photo of Andrew Hirst

Andrew Hirst

Founder/Director
Modern English Digital

Andrew is a founder of Modern English Digital, an organically grown creative technology agency based in Manchester, UK. It was founded with the aim of producing digital solutions for the music industry, and over the years has been at the forefront of cutting-edge technical campaign development for labels and artists across the globe.

As one of the first agencies globally to successfully launch an in-app Facebook campaign site, Modern English quickly became known as a UK music industry go-to choice for social technology activations. During this period, they produced ground-breaking developments for the likes of Elbow, Kylie Minogue, Pink Floyd and many more.

In 2016 Modern English started working with US based label and management companies, with initial projects for Annie Lennox and Stevie Wonder. This led to an award-winning campaign for the Foo Fighters Glastonbury announcement, which received global press throughout and included a live streamed performance seen by 7.5 million individual users. This was quickly followed by the Foo Fighters Mixtape Generator, developed with RCA / Sony Legacy NYC.

The Mixtape Generator broke new ground with regards to Spotify API integration and subsequently led to a stream of high-profile playlist generator and website developments coming from across the globe throughout 2017 and 2018. In the last two years they have produced award winning solutions for the likes of The Beatles, Foo Fighters, Mariah Carey, Johnny Cash, Tim McGraw, Slash, Panic! At The Disco, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, Dua Lipa, Robert Plant, Britney Spears and Elvis Presley.

Andrew personally heads all the music industry portfolio at Modern English. He is committed to pushing creativity, in terms of both design and technology, and is constantly researching possibilities within streaming and platform integration.

Clients outside of music have included the BBC, England Cricket Board, WPP, Dentsu Aegis, Oxford University and the NHS.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.

Events featuring Andrew Hirst
Events featuring Andrew Hirst