSW tips (mostly for free food — which I am always an avid supporter of) over the course of our hangs which went a little something like:

7pm: 1x hour in line before venue open,

8pm: 3x hours locked into the venue before the headline act (no passouts),

11.15pm: All this for 45mins of dancing-singing-fun-times with Aloe Blacc

12am: Then catching a cab home

1am: Trying to sleep

2am: Still trying to sleep

3am: Sleep finally kicks in [along with American daylight savings… uh oh]

BUT IT WAS WORTH EVERY MINUTE [right up until tomorrow — where this story continues…]

Anyway, a few final thoughts to finish on today:

1. There are no foreign exchange outlets in Austin. And only some banks will do it. Is there a reason why? I mean, I’m doing ok with just card… but it is strange, right? The host city of world famous SXSW — and nowhere to buy USD?!
2. There is a delicious Texan food known as Frito Pie — aside from being made with a specific chip (think Doritos brand) I haven’t yet found a difference between Fritos and nachos… but the Texans are adamant that they aren’t the same? Please feel free to shed some light on the matter.