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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to OnStrategy Showcase. I'm Fergus O' Carroll in Chicago. Hope you had a terrific week. Listen, I'm thrilled to be sharing with you the first stop in our live tour. We started in Dallas, Texas. We were at trg, which is the Richards Group. We had a group of terrific people, client side people, agency side people coming together. We had a sold out room at trg. Really great. And we had all these people coming together to talk about great work and great ideas. Born in Texas. Because I think this is a common situation for many agencies that are outside of New York or LA or maybe even Chicago, that they don't necessarily get the recognition for the work they do, even though the work they do is highly recognized. That disconnect is what we were trying to pull together in Dallas. As you'll hear, major brands are doing and have done major work out of Texas agencies. And it's dominated by a couple of cities, Obviously Austin, Dallas, etc. But there are great agencies doing great work. So we brought everybody together to talk about that. I know you're gonna love it. It's gonna be particularly important to watch this episode. You can watch it on our website or you can watch it on YouTube, on our YouTube channel onStrategyshowcase.com and you can check it all out. We've also been last week to Mischief in New York City was our second stop and that'll be released in another week or two. But I wanted to talk about our next stop, which is happening October Deutsch in Los Angeles. We're really excited about this theme of moments of magic. And these are things that we all recognize when they happen. And they don't always happen as brilliantly as other times, but when they do, man, it's maybe the most joyful part of being in this industry. It's that moment when you feel and you know you've cracked the strategy or you've cracked a campaign idea. These are those sorts of moments of magic. And they're sort of of like dopamine hits from the gods and we've all had them. And sometimes they happen in the shower, sometimes they happen in an office meeting, sometimes they happen when you're walking your dog. They can happen anywhere. But when they happen, all the dots connect. And everything that you've been slaving through for the last week or the last month or whatever that time period has been connects and it all begins to make sense. And you can do nothing but just be excited to run to a keyboard to share it with others. But it is these moments of magic that we're going to be talking about in Las Angeles at Deutsch October 23rd. We have some terrific people, top creatives and strategists from la. Scott Trattner is VP of Creative at Airbnb. Ryan Lehrer is Co Chief Creative Officer at Deutsch. John Deschner is Head of Brand at Maximum Effort, a great agency bubbling up in la. You may be familiar with it as Ryan Reynolds Agency and they're doing brilliant work. Jill Bergenson is Chief Strategy Officer at TBWA Chiat. Amanda Shapiro is EVP Strategy Director at Deutsch. And we have one other creative person joining us. I can't share the name yet until I get it confirmed, but it's going to be brilliant. So you can get your tickets for October 23rd at Deutsch on our website at onstrategyshowcase.com you'll see on the homepage there's a live tour tab and it's.
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B
Going to be fun.
- [03:37]
A
More information as we get a little bit closer, but let's talk about Dallas. These are ideas Born in Dallas. Will be right back after these messages. Our live tour is brought to you in part by the Effie's and the Effie Bootcamp. The Bootcamp returns to New York City this October 7th through 10th, offering an unparalleled masterclass in effectiveness for ambitious marketers wanting to equip themselves with the skills to create more impactful work. The Bootcamp kicks off with a four day in person workshop exploring the FE framework. You'll solve real marketing challenges, learn directly from industry professionals and apply concepts through hands on work. The Bootcamp continues as you spend the next eight weeks applying these principles to a relevant challenge within your own business. With guidance from an Effie Academy mentor. The 2025 cohort is enrolling now and spaces are filling fast. You can learn more@effie.org Our tour is also brought to you by Tracksuit Want always on brand metrics that deliver value to stakeholders. Tracksuit is a beautiful, affordable and always on brand tracking tool that helps consumer marketers and agencies answer the question. Is what we're doing working? A not so secret fact is that companies pay $100,000 or more for brand tracking which is out of the question for many modern brands whose budgets are under pressure. Tracksuit provides enterprise level brand tracking without the big price tag. Their in house research experts do the heavy lifting using best in class practices to craft and launch your survey to get you results fast. You can check them out@gotracksuit.com and by Ipsos. Every marketer knows the best creative work starts with a strong brief. Yet the reality is many briefs that brands give their agencies miss the mark. In fact, Ipsos found that only 5% of brand marketers say the quality of their briefs is really good. That's why Ipsos created Creative Fuel. Creative Fuel is strategy research designed to help brands ensure the messages in their briefs are something both their audiences and their agencies can get excited about. So if you want to start fueling your next campaign with strategy that really moves the needle, check out Ipsos Creative excellence and their Creative Fuel solution. Learn more@ipsos.com so here is live from Dallas with ideas born in Texas. Enjoy.
