Love and Momentum

49

What's in our Wallet? Capital One, Baby!

2020 will be remembered for a lot of things. And while we’d like to forget most of it, we did celebrate winning one of the biggest accounts in the country. Capital One didn’t hold a review. They went on a relationship hunt. A happily ever after—devoted to hall-of-fame-work, making a difference and basically everything that’s carved into our rotunda. It wasn’t about winning a huge client, it was about finding a perfect partner. Plus Samuel MF Jackson! Who’s on your agency roster?

48

The Great Chicken War of 2019

A two-word tweet. That’s all it took. An absolutely perfect two-word response to a fast-food rival kicked off The Great Chicken War of 2019 and took the world by storm. As of press time, the storm is still brewing, but the results speak for themselves. A sold-out product, nine billion impressions and $90 million of free advertising with exactly zero dollars spent. So to answer our own question, “Yeah, we good.”

47

Defense. Sacrifice. Duty. Conflict. Teamwork. Courage. Honor. Battle strategy. Victory. Yep, it was the Air Force pitch.

Heroic is a word that gets tossed around a little too easily these days. That’s especially apparent to those of us who have had the honor and privilege of working on the United States Air Force account all these years. So we won’t say the effort put in over months and months to re-win the business was heroic. But we sure aimed high.

46

If you want to get 400 GSD&Mers into a bathroom, tell one of them they can't come in.

In 2017 the entire GSD&M community came together to fight hate. The “bathroom bill” proposed by the state was a misguided piece of legislation designed to discriminate against transgender people. We wouldn’t stand—or sit—for it. We helped defeat the bill with TV, social media, PR, letters, and everything we could think of.

45

Muscle car, meet muscle agency.

GSD&M’s trademark persistence was on full display in a monumental year-long pitch to bring an automotive account back into our hallowed halls. In June of 2016, we hit the jackpot by landing Dodge and launching “Domestic. Not domesticated.”—a platform that has strapped us firmly into the driver’s seat of America’s ultimate muscle car brand. Winning a car account is always massive for an agency, but this is more than a win. This is a movement. A push back on conventional society. And if anyone can show the world that you can grow up without giving up, it’s GSD&M and the 400 people that have had their foot on the gas since 1971.

44

Without our design team, we'd be (almost) nothing.

Sometime around 2011, Marc Ferrino took over the design group. And the best thing he ever did was he didn’t ask for permission to be great. He recruited a bunch of badasses and, before long, design at GSD&M turned into something that the rest of the creative department had to keep up with. They upped our swagger and then gave that swagger a look. They don’t like to talk stuff to death. They’d rather just make stuff. For them, it’s more than design—it’s creating culture. They look at the world around them as a blank canvas. And then they fill it with awesome.

43

RadioShack, "The Phone Call" Super Bowl Domination

“The ’80s called, they want their store back.” These eight words catapulted a forgotten brand into a national conversation. Okay, it didn’t hurt to have a treasure trove of ’80s icons like Hulk Hogan, Alf, Mary Lou Retton, Cliff Clavin, Dee Snider and Erik Estrada star in the commercial, either. When the dust settled, “The Phone Call” was heralded as the big Super Bowl winner by countless media outlets and even landed RadioShack a coveted top-five ranking by the USA Today Ad Meter. Not bad for our first national Super Bowl spot. But more importantly, this win kicked off a year that was full of wins and showed an agency of 500 strong the power of momentum.

42

Duff Stewart

Duff Stewart doesn’t need the spotlight. But at GSD&M, in our darkest times, he kept the lights on for all of us. Behind the scenes, he endures the weight of the world. He fights for us. He would probably die for this place, and we all walk by his office without stopping to thank him—daily—for having the humility, the integrity and the guts to do the hard stuff that lets us all run around and play advertising. He’d tell you he doesn’t deserve this poster. Bullshit. The D stands for Duff.

41

GSD&M Wins Walgreens Account.

In 2012, GSD&M topped a string of multiple new business victories by winning Walgreens. One of the largest corporations in America—and GSD&M’s biggest new business win in 40 years—Walgreens shares both the agency’s vision of purpose and its authentic, unpretentious Midwestern values. For GSD&M and Walgreens, the future is as wide open as the big sky that towers over both their headquarters.

40

Owning SXSW 2011

This is our town, our turf. In 2011, we claimed our buzz birthright by going full bore at SXSW, from an Arcade Fire short film screening to The Industry Party cohosted with Google that over 2,000 people attended. We made our mark on the largest digital, music and film conference in the world.

