I had the good fortune to go to Austin for the 2019 edition of South by Southwest® (SXSW®) — a mind-blowing, brain-bending, thought-provoking fusion of the interactive, film and music industries.

I could cite an endless list of inspiring experiences, freeze-framing on one exciting image after another. Yet that would counter my biggest takeaway: change. Because I left SXSW more convinced than ever that everything will change tomorrow. And that it should. 

No one in marketing would argue with the fact that change is a constant. I’m also willing to bet we can all agree that this thing we call change is accelerating exponentially.

But instead of scrambling to keep up with change, I think we should all ask ourselves a question that forces us to dig deeper: how can we anticipate, embrace and even generate change, using it to our advantage to build better user experiences and stronger customer relationships?

Creativity is the how, and one particular example from SXSW stands out (or stands up) as a brilliant example.

Comedy in Crisis

What if you had a comedy show and nobody came? Venue after venue is trending in that sad direction as more people choose to “buy” their comedic experiences online. So, with a seemingly endless supply of funny content available for free, watch-anywhere-and-anytime streaming, what can comedians do?

How about inventing an experience that can’t be replicated online? That’s the creative (and downright brilliant) concept behind BYOD comedy — that is, Bring Your Own Dog. Because who doesn’t love dogs and comedy? BYOD comedy taps into our love for puns and pooches. It doesn’t fear the change that created all of those empty seats in comedy venues everywhere. It embraces it. 

The canine-loving comics who came up with this idea didn’t accept that live comedy should just roll over and play dead. Instead, they sat up and created some new tricks. The people flocking to these new comedy shows come for the barking as much as the laughter, arriving early to grab drinks and dog treats. And, bada bing, BYOD comedy is a huge success.

The Punchline

We can’t slow the pace of change, but we can roll with it. And rolling with it means making best friends with creative strategies that are spot-on.