- [06:26]
B
All right, so let's get started. And I want to first introduce a man you guys all know well from this area. I've only just recently met him. As preparation for this session, it's Terrence Reynolds, chief Creative officer of trg. Have a seat, sir. Our next guest is Kate Rush Sheehy, Chief strategy officer at GSV&M. You're at a seat. Our next is Derek Dabrowski, SVP Head of Cold Brand Marketing. Colonel Dr. Beverick. And the man that I think is the greatest cheerleader evolve for marketing in the US and certainly for Dallas is Christopher Owens, head of brand strategy for trp. Yes. My God, they love you, man. You are loved. It's the hair.
- [07:29]
C
It's the hair.
- [07:32]
B
So it's great to have everybody. As I said at the opener, there is just so many great brands that have that have come through this city and have done phenomenal work. And I'm just going to read out a few of them for the people that are listening in Southwest Airlines, Hummer, Dr. Pepper, Motel 6. My mic's a little feedbacky. Motel 6, he gets us. Vrbo is new back to GSD and M. Stanley, Corona Beer, Home Depot, Chili's, Chick Fil, A, Ram Trucks, Fiat, Capital One, Dave's killer, Brad. I mean, I know there's more, but that's mostly what's represented by the folks here on this stage. That's phenomenal for people who are listening and don't realize that that is work that is coming out of Texas. And it's extraordinary, in my opinion, to look at that and go, it's over the last couple of decades. And I'm just super curious where the talent came from, the shops came from. Christopher, where did it all begin to happen? Because there's a brilliant story behind it.
- [08:43]
C
Yeah, I mean, you know, there's so Many different ways to start this story. And Texas, a little quirky, right? So there's. In the Scandinavian language, Texas actually means crazy in slang. And I always forget whether it's Norwegian or Swedish, but does it matter? Right. And I think there's always been something just uniquely different. So wouldn't it make sense that there would be some kind of unique spark or kind of like wildfire, brush fire going on in the 70s, early 70s with GSDNM, some just frustrated creatives coming out of UT thinking they could rule the world. And they have. And then original founder, where did they.
- [09:30]
B
But why did they. Were they coming out and there was no shops? Can my mic come up a little bit?
- [09:35]
C
Yeah. Because it's not the coast, right?
- [09:37]
B
Yeah. There was no shops here. So they're coming out of UT. Yep. And this is GSD&M, the founders of GSNM. So where were they looking for inspiration? And why would they stay here when there wasn't really an established base here? What was the thinking?
- [09:52]
C
Yeah, they're looking to have their own voice. And I think that's one of the things that you'll notice a lot of the work. Very plain spoken, you know, a lot of the work. And it's as if definitely not wanting to be coastal. And does that get back to. And then here's where the Texas cliches can come in. An independent spirit, Lone Star, maverick, trail dust.
- [10:14]
B
Right.
- [10:15]
C
You know, all that stuff can come up, but the idea of kind of doing. Doing things our way, I think that's part of what propelled quite a bit of what's going on. I mean, Austin's always been a creative heart of Texas.
- [10:29]
B
Right.
- [10:29]
C
For so long. And, yeah, I think it's just about doing things our way and deliberately not being coastal, deliberately not having ads that sound like.
- [10:39]
B
And work like.
- [10:40]
C
And act like what you'd see coming out of New York or la.
- [10:43]
B
What do you think, Terence?
- [10:44]
D
When we first heard the topic, we started talking about it and we started saying, like, God, there's a lot of. There's a lot of really powerful work that comes out of Texas. And you start wondering, okay, well, what is it? And you do go through all those cliches and like, we're tough and we're got. We got grit. Right. Gush. Cut our teeth on a Brandon iron. We don't quit. But I never even, like, seen a Brandon iron, to be quite honest. I'm from Fort Worth, so that's not it. And it's not because of, like, the open range, because, you know, people are like living in apartments and homes. It's not that. It's not like no boundaries. We just know that it had to be when you, when you have to think about it, I mean, you had Madison Avenue and then you have the west coast in Hollywood. Right. So and these are where the advertising. That was it, that was the meccas. Right. And then you had like Chicago and then you had like Minneapolis was doing something. And then you're talking about Dallas and Austin and Houston. And it's just like if you're going to make it and get those kind of accounts that you're competing against, those kind of. You just had to have really powerful, powerful, big, big, big ideas. Now I'm back to everything's big in Texas. But anyway.