39

Partners Serve Employees a Picnic

We’re all in this together. No one person is more important than anyone else. And nothing made that point more clear than when every summer, the partners would cook and serve food to the employees at the annual BBQ.

38

The UT "We're Texas" Campaign

Four UT grads founded this agency. And when they got the chance to make a campaign for their alma mater, they went big—Texas Big. They got legendary newsman Walter Cronkite—“the most trusted man in America”—to be the voice of UT. The spots play at UT games to this day.

37

Closing Down Offices All in One Day

All big agencies have lots of offices. We got big. So we had lots of offices all over Texas till we realized that was doing things “their” way, not our way. Our heart was, is and has always been in Austin. And the moment we realized this, we shut down every office but Austin on the same day in 1987. It’s a testament to making bold decisions and taking bold action when you know your purpose.

36

The Lone Star Pecan Tree

When we needed to expand our building, one thing gave us pause. One big thing, actually: A 125-year-old pecan tree was in the way. A lesser company would have cut it down. Instead, we decided to transplant this 350-ton behemoth. Dubbed the “Lone Star Pecan,” it was the largest tree ever transplanted in Texas history. It stood in its new home behind the agency for over a decade. Though its grand life finally ran its course the summer of 2011, its legacy will live in furniture crafted from its wood that is displayed in the agency as an everlasting testament to our values.

35

Opening the Chicago Office in 1995

When it comes to media buying, we’ve always prided ourselves on outsmarting the competition instead of outspending them. And one of the smartest things we ever did was opening our Chicago office in 1995. It bridged the gap between Austin and the media hub of New York. It lets us leverage our clients' dollars like never before. And it brought some amazing people from an amazing city into the GSD&M family.

34

The Texas Lottery

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. We brought this timeless truth to the Texas Lottery, shifting the focus from the overhyped possibility of winning to the simple fun of playing. Putting this message into the market put Texas Lotto on the map with $23.2 million in first-day sales—a new world record.

33

Over 1,000 Awards

Cannes, Effies, Addys, Clios, The One Show. You name it; we’ve won it across every medium, across every department. From media and strategy to IT and creative, we’ve taken home more than 1,000 awards over the years. Which goes to prove that when we carved the word “Winning” into the floor, we meant it.

32

From Media 70 to GSD&M

The year was 1970. The agency was just starting out. And the partners wanted a name that sounded modern and of the moment. So they named it Media 70. Which was great, until the morning of January 1, 1971. “Don’t name your company after a year” turned out to be the first of many lessons learned. And at that moment, Media 70 went away, and GSD&M was born.

31

The "KEYS" Spot

It wasn’t fancy. It had no special effects or outrageous stunts. But it was true. It was honest. And it cut to the heart of the matter. Created to promote first-time homeownership in the U.S., this spot was on our agency reel for years and helped us win countless pieces of business. It is a testament to the enduring power of a great insight expressed with simple truth.

30

PGA TOUR, "These Guys are Good."

In 1989 the public had mixed perceptions about the PGA TOUR. Our job was to humanize the brand and give it a good dose of personality in the process. The campaign we created—“These Guys are Good.”—didn’t just win over fans. It won over award show judges, picking up a Cannes Lion. It also won over countless CEOs, thanks to PGA TOUR commissioner, Tim Finchem, teeing up praise for GSD&M in boardrooms across the country.

29

The Wall Street Journal Marketplace

As mavericks from Main Street, we’ve always loved taking on the stuffed shirts of Madison Avenue. And never was this more glorious than when we rolled into New York City and snatched up the Big Apple’s most prized media account: The Wall Street Journal. In the process, we invented the “Marketplace” section of that prestigious paper and left Ivory Tower “experts” stunned.

28

The "Shamu" Plane

In 1988 we came up with a big idea: paint a Southwest Airlines plane like SeaWorld’s famous orca, Shamu. It was novel. It was iconic. And it was the first time anything like it had ever been done on a commercial jetliner. Not only did it capture the imagination of the public, but it also captured the attention of SeaWorld, who shortly after called and asked to join our roster of clients.

27

The Good to Great Client Event

On a cool November morning in 2002, we assembled all our clients and one good friend: Jim Collins, the best-selling author of Built to Last and Good to Great. We were there to share a vision for the future of business. Just before things kicked off, Jim stuck his head in Roy’s office and shared a vision for our business. “I know what you can be the best in the world at,” he said. “Visionary ideas for companies that actually have a purpose.” The rest is history.

