Welcome to the new SouthSouthWest website. To us, it’s been a long time coming because to be honest, every time we got close to a new version, we had a new story to tell, about our projects, our collaborators and ourselves.
In our own story, the last 12 months have been enormous. We’ve changed more – in people, in capability, in output – than in the previous 9 years. And we have some stories to tell.
We started the year by looking back on our first ten years at Pause Fest. It was instructive, revealing and charged us up for 2018.
What we realised is that the way brands reach people in 2018 is very different to our early days. Yet our business hadn’t changed substantially. So we changed it. Our model is leaner, more collaborative and puts more emphasis on the ‘stories’ we tell.
To that end, our projects this year have included a new brand for US sporting retail powerhouse House Of Hoops by Footlocker. It was rolled out at one of Lebron’s first games in Lakers colours at the Staples Centre. And it’s a brand to match the moment – kinetic, immersive and iconic.
This year also saw us work closely with leaders in the tech world, and culminated in the development of digital experiences for Blockchain Association and crypto platform Horizon State.
Then there’s storytelling. On that front, this year has seen us create thumb-stopping content for Nike Australia featuring sporting greats like Darcy Vescio and Paddy Dangerfield, and musicians like Tkay Maidza. There was immaculately art directed work for Tait Furniture and a fun, colourful summer campaign for Travel Insurance Direct.
But that’s just the start of the storytelling story.
We talk about ‘authentic connection’ a lot when we talk about our work. And to us, it’s not just a trite catch-phrase. So one of the things we did this year was to create our own publication in collaboration with Archetype Media. Tempo Journal is a running culture publication that matches the moment that running is having. It’s more than marathon galleries (although ours are the best) – it’s the stories of the new breed of running clubs, unfettered access to elite athletes, and the stories of the cultures around running.
Tempo Journal was us putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to authentic connection, and earning our own audience.
But rather than stop at Tempo, we built a division around it. Our publishing division is headed up by Ben Birchall, who is an earned attention specialist who has worked in big ad agencies but more importantly, across print, radio and digital media. Our first publishing client is Mambo. Yes, that Mambo. They’re an iconic Aussie brand with stories to tell a whole new generation. So we created Mambo World, a publishing platform that tells the stories of Australia’s beach, art and cultural stuff. From Loud Shirt galleries to the meaning behind skulls in art, Mambo World tells you why Mambo was such a great brand to begin with.
It’s the start of a great story. And 2019 will be a whole other chapter. So keep checking back. If the next 12 months are like the last, we will have a whole new story to tell real soon.