- [11:56]
B
Yeah, yeah. Never heard that.
- [11:58]
D
Yeah.
- [11:59]
B
But I, but I imagine that they were inspired by people on the coast or inspired by people. And so who were some of those people back in the day where they inspired the stands and the Roy Spencer's to get in, get into the game?
- [12:13]
D
A lot of influences did come from the west coast and from Madison Avenue. But you know, there's some kind of entrepreneurial spirit. There is something here. Like, Stan worked for Woody Purdle in design. He worked there for like a brief moment and just thought, thought I could do it better myself.
- [12:30]
B
Yeah.
- [12:31]
D
And then he just branched out and started the richest group, but he started it with like a design firm. Like actually it was in his garage apartment. So that's where he started with design. And then he moved from design into full service advertising when Mercantile bank said like, we'll give you guys like an opportunity to do full service if you ever want to. And he did. And we did some great work for that. And then things just kind of snowballed from there. And then GSD and M, they just came straight out of school.
- [12:58]
B
Yeah. Tell us about gsdm.
- [13:00]
D
I was there too. So it's like I saw both sides.
- [13:03]
B
That's the thing about Texas. Everybody has been in all these shops.
- [13:06]
D
Yeah.
- [13:07]
B
Both the brands as well as the people. Yeah. Tell us about GSD&M.
- [13:11]
E
Yeah. So GSD&M started in 1971. Six kids from the University of Texas who essentially wanted to stay in Austin, stay together, make money and make a difference. And the origin of the work was really in political campaigns, making a difference. Sitting in Austin, Texas was about helping, you know, politicians who shared their belief and their vision for what Austin, what Texas really could be, and helping them achieve those goals. That's actually how we began working with Southwest Airlines. Herb Kelleher Was helping to run. The founder of Southwest was helping to run a campaign for the other candidate. And Roy came in, helped our candidate win. And Herb said, I gotta work with this guy. And I have an idea. So really, it was born from the idea of making a bigger difference in the world. They had no experience in advertising. They didn't major in it. They didn't know anything about it, but they just knew that they wanted to change the world. And I think that is an ethos to me that feels very Texan. There's a sensibility here. People come here because they're. You know, Texas holds that kind of space in people's minds as an international brand in and of itself. How many states are recognized? Just the outline in any country in the world, and it stands for something that is whether it's changing the world. I mean, just look at the University of Texas tagline that GSD&M came up with. What starts here changes the world, or 2016, the Texas Tourism Board. It's Texas, like a whole other country. And I think that ethos has just really rung true for GSD and M since then.
- [14:46]
B
Derek, how about you? Any thoughts on this?
- [14:48]
F
Yeah, well, Fergus, as the lone client representative here on this panel, we have to have one. You know, I think as marketers and in marketing, sometimes we can. We can get caught up in our own, like, you know, jargon and stew and like, you know, jump on these different, like, trends or whatever. Like, here's what I'd say. A lot of this is timing. When we think about Texas, the origin of some creative magic and some great content and strategy coming out of Texas. That is true, but timing has a lot to do with it. As a client, what I can tell you is there is truth to what Chris was alluding to on just coastal bias. Listen, we deal with humans, not coasts or jargon or.
- [15:34]
B
Now, what do you mean by coastal bias in this.
- [15:36]
F
Listen, we talk to humans. And when I think about coastal bias, like, in many of our insights, many of our brands, we are trying to talk to people who are not coastal. And we springboard off of insights that are human truths, things that are not necessarily like coastal in origin. And sometimes we just want plain speak. And honestly, the best things in advertising, in many cases are the insights hidden in plain sight. And that means in many cases, we need to cut through the BS and really speak human language. And it's difficult to get that on Madison Avenue. Sometimes we talk to folks on the coast who think everything is like it appears in the West Village and the Rest of the country is sort of the middle. It's like we got New York, we got LA, and then there's the middle. Well, there's, you know, 300 million people that live there.