26

The "Baby Back Ribs" Song

We create ads—great ads. But every now and then, we create something even bigger: pop culture. The “Baby Back Ribs” song raced through the American zeitgeist from catchy jingle to quirky cultural touchpoint, culminating with Mike Myers singing a few bars as Fat Bastard in the summer blockbuster Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

25

Our Friends, Bill and Hillary Clinton

Somewhere in the midst of the ’70s, it began. Bill and Hillary and Judy and Roy became fast friends working on the McGovern campaign. Flash forward to the ’90s. Bill is president. And Roy and Judy are coveted confidants providing savvy counsel. Cut to today. GSD&M proudly serves as the official agency for the Clinton Foundation, a strategic partner for one of the most internationally respected presidents in modern history.

24

RC Cola "Fish-O-Rama" Spot

Everyone loves an underdog, especially us. We actually resigned the regional Coca-Cola account to take on the national RC business. It’s the only time any agency has ever resigned Coca-Cola. And though everyone said RC didn’t stand a chance, the spot we created for them won a Cannes Lion. The maverick RC Cola may not have ultimately won the war, but we were damn proud to help them win the battle.

23

Kohler

When Kohler joined our roster in 2001, we didn’t just join a client, we joined a family. The company had a 100-plus–year history of inspiring design for gracious living. We revived this heritage, breathed new life into their advertising and created a relationship that attracted both savvy and sophisticated consumers to Kohler and savvy and sophisticated clients to GSD&M.

22

The Epic Relaunch of AT&T

It started with Southwestern Bell. Which grew into SBC. Which grew into AT&T. Which grew to swallow Cingular, one of the world’s largest wireless brands. And we were there every step of the way. At a time when the AT&T brand had nearly disappeared for consumers, we quadrupled unaided awareness. And in 2007, Forbes named the new AT&T “Company of the Year.” Proving yet again that there is no limit to what we can do.

21

BMW

We went from the agency for BMW North America to the agency for all the world. We wrote our truths in English, then watched them translated into every language across the globe. We launched more than a dozen vehicles and launched millions of dreams about the joy of driving. Most importantly, as the worldwide agency for BMW, we proved our imagination truly knows no bounds.

20

I Am an American.

Some quaked in the aftermath of September 11. Some sought to capitalize on it. Our agency sought simply to unite Americans everywhere. Our “I Am an American” spot brought together Americans of all ages and ethnicities. Together they delivered a powerful yet simple message: E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. We cannot be divided. Our diversity is our strength, not our weakness. And as long as we believe this, we can never be defeated.

19

Southwest Airlines

We have created countless famous campaigns for our flagship client through the decades. But “Wanna Get Away?” and “Must Be Football Season” have been two of the most memorable. They are simple premises based on profound insights. They kick-start consumer buzz. And they both put butts in seats like few airline ad campaigns ever have.

18

Texas: It's Like a Whole Other Country.

Texas is so big. Texas is so diverse. One corner of Texas is nothing like another. Everyone saw this as a weakness. We turned it into a strength. Our groundbreaking campaign—“Texas: It’s like a Whole Other Country.”—spurred interest in the Lone Star State as never before. To this day, it’s recognized as the most powerful message ever for drawing vacationers to our homeland.

17

Coors

Beer: good to have in the fridge, great to have on the roster. Over the years, we handled the Texas classic Pearl Beer, which led to Pearl Light, which led to Country Club Malt Liquor, which amazingly at the time led to Coors. The only thing better than the profits (and having Coors in the break room vending machine for a quarter) was watching Judy fume when the old boys referred to her as “media girl.” Not to worry; she outlived them all.

16

Keeping Southwest Airlines in 1990

If we didn’t do what we did, you wouldn’t be standing here reading this today. Truly, the story of how we kept Southwest Airlines is the story of GSD&M. It’s about limitless passion, tireless enthusiasm, a willingness to lay it all on the line and being happy to make fools of ourselves just to show how much we care. We sang. We danced. We serenaded our clients and rallied our coworkers. It was all too much, which turned out to be just enough to keep the account, and it made us what we are today.

15

Hiring Gwyn David

She came to us interviewing for a media-buying position. And over the course of her interview, two things become very clear: She had no media experience whatsoever, and she had devil-may-care confidence to spare. So of course, we hired her. Once she got in the door, she blazed a trail through the media department and the agency. She was the key to stealing the MasterCard media-buying account away from Madison Avenue and has a place in our collective hearts forever.

14

Walmart

We helped build Walmart from a small-town brand to the largest retailer in the world. We helped it grow from $11 billion in sales to $312 billion. We learned the ins and outs of retail from Sam Walton and humbly gave him a few pointers along the way. And when the day came to say goodbye, we did so with heads held high and a note that read simply, “We declare victory. And we are moving on.”

