By Michael Griffith (infographic) & David Hughes (words)

Our creative juices are always flowing—literally. But when taking a deeper dive into what keeps our people going, you might be surprised to find out which substance is preferred. So we created one of those infographic thingies. Enjoy.

From SXSW to the Austin City Limits Festival and every day in between, the number
of musicians who pass through our beloved city is unbelievable. Every day there
are great shows happening around town, and we do our best to bring those experiences
into GSD&M.

In 2012, we hosted 14 bands from across the country—and even a few Brits. The shows
have become a big part of life at the agency. We were even featured in Austin Monthly
for it.

’Tis the season for year-end lists, so here’s a look at the best music-related moments
at GSD&M in 2012.

Design: Dry The River/LP By Stephanie Hurtado

When any of these bands comes to the office, we ask one of our many talented designers
and art directors to design a concert poster for the event. Before the Austin City
Limits Music Festival, we had two bands stop by to play for us: Dry the River, an
English folk-rock band with eerily beautiful voices, and LP, a singer/songwriter
from New York who can whistle like no other. Stephanie Hurtado took on the poster
design and decided to carve a linoleum stamp and ink it onto texturized stock—all
right there in her little cubicle. The end result was truly a work of art; we almost
didn’t want to ask the musicians to sign it (we still did).

“Into the Wild” by LP

(more…)

As much as we label TV a lean-back medium, there are strong opposing forces that are appealing to viewers’ desire to get more out of their TV experience. I’m finding myself more and more inclined (not reclined!) to engage with what I’m watching.  Social TV via the second screen is driving this new experience with TV. In last month’s Trending Topics session, #SocialTV, we explored this exciting trend that is transforming the TV ecosystem and how brands communicate within it for good.

Wikipedia’s definition of social TV is “technology that supports communication and social interaction in either the context of watching television or related to TV content.” Simply put, it is the merging of social media and television. Social TV can take many forms, from following a unique program hashtag (#Homeland, anyone?) to seeing what fans are saying to taking action by voting for a favorite judge on The X Factor. Viewers can also check into a show with apps like GetGlue or Viggle for more content or to earn rewards like badges and discounts. And it’s catching on. According to a Gfk report, 41% of tablet owners’ TV time involves two-screen viewing. Additionally, Accenture reported in April that one in three viewers have interacted with social media after seeing a social media symbol on TV.

Content owners are eager to facilitate higher engagement in their programming through social channels. It seems that you can’t watch a show without a host or an invitation to take action on a social platform. Check out NBC’s The Voice, and you’ll see one of the most robust examples of social integration. It has truly become an integral part of the television experience.

But what’s really compelling is the power of social media to drive live TV viewership. Who would have thought in the age of On Demand, DVRs and streaming video options that we would stumble on a giant behavioral shift that actually drives viewership of TV? This was proven during the 2012 Summer Olympics where, despite the delayed programming, viewership of the encore broadcasts on NBC actually increased over 2008. According to eMarketer, the airing of Gabby Douglas’s all-around gymnastics performance generated 38K tweets per minute versus the 7K tweets during her live streaming performance earlier in the day. NBC reported a 12% higher viewership than in Beijing, and social media played an important role in that success.

Social TV’s effect on live viewership provides a great vote of confidence to TV advertisers. But just how attentive are we anxious couch potatoes during the show and especially during commercial breaks, when viewers are more likely to attend to that iPad on their lap? The complexity of today’s TV ecosystem and viewer experience before, during and after a TV program are important considerations for agencies and brands as they strive to maintain and even build on the effectiveness of this medium. The opportunity in today’s crosschannel, multitasking world is to explore campaign extensions with original branded or publisher (NBC, CBS, USA, etc.) co-branded, second-screen experiences or second-screen apps, software or even having device manufacturers align with a specific program or network.

No doubt, the intersection of TV and social is ripe with exciting opportunities for advertisers!  #areyouin

By Max Rutherford

The Billion Dollar Roundtable’s (BDR) research has found that the advertising industry represents a dynamic and inventive area of global business in which huge dollars flow in spend from major corporations to advertising and communications companies and agencies. Conversely, it has also discovered that diverse agencies and other historically underutilized companies in this industry traditionally have faced obstacles getting to the procurement table, where spend has barely been touched.

