Another year has come and gone, so it felt like the right time to reflect on all of the goodness that came out of GSD&M. 2018 was filled with game-changing work, much-needed conversations, well-deserved celebrations and, of course, so much good music. I somehow managed to narrow down what I believe to be GSD&M’s finest moments to 11 highlights and one playlist. Keep reading for a glimpse into last year.

Harry’s: A Man Like You

Breaking stereotypes and creating a cultural conversation around media’s portrayal of masculinity, the Harry’s short film was a breakthrough way of storytelling for a men’s grooming brand. The work even earned a Cannes Lions for film and a Glass Lion for change.

GSD&M Party at SXSW 2018

We gathered thousands of our closest friends, community members and partners in our backyard for the 8th Annual GSD&M Party featuring White Reaper, Durand Jones & The Indications, Pale Waves and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and we’re ready to do it again!

Time’s Up/Advertising

Alongside 200 female leaders in advertising, GSD&M’s President, Marianne Malina, was a founding member of Time’s Up/Advertising™. GSD&M helped lead the movement of saying “time’s up” on inequality in our industry and fronted a launch event across 14 cities in North America and Canada.

    

Winning Jack Link’s + Retaining U.S. Air Force

We took a break from our desks and gathered in the backyard to celebrate all of the hard work that led to winning our new client, Jack Link’s, and retaining our 17-year client, U.S. Air Force, for another 10 great years.

ITMAD 2018

From futurists to improv teachers and leading chocolate connoisseurs, GSD&M brought in the brightest minds inside and outside of Austin to inspire and discuss what it means to create ideas that make a difference.

Winning Pizza Hut

We welcomed our newest client, Pizza Hut, with champagne, and of course, PIZZA!

GSD&M Presents: Jared & The Mill

Arizona folk rockers, Jared & The Mill, stopped by while on tour to play some acoustic versions of their latest jams.

Free the Bid

In order to continue the mission of creating more diverse and meaningful work, GSD&M pledged to Free the Bid and put more women editors and directors on projects.

Halloween at GSD&M

As an office of creatives, we don’t take Halloween lightly. From The Shining Twins to Guy Fieri, this year’s costume contest was far from overrated.

Popeyes Emotional Support Chicken

The TSA-friendly, emotional support animal you can eat, Popeyes’ Emotional Support Chicken, took the media by storm. Appearing in Cosmopolitan, Delish.com, USA Today and much more, everyone ate it up, quite literally.

GSD&M Holiday Card: Austin Pets Alive!

This year, we used our annual holiday card to give back to our local animal shelter, Austin Pets Alive! Including an 18-foot “wishlist tree”, donations from employees, a GSDM.com takeover, and a card sent to our favorite family, friends and clients, our holiday initiative raised tons of awareness, funds, and shelter necessities, and gave every animal a blanket to keep warm this winter.

And to top it all off, here’s a comprehensive playlist featuring every song from GSD&M’s monthly playlists in 2018.

If last year is any indication of how 2019 will go, I’d say we have a lot to look forward to.

We’re a month away from SXSW. Yep, that’s right—the week that fills our streets with music, people and even more booze and food than usual. Deep breaths. For those of us who embrace the madness with open arms, we caught up with both GSD&M’s SXSW vets and new mavens to get the best tips, tricks and tracks for SXSW 2018. Spoiler alert: playlist included.

 

Name: Bill Bayne

Years attending SXSW: 15

Pro tip: When there are a few bands I don’t know on a lineup, I’ll stay in that venue to experience their show versus running all over town with a schedule.

Must-see band: Quiet Slang. More commonly known as Beach Slang, they’re reimagining their Replacements-y gnashed catalog into a softer vibe played with piano and cello.

 

Name: Mason Endres

Years attending SXSW: 5

Pro tip: Never plan for things to go as planned. If you make a schedule, it’s not going to happen.

Must-see band: The Magic Gang, Sunflower Bean and Jared & The Mill.

 

Name: David Rockwood

Years attending SXSW: 25 whole years

Pro tip: Random is way better than planning.

Must-see band: BRONCHO

 

Name: Candi Clem

Years attending SXSW: 1

Pro tip: Stay hydrated. Take advantage of networking opportunities.

Must-see band: My favorite artists at SXSW are the ones I haven’t discovered yet.

