AI with a purpose, not a gimmick

Day 5 in a flash.

Author

Zihan Lyu
June 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Hi there,

Day 5 at SXSW London reminded us that purpose matters—from AI in luxury to redefining what beauty, business, and belonging can look like.

Here’s what stuck with us.

✨ Day 5 Highlights

🏃‍♀️ Dina Asher-Smith honoured as a London Icon

After a powerful conversation with ELLE UK’s Kenya Hunt on how women in sport are shaping high fashion, Olympic champion Dina Asher-Smith was presented with a surprise award on stage—recognizing her as a beacon for London’s success and cultural impact.

🧠 AI with a purpose, not a gimmick

Kering’s Chief Innovation Officer Grégory Boutté shared how the luxury group behind Gucci and Saint Laurent is embracing AI with intention. From predicting collection performance to refining customer service, digital must deliver value—without replacing the magic of the “selling ceremony.”

🌱 Soundtracking climate with purpose

Madame Gandhi is turning nature’s distress signals—like melting glaciers—into music that heals and inspires. Her live session unpacked how technology can undo its own damage, using sound as both resistance and remedy.

🎙️ Olivia Attwood x Bimini: Reality, beauty, and ADHD

In a live podcast recording, Olivia Attwood joined Bimini to discuss neurodiversity in entertainment, the nuanced rise of ‘natural’ beauty, and finding strength through an ADHD diagnosis.

🍡 Building authentically Asian brands

From mochi to music, panelists from Japan House, Little Moons, Seoul Kitchen and Warner Music Group explored how they’re bringing culturally rooted businesses to new audiences—without compromise.

💬 “We’re the antithesis of Andrew Tate.”

Cindy Gallop closed the day with a searing keynote on sextech, gender, and healthy intimacy. Her platform MakeLoveNotPorn is on a mission to socialize sex and transform masculinity—through education, honesty, and radically human storytelling.

🎤 Exclusive Insights from Industry Leaders

We sat down with Jimmy Knowles, Global Head of Experiential at Canva, to unpack how they’re building a new blueprint for what brand presence should feel like.

From turning Old Street Station into a canvas of neighborhood moodboards, to letting users design and print custom totes for their kids on-site, Canva is proving that emotional, educational, and human beats flashy, tech-first and forgettable.

🔥 Key takeaways:

✅ Global frameworks, local flavor co-created with users, not imposed
✅ AI behind the scenes, not front of house used to amplify emotion, not automate presence
✅ B2B doesn’t have to be boring Canva Create and their street-level events reframe creativity as serious business
✅ ROI = resonance → inspiration, not just impressions

One quote we loved: “We don’t just want people to know Canva. We want them to feel proud they used it.”

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👀 More from Previous Days

Key Learnings from session ‘Going overground: London's next fintech leap’

In the session, leaders from Starling Bank, Zilch, Wagestream, and Zepz unpacked what’s next for the UK’s most resilient tech vertical.

🧠 What’s powering the next fintech leap?
- Starling is turning its B2C engine into a global SaaS platform, Engine by Starling.
- Wagestream is embedding real-time savings into hourly jobs, unlocking first-time financial security.
- Zilch is replacing interest with advertising, reimagining consumer credit for a post-fee world.
- Zepz is using stablecoins and blockchain to deliver financial lifelines to global families.
And beneath it all? A new wave of AI-first infrastructure designed to give users more control, insight, and dignity in how they bank.

Takeaways from session ‘Revolut: Building a category of one’

At SXSW London, Antoine Le Nel (CMO, Revolut) walked us through how the fintech scaled across 40+ markets without ever asking users to switch banks.
Instead of big bang onboarding, Revolut uses snackable adoption: FX for holidays → crypto → daily card use → credit → primary bank. It works because the product earns its place.

The real lessons?
👉 Growth is a product outcome, not a marketing tactic
👉 Benchmarking your team against yourself beats chasing competitors
👉 Brand isn't what you say it's how the product makes people feel
No grand super app vision. Just relentless, agile execution.

🌟 What's Coming Up Today at SXSW London

Screen
• Victory Screening & Q&A feat. Idris Elba, Slick Rick & Meji Alabi | 2:00 - 3:20 PM
• The Life of Chuck Screening | 8:00 - 10:30 PM

Music
• Miraa May: Algerian singer/songwriter and musician | 10:00 - 11:00 PM

Fashion
• Fashion District Pop-up Shop | 11:00 AM - 6:30 PM 

Ready, Go!

📍 Venue: SXSW London takes place across 30+ East London venues. See the maps.

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Enjoy the last day!

The Unofficially SXSW Team

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