- [16:30]
B
And is that sort of. Christopher, is that part of what makes Texas good? That there. Is there something sort of Texas alike about the work or is that not what makes the work great? Because most of it's national work that.
- [16:43]
C
Comes out of it. But you know, think about it. We'll leave the light on for you. Don't mess with Texas. Eat more chicken. You can do it. We can help. I mean, just putting it out there. Right. And so it's like those ideas just hit you in a very natural way and they don't have to be translated. Right. And maybe that is part of that plain spoken nature, that sort of the roots sort of coming up from something and trying something a bit different that isn't so flashy and ambiguous or layered and allegory. It's just tell it like it is. And I think a lot of the heart of that work that's so iconic that a lot of it will be celebrating tonight just has this, that natural plain spokenness to it. Maybe that's part of the alchemy that's been going on down here is deliberately trying to just be plain and.
- [17:33]
B
Yeah.
- [17:34]
C
Not be from the plains, but be plain in a way that maybe even speaks to the plane. I mean most. Austin, Dallas, we're equidistant to pretty much the rest of the country. You can hit those airports and go kind of anywhere the same amount of time. And I think our ideas can hit other parts the.
- [17:50]
D
Of.
- [17:51]
C
Of the country in pretty much the same amount of time.
- [17:53]
D
If I think about lines for. And he's absolutely right. It's such a matter of fact, just take out all the BS just straight at you. Say what you're going to say. Let's do it. We can hit.
- [18:03]
B
Look.
- [18:03]
D
No, you can do it. We can help, you know.
- [18:06]
B
And like you said, brilliant.
- [18:07]
D
Light on for you. Yeah. Or, or don't mess with Texas. That's just straight up like just coming at you. That's not trying to. I start thinking of lines like, like, like Adidas. And you know, it was like, instead of saying like, nothing is impossible. Impossible is nothing. Which I liked. Don't get me wrong.
- [18:23]
B
Yeah.
- [18:23]
D
And when I saw that I thought like, okay, that's, that's a really cool line, but that feels more like the coastal kind of approach. And I think Texas does have a little matter of fact Just get right to it. Get to the point. I do think, like, just being straightforward plain talk, not trying to, like, disguise it. There's a lot of that in the work that comes across.
- [18:43]
F
We're glossing over the talent thing. Like Dallas, Texas, it is a hotbed for commerce for many reasons.
- [18:51]
B
Right.
- [18:51]
F
Like, you've got tax benefits. There are, you know, epicenters of commerce that are attracting other, you know, epicenters of commerce. You've got huge companies that attracts talent. Freakonomics did an episode recently about, like, why is everyone moving here? There's. There are something like five, seven thousand people a month moving to Dallas. So there is a. You can't ignore just the talent thing and the commerce thing that is going on here. People like Chris Owens, I would put on my Mount Rushmore, most intelligent people I've ever worked with. It's hard to follow this guy.
- [19:30]
C
I don't ever really.
- [19:34]
F
Ask me a question after he speaks because it's just going to make me sound terrible.
- [19:37]
B
And he just. Yeah, he. He just actually met with the Ehrenberg Bass people and Byron Sharp. So he's. He's. He's. He's going to bring that all back, I'm sure, in the next week or two here. Confirmed. Go ahead, Derek. Though, I don't want you to cut you off.
- [19:52]
F
No, it didn't cut me off. I just, I think the greatest advertising and the greatest creative. I've been saying that I talked to my team about, like, we're not in the subtle business. Like, say what you got to say and let's do it in a fun, creative way. Let's know the sandbox you're playing in. And I think that's kind of what, maybe what you were talking about, Terrence. Like, I think, you know, great talent can cut through the BS and great talent can kind of see the. The humans behind the insight. And it's just. It's something that we've been great at here. And I do think that's a. That's a talent piece. We've worked with lots of people here from. From Texas. I've worked with the TRG folks. I've worked with people in the coast, work with people in the coast who come from Texas. That's part of what our fansville. We'll talk about that later. There's just a certain sense of, you don't forget where you come from. And we're not in the subtle business. Let's just say it how it is.
