Purpose Presents Social Good Events at SXSW

Purpose had a strong presence at SXSW Interactive this year, co-hosting multiple events during the mid-March festival in Austin, Texas.

The centerpiece of Purpose’s activities was “The Hidden Power of Humor: Creating content with Purpose,” on March 17, which served as the closing session of SXGood programming at the festival’s Social Impact Hub. Led by Purpose’s Creative Director, Hannah Kreiswirth and Senior Strategist David Chernicoff, the discussion centered on using humor in social impact work and featured panelists Emily Hawkins of Crowdrise and Katla McGlynn of HuffPost Comedy.

The “Hidden Power of Humor” session featured screenings and analysis of several successful campaigns that used humor to extend their impact, including President Obama’s Buzzfeed video, “Things Everyone Does But Doesn’t Talk About”, the SoberForMS campaign, and the ACLU’s highly impactful holiday parody, ”The NSA Is Coming To Town.” Panelists discussed how the campaigns used humor to connect to new audiences, introduce difficult issues in an approachable way, and form fast, memorable bonds with viewers. Audience members then tried their hand at writing jokes to reframe the climate crisis, with one lucky joke-writer winning $100 to donate to Crowdrise campaigns of their choice.

Earlier in the week Purpose partnered with RYOT News to present the premier event for Olivia Wyatt’s stirring film “Sailing a Sinking Sea,” an exploration of the Moken, a sea-faring nomadic group scattered throughout the Andaman Sea and the Mergui Archipelago of Thailand and Myanmar. The event featured guests from the social impact, media and entertainment worlds, live music, and a demonstration of not-yet-released wearable personal virtual reality technology.