TABOO Tells SXSW to Break Bad Rules

At SXSW, people come for the insights but stay for the storytelling, and few did it better this year than TABOO's Andrew and James Mackinnon.

In their captivating session Breaking Bad Rules for Good Reasons, the owners of Melbourne-based independent creative agency didn't just challenge industry norms, they shredded them on stage.

"Rules establish conventions - convention leads us to conformity - conformity leads us to anonymity”, declared James Mackinnon, setting the tone for a session that was equal parts strategy, storytelling, and sharp-edged provocation.

The brothers humorously described how through a rigorous process of following rules and conventions, brands create the commercial equivalent of Hotel Art. “Hotel art is always there, we all see it (millions of impressions!) but it means nothing to anyone”.

Key insights included:

• Being Interesting Beats Being Right: Because if you’re not interesting, you don’t even get to the starting line.

• Attention spans aren’t getting shorter, we just have less patience for things that don’t deserve our time. If your audience isn't paying attention, they’re not the problem. You are.

• Polarisation is Power: Evoking strong emotions creates deeper connections. If nobody hates it, chances are nobody loves it either.

• Don't Break Good Rules: Ethical boundaries are essential, as is astute cultural understanding. Brands that get this wrong suffer the consequences.

• Ignite Flammable Pockets of Culture: Brands don’t create culture, but the smartest ones find the sparks already burning and throw gasoline on them.

• Collideration: Bringing unexpected worlds together sparks attention and grows audiences.

• Relatability Over Perfection: The brands that win aren’t the ones that project images of perfection, they’re the ones that make us feel seen and understood.

Injecting wit, pop-culture references (including an Al Pacino 'Any Given Sunday' monologue), and deep cultural insight, the pair reminded marketers that playing it safe is the surest route to irrelevance.

And for one memorable hour at SXSW, everyone agreed: rule-breaking never felt so right.