In search of breakthrough performances in this area, the BDR held summits in 2006 and 2008 that focused on “Opening Opportunities for Diverse Suppliers in Marketing and Advertising.” A 2012 summit was held at the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson (BDR’s newest inductee) and focused on “’Executing Supplier Diversity Best Practices in the Advertising and Marketing Industry’ and the role diverse suppliers play in helping advertisers reach their core constituents.”

Years have elapsed between summits, and the advertising industry is still taking baby steps. Relevant to this fact is that relationships are normally long in the advertising industry. This revelation indicates there is an emphatic need to change the playbook, and the time is now.

Supplier diversity is no longer about entitlement or affirmative action. It’s about action that is affirmative and finding unexpected partnerships and discovering shared values that drive business success.

Embrace change. Without embracing change, diversity and inclusion, many corporations’ business models will risk being left behind, playing catch-up or perhaps demise.

To counter this looming threat, dialogue from BDR’s 2012 summit exposed the following:

1)   Marketers need to help facilitate the dialogue and relationships between Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBEs) and decision makers in finding areas of opportunity spend.
2)   Advertisers need to do a better job of selling supplier diversity within their own companies and sowing this within their company so they can embrace it as part of their culture.
3)   Diversity must be embedded early in the contract to get commitment top-down and to get accountability at all levels.
4)   This type of relationship must be approached as a business partnership to create more opportunities for MWBEs, to take some risks and to allow MWBEs to participate on a broader perspective. (more…)

As marketers (ad guys), we are often up on the latest trends, hot topics and newest high-tech devices. But one of the things that we’ve noticed recently is the counterbalance: homes that are smaller and more efficient, locally sourced foods, cars that deliver better gas mileage. So while media outlets hype the newest iPhone or the most expensive homes, the rest of the country is often looking at things through a different lens. That might be high entertainment, like reality TV, but it is feeling less and less aspirational as a goal for the 98% of us who are not that rich or that out of touch.

We’ve been aware that new doesn’t always equal better, something like the new new actually being a return to brands and values that resonate with our history, that have some legs on them. Brands that place value and yes, purpose, above flash and sparkle. Technology is fine and wonderful when we remember that it should add value to our humanity, not take it away. Online community is great, but what about real-life neighbors? Sherry Turkle, an early proponent of online communities, spoke recently about their deconnecting powers. She mentions that we may be more connected, but we’re less committed and having fewer real conversations. We publish, but we don’t interact; we talk to, not with.

So what does this say we should think about as marketers? Perhaps we should start rethinking how and where we start real communications. Maybe we could think about advertising less as the final word and more as the conversation igniter that we stay engaged in, no matter what channel our customers are comfortable in—even if we are not.

This time, I was prepared. The Missoni for Target limited partnership launch in September 2011 was fresh in my mind. That was the day I tried to buy the Missoni bicycle and watched the Target site crash literally the moment I clicked “submit order.” Forget finding it in the store. Each location had only one bicycle and by the time I arrived at the bricks & mortar shop, I saw a happy shopper rolling it out the door. I did pick up a few items – none really the right size and most of them castoffs from an ambitious but generous shopper’s overloaded cart. And I realized I am not cut out to be a competitive shopper. So in anticipation of the launch of the Neiman Marcus -Target Holiday Shop Collection, I set my alarm for 2am on December 1, clicked on the “must haves,” checked out quickly and then went back for a second pass. Success!

For those unaware of it, here is the concept in a nushell: a collection of 52 items by 24 designers; available at Neiman Marcus, Target, Last Call by Neiman Marcus, neimanmarcus.com and target.com; priced from $7.99 to $499, beginning December 1 until it sells out.

The next day, I marveled at how gullible I am to the tricks of my own trade. I just bought a bunch of cool clothing and gifts at full price. In a poor economy. Why? Because of the perceived exclusivity and scarcity of the goods. Well played, Target. Well played, Neiman’s. And this was only 8 days after Black Friday, when discounts of 50-75% are standard.  That’s powerful marketing.