 

Name: Jack Epsteen

Years attending SXSW: 8, I think?

Pro tip: Don’t overschedule, let the day and night guide you. And most of all, NO FOMO.

Must-see band: Ratboys!

 

Name: Rye Clifton

Years attending SXSW: 7, I think

Pro tip: Go alone. It is a lot easier to sneak in places when you aren’t part of a group.

Must-see band: The Fantastic Plastics

 

Name: Elizabeth Thompson

Years attending SXSW: At least 12?! How is that possible? Does 10 make me sound younger?

Pro tip: Forego fashion for function when it comes to shoes, and attend the events you love, even if your friends don’t.

Must-see band: The best I can do, so far, is local favorite David Ramirez, Will Varley, Peach Pit, The Yellow Traffic Light, a TBD beautiful crooner at St. David’s church during the Communion Showcase.

 

It seems as though there’s a general consensus that going with the flow of SXSW is the most fun and effective way to make it through the chaos—that, and comfortable shoes. Aside from the tips and tricks, there is a playlist with all of the above musical suggestions and then some.

 

Happy festing!

It’s the aroma of fried food and warm beer, getting the perfect picture in the perfect #ootd and getting the ultimate snap of the wild crowd dancing to this year’s biggest radio hit. It’s the era of music festivals and it’s not slowing down. According to a study conducted by GMR, a whopping 14.7 million millennials attended at least one music festival in 2014. With over 800 music festivals in the U.S. alone today (and a new one was probably just announced as you’re reading this), one can only imagine how the number of festival attendees continues to grow.

Millennials demand authentic, shareable experiences. To garner as much exposure with America’s largest consumer group, brands are infiltrating the music festival industry. As the commercialization of festivals rises, sponsorship spending is on the verge of hitting $1.5 billion—the equivalent of buying 3,000 trips to Mars.

Today, festivals rely on brand sponsorship and brands rely on festivals for unparalleled fan engagement. With all this partnership, it’s critical to ask, “What does a successful brand-festival relationship look like from the eyes of music fans?” As a 21-year-old self-proclaimed festival expert who has attended over 15 music festivals in the last year alone, to me, these are some of the brands that understand their market.

Shares, hashtags, selfies and tweets are the currency of the digital age, and these are the brands that get it. Their integrations are thoughtful and meaningful, not plug-and-plays. They combine elevated experiences, pop culture and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to capitalize on millennials’ need to keep sharing moments.

Today’s festival junkies expect impressive brand integrations just as much as they expect good music, because experiences are what make spending hundreds of dollars on a single weekend worth it.

Reverend Roy. He’s known for co-founding GSD&M in 1971 with partners Judy Trabulsi, Steve Gurasich and Tim McClure, but he’s perhaps best known for his electric and passionate personality. So, it was with joy and pride, yet little surprise, when we learned our fearless leader would be the first Austinite and second Texan to be inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s 67th Annual Advertising Hall of Fame. His accomplishments include bringing on renowned brands like Southwest Airlines, Walmart, AT&T and Charles Schwab to the GSD&M roster, authoring three books, co-founding The Purpose Institute to help companies find their core purpose and values, and even starting his own hot sauce line, Royito’s. But it is Roy’s heart, as President Bill Clinton noted at the induction ceremony, that’s led him to success in advertising, leadership and all aspects of life. We couldn’t be more proud of you, Reverend Roy. Ride At Dawn! 

We (GSD&M’s Social Media Department) sat on the edge of our seats with baited breath as each announcement during the Facebook f8 Developers Conference rolled out. With racing hearts and sweaty palms—no we’re not exaggerating; yes, we love social media that much—we waited as the last announcement was unveiled. To no avail, we were left wondering how f8 failed to mention the product improvements we begged for on our Christmas lists to Zuckerberg. We even tried to call, but Santa must have changed his number.

In all seriousness, to create the most engaging content on behalf of our clients and to continuously evolve our practice, we have some hot-punch list items for Facebook:

And personally, here are a couple ways I believe Facebook could get us to spend even more of our time—outside of work—staring at our phones:

So yes, f8 spiked our curiosity and had us at the edge of our seats waiting for what’s next in the world of social media. But like a kid who got socks in his stocking, we were kind of unimpressed with the lack of “shock” that Christmas brought this year. So come on Zuckerberg, turn off your algorithm switch and hear what we’re saying.

