Event held by Hands.ag brought together 13 CMOs to exchange insights from SXSW 2024
TakeOff, an event created and led by Marcelo Lenhard, CEO of Hands.ag, brought together the main CMOs who participated in the latest edition of South by Southwest (SXSW), the largest innovation festival in the world. Divided into three panels, Tech, Ecosystem and Human, the executives exchanged insights, experiences and debated on how to deal with the discomforts and uncertainties brought by this new technology scenario, such as generative AI, and how this can directly impact the communications industry. . The event was held on the 27th, at Teatro B32, in So Paulo. Among the debaters were names such as Srgio Valente (JBS global CMO), Beatrice Jordo (Heineken branding director), Igor Puga (vice-president of Enjoei), Ana Moises (director of the Marketing Solutions area at LinkedIn Latam) and Felipe Cerchiari (director of global premium brands at Ambev), among others.
“Going to events like Cannes Lions, Web Summit, and especially SXSW, it's super common to come back with the feeling that we didn't see everything we wanted to, and that, even about what we saw, it's not so simple to draw concrete and objective conclusions. We then proposed to build a platform that, more than just seeking insights and trends, went beyond the obvious of Downloads and Reports, facing the responsibility of generating concrete facts, which is where TakeOff was born.
A meeting of CMOs from major brands that were at SXSW, brings to debate the most relevant issues of SXSW 2024, and with a greater purpose: DARE to define Ten practical guidelines to share with our market”, says Marcelo Lenhard, CEO of Hands. ag, creator of the event.
The 10 guidelines defined by the TakeOff panels were:
1- Combinativity: The combination of art and science is what will make the difference in solving problems and creating innovations. I need to invest time in new knowledge and develop new cultures that create bridges between technology and people.
2- Era of transition and discomfort: From now on, we will always be living in an era of constant and accelerated transition, with new technologies influencing new behaviors. Discomfort with the new and the unpredictable will be the technique. You need to learn to use it as a lever for transformation.
3- Heads, heads and heads: Yes, we know that artificial intelligence is at the center of transformations. But often people and companies are still spectators, waiting to see where this ends. It takes attitude, a daily dive into different AI tools to begin to understand how they work, usability, human-machine interaction and be able to move forward to extract the best from these tools. There must be an agenda for leadership with the entire team to constantly test different tools on a daily basis. If before we brought startups and agents to co-create with companies, today this role can be done with AI in a faster and less bureaucratic way.
4- Critical sense: knowing how to ask the right questions, discuss and connect dots. Right questions come from a deeper place than wanting to know the answers right away. Human beings have the ability to break rules and make connections that make no logical sense. This is still what differentiates people from artificial intelligence.
5- Collaborate: collaborate, dialogue and share knowledge with the entire chain of action. The discourse of collaboration between companies needs to exist in practice. We still have the speech, but we live in competitiveness. The sum of forces and efforts brings gains for all humanity. I need to integrate collective objectives to solve social and environmental challenges. This will only be done with collaboration and dialogue. Are we really thinking about what the world needs?
6- The future we want: How do we build the desired future on a daily basis? Are we putting real corporate purposes in favor of the future of humanity or do we still have a brand discourse disguised as purpose? We cannot let the future be led by any agenda. It is necessary to constantly exercise organizations to understand their role in the future of the planet.
7- Resilience and compassion: Resilience is a daily choice and must be practiced through compassion. Compassion with 3Cs: Courage to deal with the new. Curiosity to understand what is happening to others, learn and evolve. Connection comes from an effort to connect with another.
8- Generalist creatives: the future of work will be for generalist creatives. It's not about creative professionals, it's about humanity's creativity producing more creativity. The specialist focuses on one thing and goes through years of study to improve on it. For every specialty, artificial intelligence will deliver more and better. Anyone with different areas of interest and skills will be able to expand their capabilities with artificial intelligence. The creative generalist is capable of working in different areas and adapting to different scenarios in the transformations we have experienced and will experience.
9- Human side: Artificial intelligence frees us up precious time to be more human. But first, we need to recover our origins. The human being goes through a crisis, a software update. We are immersed in our cell phones without connecting with ourselves or the people in front of us at the bar table. There is a clear lack of attention from human to human. Practicing being present where we are, paying attention and wanting to live it willingly.
10- Cultivate active listening: Active listening is essential for effective communication and building relationships. Leaders must encourage active listening among their employees and customers.