- [20:41]
B
So a couple other things that people don't know I wanted to talk to Christopher about this is the connection between planning and Kate, jump in too please. Planning in Texas. When I've talked to you in the past, you've shared some things. I'm like, you're kidding. Really?
- [20:56]
C
Yeah. I know, it's wild.
- [20:57]
B
Tell us a little bit about that connection between planning strategy and Texas.
- [21:01]
C
Well, the first thing is that I wouldn't be sitting up here and if you're a strategist in the room, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Jane Newman. So Jane Newman came over from London shy at day and really impacted shiat day. And then this article went out from Jay Shiat talking about the best thing that ever had new business was account planning. And guess who was reading these trade pubs and whatever in the 80s. Stan Richards, Brad Todd, the folks down at GSD&M. The 80s were a really interesting time. GSDM was founded before the Richards group. But in 85, 87 in that period of time planning hit the Richards Group and a couple of really interesting things then happened that aren't told. Anyone ever heard of the APG account planning group, right? No. You don't hear a clap now, right? Like if I did this in London, the whole room would erupt.
- [21:58]
D
Right.
- [21:59]
C
There's an account planning group in the US that was essentially hatched in Dallas. The very first conference happened in 89. Hart Wexelbaum, who was one of the first account planners as a consumer behavior psychologist that, that Stan and Brad had hired to really kind of implement and put planning into full effect, wanted to continue to learn more. And the only conferences going on were happening in the UK and for those of you who knew Stan, you know, if Hart said, you know, I want to go to the uk, guess what? Stan said? Nope. Why don't you do a conference here, right? Build everything in Dallas and you know, maybe back to the spirit of like doing things your own way, doing it yourself. Hart's like okay, I'm going to call them bluff. Let's do a conference in Dallas. So we hooked up with Ruth Fitzgibbons and literally called out every the very few planners that were actually in the US I have to think James Martin showed up. I do know that Nigel Carr was there. I do know that John Steele was there. I do know that Katrina McAuliffe was there. I mean a lot of those original first and first breed US planners showed up at the Grand Kempinski off the North Dallas Tollway and It was about 35 of them that filled probably a small ballroom and they Nerded out about planning so much. So they said, you know what, maybe we should start a conference and we should just call it APG Us. That happened in Dallas. That was the first planning conference in the entire continent. And it happened. Nobody knows about it until now. People are going to hear about it. And then they decided to start conferences and they did them year after year after year. And then the forays bought out the APG and it still exists now as Stratfest and the J Chide Awards.
- [23:48]
E
I feel so much more credentialized now that I know the origins are here. But what's interesting about James Martin, who started what was called Marketplace planning at GSD&M is brilliant man, started in the mailroom and I think this speaks to the entrepreneurial nature of being founder led. He went to Roy, Judy, Tim and said, hey, I heard about this thing called planning. I think we should do it too. You know, look at the marketplace. And Roy does not like to do anything like anyone else. He has a better way. And he said, we're not doing brand planning. We'll do marketplace planning. We will learn how to win in the marketplace. We will create categories of one. And that really has been the foundation of how we think about planning. So yeah, Jim was started the mailroom and and all the way to cso.
- [24:34]
B
So there's something interesting that happens in Texas. The character of Texas. You've got the sort of the cowboy culture, Taylor Sheridan world and then you've got the high tech startup world. Is there a whole new shape to Texas that's emerging, Kate? And what's the implication for us on the stage?
- [24:55]
E
It's an interesting question especially, I mean Austin is a hotbed of technology for sure. What I would say is that startup culture and in many cases tech companies are cowboy culture.
- [25:07]
B
Yeah, I love that.
- [25:08]
E
Usually there's like a little bit of ego and anyone who's worked at a startup knows it's a little bit lawless. Everyone is trying to do something big, right. That has never been done before. So I don't think they're actually that different. I do think what's interesting is the sort of Texas mythology, wide open spaces, the cowboyism of it all is now starting to like what Taylor Sheridan does. To put that cowboy spirit on the big screen is this kind of counterbalance, a nice like interesting collision of worlds with what's happening in the startup world of Austin. The tech expansions you see in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas and they're just happening at the same time really layering like a Grit and a growth story, I would say. But they don't feel that different to me. And in many ways, I feel like the new Texas is the same as Texas has always been. What's more interesting to me than those kind of dual symbolisms that are happening are the interesting changing demographics of Texas. Majority Hispanic state. Now, last year came out in Newsweek not too long ago that the Hispanic, black and Asian populations in Texas grew greater in Texas than in any other state. We're one of the youngest states. I think the median age is mid-30s, like 35, 36, something like that, which is really interesting when you think about what's happening here. Like the future of America is happening in Texas. So I'm interested in what that means and what it means for planning in particular, because our lived experience is part of what will shape the brief and shape the work and shape the trends that everybody else wants to hop onto. So that's what I'm most excited about.