Here it comes. The big game. Super Bowl 50. Super Bowl L…uh, okay, 50 sounds better. It’s been the big game for football for 50 years. It’s also been the big game for advertising almost that long. But what is so big about the big game for advertisers and marketers? Is it the inflated media budgets? The staggering number of eyeballs watching? The opportunity for pull-out-all-the-stops celebrity spots? Perhaps… 

When you think about it though, the big game is only as big as we want it to be. After all, it is just a game: a bunch of guys playing catch with a ball, a four-hour time-suck in front of a screen, dozens of commercials trying to get you to buy something.

Or maybe something different. Something bigger and better: athletes who have worked their entire lives honing their skills, strengths and accuracy to prove themselves on the biggest stage of their lives; a worldwide moment when fans and admirers alike can ride the emotional rollercoaster of the scoreboard and join together to will their favorite to win; and brands who are working to become less of an interruption in your programming and instead a welcomed guest in your home.

And for us, as GSD&Mers and stewards of great brands, that makes it no different than what we try to do every day. We as a team strive restlessly each and every day to get great creative, mind-blowing and groundbreaking work out the door. We are always striving to do what’s never been done for our clients or for any brand before and discover and capture unique insights that lead us to create something truly worth seeing, and worth speaking about before, during the game…and long after.

Sure, it is nice to have a media platform that will reach 114 million viewers, which we do this year with another fantastic Avocados From Mexico spot. But after it runs and the hype of the Super Bowl fades away, we still want to speak to the one. The one person in our sights who genuinely wants the product we are sharing. To the one it will actually make a difference for.

So here’s to the big game. Here’s to being dreamers, doers and storytellers. And here’s to every other big game we play every day in this crazy business we love so darn much. And finally, here’s to every single GSD&Mer and beyond who works so hard as a team to make great work happen. Enjoy it! After all, you made it.

IMG_5457 copy 2As a self-professed technophile, attending CES was a life goal for me. So in heading to 2016 CES, I couldn’t wait to find the next great thing to connect with my Sonos, Hue and SmartThings and make my “connected life” complete. More importantly, this was an opportunity to find the new advancements that would be game changers for our department, agency and clients. Bring it, Vegas!

But, upon arrival, as I stood longingly in front of a smart refrigerator that alerts you when your food is near expiration and creates a grocery list based on your purchasing patterns, an unexpected thought occurred to me: Not many (okay, none) of my friends or peers are jumping at the opportunity to have their home play their theme song when they rise in the morning or for their lights to alter to match their mood when they return home from work. In fact, I suspect the average American consumer is barely aware that CES—or this type of technology offering—even exists.

So if it doesn’t apply to everyone, how does technology of the future apply to the audiences of today?

Brands have to find ways to make ultra-forward-thinking technology accessible for and adoptable by the mass consumer. And by doing so, brands have to be realistic about adoption curves.

Brands have to look for insights into the problems technology is attempting to solve and find more realistic ways to address these issues.

Let’s use my coveted refrigerator as an example. Sure, it’d be great if I got a text when my guacamole was about to expire. But the bigger issue here is less about having excess tortilla chips and nowhere to dip them and more about the global problem of food waste vs. food scarcity. Now that’s an entirely different subject for a separate blog post, but my point is that high-end technology isn’t the only way to solve the problem of food waste.

Packaging: Let’s rethink it. What if food packaging changed color when nearing expiration? Or, food that had a 1–2 day refrigerator life was placed in green bags, while food lasting 3–5 days had an orange package?

Existing data. Grocery stores and brands already know what consumers are purchasing. What if we used the technology that gives certain customers certain coupons to send notifications when the bananas they bought last week were better fit for banana bread? 

Communities that work. The social network Nextdoor has made it exceptionally easy to alert neighbors of a lost pet. Could like-apps also offer up to neighbors that carton of milk or unopened tub of guacamole that will go bad while you’re at CES?

Perhaps I have a personal plight with the items in my fridge, but this is the type of thinking that CES inspired. What problems can we solve with the technology we already have, rather than assuming consumers are ready to adopt the latest-and-greatest—in smart fridges?