Not everyone was as impressed. The initial read on the launch is that it fell short of sales expectations. The collection left many shoppers scratching their heads. Some considered the designers too obscure for a mass audience. Skaist-Taylor? Joseph Altuzarra? Others saw it as a random mish mash of unrelated stuff. On social media, Neiman’s devotees expressed “concern” for the brand. Concern, I gather, that the association with Target would drag down the luxury retailer’s reputation or crowd the jewelbox stores with hoi polloi. I’d say a brand best known for their outrageous five to seven-digit fantasy holidays gifts has a lot of latitude there. And Neiman’s probably has something to gain here in terms of invigorating the brand with the younger cheap-chic vibe of Target.

There is plenty of precedent for partnerships between designers and mass retailers, e.g., Vera Wang/Kohl’s, Jason Wu/Target. But what made this partnership different and interesting is that it brought together 2 competitors. Not really direct competitors mind you. It’s safe to say most Neiman’s shoppers do shop at Target for a variety of goods. It’s probably also true that many Target shoppers are new to the Neiman’s franchise. Still, it’s difficult to imagine another category or pair of retailers where this could work. Would we ever see Tiffany & Zales team up? Can you think of other unlikely brandfellows that might make sense? Let me know in the comments below!

You want to see what a month of hard work looks like? Take a look at these faces. These men let nature take it’s course and grow their facial hair out (despite some strange colors, grow patterns and textures). Growing a beard is easy…a mustache takes precision and bravery. And with all this fabulous looking stash-ery, came some fundraising.

As of today, Team Mopack has raised over $4,000 and they are still going. Top fundraiser Bill Bayne has taken his Facebook campaign to new levels using the fine stashed-faces of Freddie Mercury, Robert Goulet, Ernie Ford and many others to solicit donations almost daily. And it’s working! He’s raised over $2,000. Tyler Schultz has offered to match donations that he gets.  Rusty Broome — he’s working the “donate or I’ll just keep posting pictures of how creepy I look” route. This week’s final push of fundraising will hopefully close out the month of Movember with over $5,000. All of these efforts are helping to raise awareness and money for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer.

And what’s in it for you blog reader? Donate before the end of the week and comment below and we’ll send one lucky reader a special Team Mopack gift.

$1/$20/whatever you can spare: http://us.movember.com/team/439513

I love the holidays. Big fan. It’s probably because my mom is awesome and always made each holiday feel special and – dare I say magical – when I was growing up.

And since I’m lucky enough to be in advertising, I have very fortunately been able to avoid REALLY growing up as much as possible, so my love and sense of wonder and adoration for the holidays (specifically the ones that fall between October, November and December) never really went away.

But as much as I love this time of year and do my best to will the dog days of summer forward to get to the start of what my sister and I lovingly refer to as “Hallowithmas,” (or as RetailMeNot has called OctoNovemCember) I do have a bone to pick:

What’s the huge rush????????

It seems that every year, there is a race to see who can celebrate Christmas first. I mean, Christmas commercials were airing before I even had time to reveal my awesome Halloween costume. The pumpkin I carved wasn’t even dried out and moldy before I started seeing strings of garland up in the stores. I hadn’t even finished eating my Halloween colored M&M’s before I heard my first Christmas Carol.

And, even if we put aside the fact that we’re pushing Santa before people can be adequately frightened by skeletons….what about Thanksgiving?

Sure, it’s not the most glamorous of holidays, but it’s a holiday, nonetheless. And we celebrate it by stuffing ourselves into a food coma with our closest friends and relatives – which means it’s arguably more American than even Independence Day.

(Too far? Too far…I’ll move on.)

Even people in countries that don’t have a holiday between Halloween and Christmas think that Christmas is being pushed too soon. In Canada, the retailer Drug Mart pulled Christmas music from it’s almost 1200 stores after getting complaints from a large number of customers that it was “too soon.”

I’d just like to give each holiday it’s due. And Thanksgiving – which gives most of us AT LEAST two days off from work each year – deserves a little more holiday respect.

There’s at least one retailer with me, though. Nordstrom has signs posted in their stores explaining why they haven’t rushed ahead to the December holiday:

Images courtesy of LA Times, whosaidnothinginlifeisfree.com, Chzbgr.com, lateenough.com 

Full disclosure: Alex Roka and Joel Parr, interviewed in this post, are both fulltime employees of the agency and resident BAMFs. I interviewed them because I think their side venture is pretty awesome. I did not accept any bribes of briefcases full of cash, bottles of nice wine or unconditional love. Now you know.