- [26:44]
D
It used to be harder to bring talent in. You used to have. Talent would come. Superior talent would come when they were coming home to Texas. Like, they've gotten to a point where they have their family.
- [26:54]
B
Yeah.
- [26:55]
D
And it's just an easier, like, way of life. And they would come, and we got a lot of, like, great talent that way. But now talent comes just because they want to be a part of it. They just want to be here. So it's different. Yeah.
- [27:05]
B
So let's talk about some of the work. I want to. What we're going to do is we're going to go through and talk about some of the great campaigns. We're going to show you some of the work, and then we'll. We'll have these guys talk to that work. So we're gonna start off with probably one of the. Maybe the best. One of the best. I mean, it's hard to say. I think they're all so bloody well known, to tell you the truth. But don't mess with Texas for GSD and M. Tell us about that, where it came from, and then we'll play a spot.
- [27:34]
E
Sure. Okay. Set the stage. It is the mid-80s. The Texas Department Transportation has a massive trash problem. Littering is prevailing. You couldn't drive down the highway without just seeing the ugliness of what litter was doing to the state. They had tried campaigns before telling people, do not litter. Stop it. Don't do that. And I see a lot of Texans in this room. How do you feel about being told what to do? So, Tim McClure, the M of GSD and M. He really led the work in that brief was like, what we need is not a lecture. We need to tap into people's love and look no further than. My first words were probably remember the Alamo. I'm kidding, but like, remember the Alamo. You learn deep in the heart of Texas. You're chanting it non stop before I even went to school. You're learning about deep seated family loyalties to things like gig em, hook em sic em guns up as people talk about their universities. So it's like there's a deep, deep wealth of pride for this place. What if you tap into that instead? And that is what led to don't mess with Texas. Let's not tell people not to litter. Let's tell them to be proud of the place that we're from. Because that pride already is pervasive.
- [28:47]
B
And so why do you think that lasted so long? Well, did it last long as a campaign? Because it certainly drove that into popular culture. That saying is just universally used everywhere.
- [28:57]
E
This is my favorite part of the lore, when the story is told inside the agency is well before the clients had put the work into production, Tim had shirts printed, stickers printed, and he starts distributing them. And again, remember the agency's roots were in political campaigns. So he took a political campaign kind of lens to that. How do we make sure that real people see this, adopt it? And then, I mean, frankly, it's just really cool. So that is part of, I think, why it has lasted so long. And to launch it with an iconic Stevie Ray Vaughan spot during the Cotton Bowl. I think it was 86 or 87. People literally called their television stations to ask where they could get the music video. And then you follow it up with Willie with Erykah Badu, with Joe Jonah. I mean, the extensions of Don't Mess with Texas have just, I mean, continued to make it even more relevant to people today.
- [29:47]
B
So let's go ahead and play Don't Mess With Texas.
- [29:51]
G
Mamas, tell all your babies don't mess.
- [29:54]
B
With Texas don't let them throw cans.
- [29:59]
G
From them old pickup trucks don't let them throw bottles and papers and such Mamas, tell all your babies don't mess.
- [30:08]
B
With Texas.
- [30:11]
G
Keep your trash off the roads and she's a fine yellow rose Treat Texas like someone you love.
- [30:20]
B
So was that written by the agency or written by Willie?
- [30:25]
E
Correct.
- [30:26]
B
Co written. Okay. Because it's a very simple idea, but it just sort of caught fire.
- [30:32]
E
Yes. And Woolly has become a good friend of the agency. If you watch March Madness, I think it was last year, two years ago maybe. We did a Capital One spot with Willie and once again co wrote one, rewrote one of his songs with great lyrics for Capital One. So he's a great partner. One more piece of lore about it. So the Department of Transportation in Texas actually did not trademark the line until 2002. So for over almost 20 years they did not receive royalties. And now it's a great source of revenue every time you leave the airport.