How can we solve transportation and commuter issues until the drone is ready for prime time? How can we make reality better than the virtual version?

Don’t get me wrong. I think technology is one of our best approaches to solving problems. But in doing so we can’t lose sight of the people who have never heard of CES and will never understand the need for a $10K refrigerator that beeps when their bananas are no longer that perfect shade of yellow.

We, as consumers, brands and advertisers have to be smarter than the smart things.

Now, about that robotic dog. Dog ownership sounds hard, so this is problem solver I could get behind. See you at the “dog” park.IMG_5456 copy

By Zinny Bonner, Communication Intern

GSD&M’s first ITMAD event concluded yesterday after a series of sessions focused on innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and experience design with presenters from GSD&M and guest speakers from Southwest Airlines and Silvercar. As part of the event, we were also able to tour the U.S. Air Force’s latest experiential tour.

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Starting off with a bang, or rather a jaw-dropping hologram demo, Heather Hvidsten, senior director of product management and product innovation at Southwest Airlines, presented Honk If You Are Sick of Talking About Innovation! With a father who worked at NASA and mother who is an artist, Heather was raised to think outside of the box. She looks at innovation with the mindset that every single person is perfect exactly the way they are. She encourages, “If you are passionate and not in a group that feels the same way, it’s not you, it’s the group. So change the group.” Innovation is about making something great ever better. To do this, Heather organizes rapid innovation workshops that encourage participants to open their minds and think differently. She puts crossfunctional teams together to accelerate the idea process. Most importantly, however, she engaged every aspect of Southwest Airlines’ team, from finance to creative, by emphasizing the many different roles involved in innovation. “The role of the supporter is just as important, if not more important, than the role of the idea creator,” she said.

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The second session of the day, Capturing Moments & Building Stories: Instagram for Business, by Janice Suter, director of social media, and Caitlin McDaniel, senior social media manager, began with a display of how great ideas can come from a platform. With Instagram’s 64 million followers, brands everywhere are starting to notice the influence of the visually pleasing and culturally dominant platform. With Instagram, influencers offer something unique in shaping the story behind a brand —the ability to tell a brand’s story from a personal and genuine perspective. Brands can use these influencers along with unique content their own photo streams to engage audiences and take them places they’ve never been.

Having just opening its ninth location, Silvercar’s Russ Lemmer, co-founder and VP marketing, and Allen Darnell, CTO, presented Silvercar: Better Experience, Better Brand. Car rental is an industry notorious for lack of customer satisfaction and consistency. Silvercar recognized the need for a consistent, mobile-first and modern solution to car rental. To create a meaningful solution, Silvercar focused on taking advantage of all of the amazing tools and current technology available to maximize user experience. Russ Lemmer reminded the audience that one of the most powerful tools for the future of marketing is something we all have: the smartphone. Recognizing the value of smartphone technology, Silvercar is a 100% mobile service. By doing this, Silvercar cuts out most of what makes car rental a painful process in pursuit of their ultimate goal: a seamless product experience and maximum customer satisfaction. The less friction their customers have to endure, the more valuable they consider the Silvercar product.

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Rye Clifton, the agency’s director of experience design, discussed Connect the Dots, La La La La: Dissecting the Components of a Startup & Reassembling Them for Your Clients. In this session, Rye pinpointed a few agency clients and other brands that are really paving the way for other companies and across different industries. Rye also chatted about the pros of thinking like a startup and noted it’s best to start small then add on to a brand experience, the big takeaway being the solution to a business problem is sometimes not an ad at all.

At the last session, Amanda Parker, senior media planner, gave an overview on some of the conversations at the recent Ad Age Digital Conference that sparked the original ITMAD idea. In Integrity & Insight: Conversations Sparked at Ad Age Digital, the main points established were everyone’s role in consumer experience management, why it’s crucial to have the right people in the room and how agencies provide platforms for data, tech and progress. When it comes to the consumer experience, a team must remember that everything leads back to consumers. They are what keeps a brand going; however, it is hard to control every aspect that affects the consumer experience, so teams must work together to keep the consumer in mind at every step.