13

Austin Savings

Until the day we won this account, we were just a bunch of Austin hippies with a spaced-out dream. But when the bluebloods on the bank’s board of directors chose us, overnight we became respectable and profitable. Austin Savings made us an advertising force to be reckoned with, with a cash cow account to boot.

12

Land Rover

Despite Land Rovers being vehicles renowned for exploring uncharted territory, when the Land Rover account came to GSD&M, they were lost. With a little purpose and lots of elbow grease, we quickly charted a path to success. It was our first car account. But you’d never know it. We led Land Rover to six consecutive months of record sales.

11

Jared Dunten

Jared is more than an employee of this agency. He is a hero. As a young writer, he suffered an accident that left him paralyzed. But somehow this only made his light shine brighter. He kept working and kept writing. And just as he stayed by our side, we stayed by his, supporting Dream Fund and building him a wheelchair-accessible home where he could work and paint and remain a vital part of GSD&M.

10

Meeting Sam Walton

Sam Walton was a business legend. But we were lucky enough to know the man himself. Whenever he’d visit a store, he would tell the managers to take a hike and he'd chat with the hourly associates instead. “I know what I know,” he’d say. “I wanna know what you know.” This appreciation for getting past the hype and right to the truth was one of the inspirations for our philosophy of purpose.

9

Writing the book on Purpose

We knew we had something special with Purpose. Our clients knew it too. With the publishing of the book It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For, Roy Spence and Haley Rushing made sure all the world knew. This book has become more than a calling card for our agency; it’s become a handbook for every business that aspires to enduring greatness.

8

Don't Mess With Texas.

It started as an antilittering campaign and became a rallying cry for an entire state. It was more than catchy. The first year, litter was down 29%—the largest reduction ever measured in America. Within 10 years, litter was down 72%. And in 2006, it was voted America’s favorite advertising slogan. Writers take note: Four words can make all the difference.

7

Southwest Airlines

When it began, we were both underdogs. Upstart swagger-filled Texans spitting in the eye of the establishment. But our companies worked together. And grew together. We made a habit of breaking the rules and a hobby of shattering expectations. We filled the airwaves with unforgettable ad campaigns like “Wanna Get Away?” and “Must Be Football Season.” We filled the skies with planes painted like whales and state flags. And we filled those planes with butts in every seat, year after year. Today Southwest has grown into the largest domestic carrier in America.

6

Bonnie Hunter

She came to GSD&M in 1974 to keep books for us. It was just to ride out the recession until she could find a job with more “stable” people. But our own charming brand of insanity grew on her (as it does with so many people). And she stayed 22 years. In that time, we became her family. Every employee was a favorite child. And she was a second mother to each of us. After all the love and trust and faith she gave us, naming our grandest conference room after her was the least we could do.

5

Culture Camp

Ask anyone what they love about GSD&M, and invariably, you’ll hear “the culture.” Friendly, never frou-frou. Personable with no prima donnas. That culture is no coincidence. As the agency grew from a regional contender to a national player, every new employee was sent to an all-day culture camp to build friendships, learn the core values and ensure that as we grew, we never outgrew what made us special in the first place.

4

The Inimitable Herb Kelleher

A Wild Turkey–slinging business Svengali in a mystic cloud of cigarette smoke, Herb wasn’t just the CEO of Southwest Airlines. He was a bolt of lightning (white lightning, that is) to both the airline industry and this agency. He’d quote Sun Tzu from The Art of War, then crack his own favorite quip: “The customer is NOT always right.” He had tips on treating employees well and tips for how to drink and smoke on the job. “Take the competition seriously,” he’d say, “but not yourself.” And we listened to every word. We’d have been fools not to.

3

The Core Values

Jim Collins inspired us to think about it. We established the Mars Team to look into it. We hired architects to set it in stone. But the core values were part of GSD&M long before any of that. They were beliefs we shared and the tenets we were built on. They had been a part of all our best moments from the beginning, whether we knew it or not. And that’s why they still guide us to this day.

2

Building Idea City

We designed it for two years. We studied historic creative centers—from ancient Athens to Greenwich Village—just to see what made them tick. And we poured all that inspiration and thinking into an old lot on West 6th Street, long before it was hip. Idea City rose from pioneering passion and creative vision. It’s an icon of the rebirth of downtown Austin. And it’s our home.

1

Staying in Austin and Staying Together

They had no advertising experience. They had no business experience. They didn’t care. They were Austin friends who believed that together they could do something big. So they borrowed $5,000 to print some business cards. Then took a leap of faith and started building their wings on the way down. That was 1971. And we’re still here today, pouring the same glorious audacity and camaraderie into every moment.

We are a band of misfits, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and Clay.