Living in Austin gets exhausting. Every weekend there’s a new festival,  art opening and underground concert you should be at. And with the added social media FOMO epidemic, things are only getting more hectic. Am I properly taking advantage of all my city has to offer?

Enter Wanderless – a new age, all-inclusive event calendar for the avid Austin socialite created by Anthony DeGennaro and Alex Roka.

Roka is a designer at GSD&M and came up with the idea with his roommate DeGennaro while struggling to find an event during last year’s Wurstfest. DeGennaro, who works for Emo’s , felt like there were lots of events that were going unnoticed throughout the city. They saw a need for an events site that was filtered well and presented in a pristine way.

A few months later, they had a business plan, a name and Roka got to work on the design. The logo alludes to the Austin tattoo culture with everything handrawn. As “eventcasters for the future”, he was inspired by the mystical nature of tarot cards and magic. Before the site even launched, his logo was picked up by Designspiriation.

For the site design, they wanted to keep it clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate, “Apple functionality meets Pitchfork aesthetic.” With help from GSD&Mer Joel Parr, the Beta site was developed and ready for launch last week.

The team of three wanted the site to be used across different devices. “You don’t always have your computer in front of you when you’re looking for something to do, so we created a site that could be easily viewed on a mobile device too,” Parr explains regarding the responsive design he developed.

It was important to them that the site remained simple without letting it become too cumbersome by trying to do too much.

And that’s exactly what it does. With three categories (music, film and arts & culture), you can sift through the best events Austin has to offer. Their Eventcast gives you their top choices for the day across all categories for week ahead.

DeGennaro says, “We want to have a constant pulse on Austin.” Whether you’re into Formula One Racing or the East Austin Studio Tour, their events cater to all types. It’s important to them that they give exposure to events that normally wouldn’t be on your radar.

So what are the best events in town according to the Wanderless team? Roka loves the Cinema East screenings. Parr enjoys all of the events around the East Austin Studio Tour and anything presented by Learning Secrets.  DeGennaro thinks the UT Visual Arts Center is oftenoverlooked and often has many great , free exhibits.

Whether you are trying to prepare for the festivities of this upcoming weekend or just looking for a Wednesday night activity, Roka and DeGennaro want to help. Keep an eye on the site as these guys are hoping to continue eventcasting to bring a refined social calendar to the fine folks of Austin.

Pictured above: Joel Parr/Developer/GSD&M developer, Alex Roka/Founder/GSD&M designer, Anthony DeGennaro/Founder

“It’s boring to talk simply about the tools because the tools are just a way to reach people. We can argue the details endlessly (I don’t believe much in Klout, for instance), and we can announce the premature death of Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook and whoever. But it doesn’t matter. When we talk about restaurants (the tools), we mostly talk about the food (the content). When we talk about bands (tools), we talk about whether the music resonates (the content). When we talk about a good book (the content), we never ask what type of computer it was written on (the tools).

Should you put ads on Facebook? If that’s the worry point, you’ve got bigger worries. Is Pinterest worth your time? Who knows?”

This paragraph, from Chris Brogan, sums up my feelings on the matter completely. It’s time to be done talking about social media as though it is content or a thing in itself. It’s time instead to realize that it is simply a channel for content. A channel, as in a strait connecting two different bodies. Because that is all social media is. A tool, a channel, a strait, connecting different bodies because of their shared interest in a specific piece of content.

People often ask us about using social media and how we have leveraged it to find success for our clients. One project we are asked about quite frequently is the launch of the BMW 1 Series…click here or Google “Rampenfest, BMW” to get up to speed. Clients and prospects wonder what the magic mix was…what was the plan? What tools did you use? Was it Facebook or YouTube that did it? But I would argue that while there were certainly some smart plans in place, and there certainly need to be, it was the CONTENT that created the success. It was the feel good, humorous, fresh approach to the subject that caused people to view this phenomenon ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Bob Hope wasn’t famous because he was on TV. Bob Hope became famous because of his heart and the fact that he could deliver one-liners like a machine gun.  Just like Michael Jackson didn’t become the King of Pop BECAUSE he was on the radio. Michael Jackson became the King of Pop because he brought us something new…he made us think…and he could sing and dance like he was from another world.

It is the content that connects us. The tools, just make it possible.