- [31:03]
B
So our next one we've had on the show and we talked about it on the show, it's probably one of my all time favorite campaigns is for Chick Fil? A. Everybody knows the Chick Fil? A work. So Christopher, let's talk a little bit about the background to this. There's so many great parts to it. In addition to the fact that this is a business and a company that grew probably the first 10 years when they were inside malls, they had grown a substantial business before they even started advertising. These were the ones that were given us samples of chicken when we were in the food court. I remember that.
- [31:42]
C
One toothpick at a time.
- [31:43]
B
One toothpick at a time. Time. And there's such great nuances to that story. Tell us about that campaign and the roots of it.
- [31:51]
C
Yeah. If you get back to the problem. Right. And so, you know, we, the agency's been really good at taking brands from like side streets to main streets. And this was about taking going from like food court to the intersection. And you've got a, you know, a built in captive audience at the mall.
- [32:05]
B
Right.
- [32:05]
C
That's how you get to the little paper plate with the toothpick.
- [32:08]
B
Yeah. And you don't even need to advertise as a result.
- [32:10]
C
No, no, they're just walking by. It's literal purchase availability. Boom, boom, boom, boom. You see it in codes and there it is. But as soon as you want to get out onto the intersection, everything changes. Now you're up against literal clowns that are spending more in a day than they could ever spend in a year and with no captive audience. And that's a completely different game. And so that problem we were trying to solve for them is just how do we, with limited resources, sources, try and take that brand and put it on the map? And so that idea of. And you know, to be honest, the very first brief was just super boring. It was literally like, you know, Chick Fil? A invented the chicken sandwich.
- [32:54]
D
Right.
- [32:54]
C
So like that, you know, that's true. It sounds like something off a Wikipedia page, but not like A great brief, but like working through this strategy. And that was not me, but if you go back in the day there, that's back in that early crew. It was the reframing of the competitive set to say, listen, when you get out on the intersection, your competition now is the other burger joints. The client was thinking, we're going to take on kfc, we're going to take on churches, we're going to take on, right? And that's thinking small growth always comes from the bigger brands, right? That's evidence based. And so that means you're taking on the Wendy's and the McDonald's and the big burger joints. And so they had not thought that way. So our strategic opening of aperture, realizing, no, you got to take on the burger joints, suddenly realize, okay, now we can do things as a chicken chain that the burger joints can't do. What rules could we break to get some kind of like, you know, outsized advantage with our limited dollars? I mean, they were boxed in financially, they were boxed in with outdoor boards. What could we do that a burger chain could not do? And that's when you get back to breaking rules. And there was a rule that was broken that essentially you don't talk about the things that you eat. You don't have the things that you eat in this category be all lovable and cuddly. And so the one thing the burger joints would never do is bring a cow into the mix. But what if, what if, and this goes back to David Ring, right, And the creative teams at that time, climate, you know, what if, okay, we get an outdoor board, we don't have a lot of money. What are we going to do? What if those cows in enlightened self interest decided to save themselves, right, and tell more people to eat more chicken and then literally just hand the creative over to them, have them do the boards, have them build out those distinctive assets and turn the campaign over to the herd and do it in all these fun, interesting ways that again, the burger chains could not touch. And so started off as a couple of boards and then just grew out from there and then the rest is history. And again, plain spoke and eat more chicken. Of course the cows can't spell and you know that, you know, and then, and like even when they're not up on the board, I mean, literally breaking the boundaries of the board, breaking the rule of the board, not just breaking the rules of the category about, no, I'm talking about cows. But now let's break the rules of outdoor.
- [35:18]
B
You know, people when they Talk about our show. They talk. Sometimes they say, well, you've got to be careful to help everybody understand that you don't immediately get to. Great. And I think in this situation, Terence, it wasn't the first efforts. Had nothing to do with cows. It was actually chicken sandwiches. And they couldn't sell it because they couldn't feature it.
- [35:41]
F
Well.
- [35:42]
B
And what I heard, Terrence, I read this in the book that was written by the chief marketing officer. He said that one of the art directors, TRG art directors, was on location at one of these billboards and noticed that the guys, when they were. Because they used to paint those walls, that when they got to lunch, the bucket was still sitting up there and it was a ladder going up to the billboard. And that made them think, huh, maybe there's something that's.