Platforms are the new service that agencies bring to their clients, and the data they house and the innovation they allow are what move business and make good partners. Amanda Parker emphasized the importance of utilizing technology that has already been established, similar to Silvercar’s idea, in order to create a foundation for problem solving through calculated risks. We learned that innovation should be thought of as “70-20-10”: 70% are the things you know for sure work for your business, 20% are tested strategies that are still evolving and the final 10% is the room you have left to take a leap of faith in true innovation. In closing, Amanda said, “There was a lot to be gleaned from the best and the brightest in our industry, but at the end of the day it was really affirmed that we’re in the same progressive track here at GSD&M.”

Our first ITMAD (Ideas that Make a Difference) event started yesterday leaving the audience eager to hear today’s four sessions. Across the two-day mini conference, the conversation focuses on a range of topics including innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, experience design, disruption and creativity with GSD&M presenters as well as guest speakers Heather Hvidsten from Southwest Airlines and Russ Lemmer from Silvercar.

With a packed room so early in the morning, GSD&M’s Director of Experience Design Derek Dollahite kicked off ITMAD with Experience Design: No Best Practices When Designing for Happiness. Design invades our lives now more than ever, and Derek noted the power technology has in determining the future of design. “Experimental Design uses technology to emphasize user experience and create culturally relevant solutions” – his advice for incorporating experience design into your work? Takeaway: “ENKS” – Embrace Not Knowing Shit.DerekJonathan Hart, VP/Decision Sciences at the agency also wowed the attendees with his exploration of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Digital’s Place in the Origin and Development of the Universe, But Didn’t Know to Ask. In this, he walked through the evolution of digital in concert with the origin and organization of the universe, starting with the Big Bang and ending with positing that perhaps we are all just participants in a giant simulation of life as we know it. Understanding how the universe organizes itself gives us insight into the future of computational power as well, and a peek into a future in which we may cross the threshold of evolution with the introduction of conscious machines. In the words of visiting filmmaker Alex Johnson, “I didn’t know this was going to get spiritual!”

Alex R. Johnson brought his film, Two Step as part of a discussion of nurturing ideas, creative collaboration and sources of inspiration for storytelling. Alex also discussed his move from Brooklyn to Austin, and how the creative culture of Austin helped move a project along to fruition. In addition to being filmed entirely in Austin, Two Step features a cast that includes guest appearances by local music artists Dale Watson and Jesse Dayton, The film was scored by a local musician, Andrew Kenny, who Alex had originally met doing commercial production and music videos in New York City. The film was a riveting thriller that kept the audience on edge. Let’s just say after watching you might think twice about using drive-up ATMs.

As the last session, Digital Producer Amanda Traversi and Account Manager Adrienne Strange presented “WTF? We Do This S**t?” Launching the Air Force Performance Lab. In this, they gave an in-depth look at the creative, production processes, technologies and partnerships involved in creating the latest U.S. Air Force experiential tour now crossing the country. As noted, “unlike most brands, you can’t try on or test the Air Force. In turn, our team sets out to create the most engaging and inspiring experience possible.” They proved that if there is a will, there is a way, especially working with a set of partners all focused on the success of the project and a deep understanding of the project goals. After exploring countless new technologies and options, they made the trailer a completely physical experience by providing visual, competitive, and informative games. The team also mentioned they looked beyond the experiential aspect of the project as well, by measuring and recording data, which is involved in reengaging potential recruits and serves as valuable data for the future.

AFPL Sign

With everyone headed to Cannes next week, the party RSVPs, restaurant recommendations, and “franglais” (an affectionate term for English/French mish-mashes, i.e. “I’m going to Whole Foods for dejeuner”) are flowing.

Ok, people aren’t actually speaking in franglais. But I’ve seen a few French words pop up here and there in Cannes-related tweets, which is very exciting because it makes me feel like my otherwise not-so-useful degree in French is finally coming in handy.

Though I won’t be traveling to Cannes next week (unless I can find some free space in someone’s carry-on—an unlikely scenario at best), I can tell you this: if it were me, I’d probably last about three days of beaching and award showing and partying and networking before I needed a little break from “le monde.”

Enter Avoid Humans, Cannes edition. Because even fancy wannabe French socialites need a break from the masses every once in a while. Or a place to take a conference call in peace. Or (let’s be honest) a quiet place to nurse a rosé-induced hangover. Happens to the best of us.

Now, allez et vous amusez bien. Bon voyage à Cannes!