GSD&M Idea City

Honestly, there are a lot of ad agencies with really obscure and long names, but this one kind of bothers me - four letters AND an additional descriptor? Did they really need to be that specific? Anyway, despite my disapproval over thier choice in title, I actually like a lot of GSD&M's stuff (it even takes a long time to type the whole name out!). GSD&M Idea City was founded in 1971 by UT graduates and has been a part of OMNICOM since 1998. The headquarters is located in Austin, Texas (guess they didn't want to leave their Alma Mater!). GSD&M is known for their "Don't Mess With Texas" slogan - a personal favorite of mine, as well as work for AT&T, Southwest Airlines, U.S. Air Force, and BMW. Funny enough they have done work for Texas A&M University - guess they aren't too connected to UT...of course, they have done pro bono work for UT. I wonder if SMU will expect me to do free work for them once I graduate?



I absolutely love Southwest Airlines ads. They also portray a genuine sense of southern-hospitality that has become characteristic of the airline. Although I don't think this commercial is necessarily the best example of GSD&M's work for SW Airlines, I still think it does a good job of representing the brand personality that they successfully created. These campaign reminds me of independent films like Napoleon Dynamite and Juno, very honest and quirky.