R/GA AT SXSW 2026

SXSW PanelPicker is now live!

This year, R/GA and Addition are spotlighting four forward-looking sessions that explore where culture, creativity, and technology are headed next.

Take a look at the ideas we’re bringing to the table—and be sure to cast your vote before the deadline on August 24.

Unshittifying CX: Reconnecting Funnels and Feeling

Data. Digital tools. AI. We have more of these than ever before – so why is customer experience satisfaction declining so sharply? Fundamentally outdated approaches to marketing and customer experience – or CX – are leading to a loyalty crisis. ‘Brand’ has become an academic exercise, disconnected from the real world. And CX has devolved into a technical discipline obsessed with optimisation metrics, instead of human emotions. The result? Technically sound but emotionally hollow systems that drive the ‘enshitification’ of digital experiences.

**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: Why do most customer experiences feel shitty and how did we get here?

Takeaway 2: Why do 'brand people' and 'CX people' speak different languages—and how do we fix that?

Takeaway 3: What does it take to rebuild emotionally resonant and effective experiences today?

**Speakers:**
Yael Cesarkas, SVP Executive Strategy Director, R/GA

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753672845629001pCqX)

How AI Systems Will Make Brands More Human

As technology has evolved—from mass media to digital to social—brands have developed new abilities to interact with humans. The real transformation that brands undergo with AI won't be just about efficiency, but rather about showing up in the world in new ways that are adaptive, contextually aware, and authentic. Through recent case studies from Google, we'll explore how brands are embedding human creativity into AI systems to enable entirely new forms of human-brand interaction—and why this shift demands a fundamentally different approach to creativity.

**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: How generative AI unlocks a new ability for brands to communicate and interact on a more human level

Takeaway 2: How to merge traditional creative systems with generative AI to enable communication at scale that can adapt to the world while staying on brand

Takeaway 3: Why this paradigm shift requires a shift in mindset, process, tools, and an R&D approach of exploration and experimentation

**Speakers:** 
Paul Aaron, CEO, Addition
Suzana Apelbaum,  Head of Creative and Innovation, Google Media Lab Global, Google

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753673237884001itoH)


Strategic discomfort: Designing brands that don't play nice

The best creative work feels dangerous & that's exactly why most organizations kill it before it sees daylight. Marketing teams are structurally designed to avoid the very risks that build breakthrough brands. While committees smooth rough edges & legal strips out controversy, winning brands embrace productive discomfort leaning into contradiction, friction, & cultural heat, sensibly. The most powerful brands today don't try to make everyone comfortable. Learn how to redesign processes & cultures that reward strategic friction over safe mediocrity, & why comfort is the enemy of connection.

**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: Strategic friction drives higher profits than safe brands. Productive discomfort creates deeper connection and clearer positioning.

Takeaway 2: Risk-averse committees kill breakthrough ideas. Design decision-making processes that protect creative friction instead of smoothing it out.

Takeaway 3: Comfort kills connection. Memorable brands embrace contradiction, cultural heat, and the productive discomfort.

**Speakers:**
Yael Cesarkas, SVP Executive Strategy Director, R/GA

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753670192415001xnRp)

Building Brands for the Intelligence Age

 In a world where AI reshapes the way we interface with the world in real time, the rules of brand-building are being rewritten. This session explores the emerging role of artificial intelligence as both interpreter and co-creator of brand identity. Join R/GA’s VP, Executive Creative Technology Director Kai Tier as he shares nine provocative predictions for how branding must evolve in the intelligence age.
 
**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: The problems brands are facing in the new technological landscape

Takeaway 2: The moves they can make to tackle these problems

Takeaway 3: Examples of who is doing this well already

**Speakers:**
Kai Tier, VP, Executive Creative Technology Director, R/GA

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753673731145001rQEY)

Play as Protest: Why Teen Play Is Cultural R&D

The boardrooms are getting it wrong. While brands chase viral moments, the real cultural architects are building worlds in Roblox, staging Hamilton in their bedrooms, and turning Discord servers into collectives. Teen girls and theatre kids aren’t just playing, they’re prototyping the future of community, commerce, and resistance. This session explores how digital natives use play as creative expression and quiet rebellion, and why that shift matters for anyone building the future.

**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: The Play-to-Protest Pipeline: How fan fiction, gaming, and memes are shaping the next generation of activists and entrepreneurs

Takeaway 2: Forecasting Through Fandom: How to read cultural signals from Roblox, TikTok, and Discord to understand what’s coming next

Takeaway 3: The Theatre Kid Economy: How young creators are turning play into profit and redefining what creativity and work mean today

**Speakers**
Yael Cesarkas, SVP Executive Strategy Director, R/GA
Ashley Holyfield, Associate Strategy Director, R/GA

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753661326483001FSQ2)

AI, intuition and the femine mind

While AI excels at pattern recognition, it systematically fails at nuanced, contextual reasoning that characterizes feminine cognitive approaches. This gap costs companies millions in failed campaigns, biased tools, and tone-deaf customer interactions. Through real case studies, from discriminatory algorithms to marketing AI that misses cultural context, we'll explore how integrating intuitive intelligence, holistic thinking, and relational awareness can create more effective, ethical AI outputs. Attendees leave with practical "intuition audit" frameworks.

**Takeaways**

Takeaway 1: Learn to identify critical blind spots in AI systems where feminine cognitive approaches outperform algorithmic logic.

Takeaway 2: Gain practical "intuition audit" frameworks to catch AI bias and failures before they reach production or market

Takeaway 3: Discover actionable strategies for building cognitively diverse teams that blend AI efficiency with human wisdom.

**Speakers:**
Yael Cesarkas, SVP Executive Strategy Director, R/GA

VOTE [HERE](https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1753658995136001UFAs)

R/GA, Marketing Agency

R/GA

AT

SXSW

2026