- [36:07]
D
David Ring.
- [36:08]
B
Yeah, yeah. Tell us about that early ideas.
- [36:10]
D
I mean, this has starts and it's a matter of like. And like he's saying it's like all about breaking the rules. Everything that they did was breaking the rules. This is like, you remember when insurance was like, so serious.
- [36:23]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [36:24]
D
Oh, you can't play with insurance. It's insurance. These are people lives. We can't play with insurance. Right. And then came like a lizard and caveman.
- [36:32]
B
Yeah.
- [36:33]
D
Find a spot now that doesn't have humor in it for an insurance company. Kind of hard to do. It's that same kind of breaking the rules that is that Texas mentality. It's just like, well, I'll just do it my way. And breaking the rules to the point where. How many times did you see an outdoor board for a fast food restaurant that didn't have a picture of the food?
- [36:52]
B
That's right. That people forget that there was no food on the food only.
- [36:56]
D
Neither boards.
- [36:57]
B
Yeah.
- [36:58]
D
It's just these cows up there.
- [37:00]
F
Misselling.
- [37:01]
D
Yeah. Misspelling things.
- [37:04]
B
That flip of having. Advocating for themselves by encouraging. I mean, that phenomenal idea. Right. Let's do this. Let's play this spot where. And the only food you see here is actually a burger. Let's take a look at this one. I mean, it's. I mean, it's really stunning stuff. I remember at the time when I first noticed this, I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the boards would be all over the place. And they were. I mean, they in many ways created three dimensional out of home. Right. I mean, it just seemed that they just went to town with that idea.
- [38:17]
C
And people started stealing the cows. And that created earned media. I remember being in a hotel room on A client thing. And the ticker going on CNN talking about stolen cows off the boards, which then created this outsized media advantage that they couldn't afford. Right. And so it's, you know, talking about breaking the rules, like people started to steal the cows off the boards. That became news.
- [38:39]
D
It became such a cultural phenomenon that people would camp out when a store's gonna open. Like, you're gonna get there and an iPhone's in the box. But it's like people would camp out just to be, like, the first to go there and then get some, you know, some kind of. They had opportunities to win something. But when did you camp out to go to, like, the open opening of a fast food restaurant? Yeah, yeah.
- [39:00]
B
And, you know, one of the other things to note is that. And I was talking to Christopher early in the week, you brought this up. It's the idea that that work, I think, then went to McCann and now. And the cows disappeared. And now the cows are back and there's this return to that. And that seems to be sort of at the spirit of a lot of TRG work that some of the brands have left to go to other shops, but they've always kept. Kept the spirit of what you guys created for them.
- [39:29]
F
Fergus, just a point. A point maybe to add on that. So this is outside looking in, client, watching other people's great work. The interesting thing there is you talked about, hey, shuffling around of the agencies and the AOR and, you know, hey, new people on the account, whatever. We just had this conversation today with my team, like, hey, reasons to change a strategy that is working, probably not. We shifted agencies, right? Like, if it's landing, if you've got a great idea, it's landing, why would you shift? And so I think in our industry, a lot of times we get bored faster than the consumer. I know a lot of people out there that were saying, I'm bored of funny chicken, you know, cows preaching.
- [40:15]
D
You can.
- [40:16]
F
You can, can see it right there. I mean, how many different examples can we mention? I don't want to pick on anybody, so I'm not going to mention it. But it happens everywhere. And so I don't know. That's why you see it coming back. Why? Because it was a great strategy. It was great insight, it worked. It was a great idea. And so consumers weren't really bored of it. Just the people involved got, wanted to move on.
- [40:37]
B
So let's talk about Dr. Pepper. So super exciting things going on there. I think there's obviously a brand, platform, whatever label or term you Might use for that at the heart of Dr. Pepper. Tell us about what you feel that is and how did you get to it?
- [40:59]
F
I think one of a kind has always been part of Pepper. Like those words, right? And I think brand's own words. One of a kind has been part of Dr. Pepper for, hey, longer than I've been alive. I think the what is rooted and what I think is gold on Dr. Pepper right now is everything is written from the standpoint of a fan. Now it took us a while to get there, but when I think of epiphany moments and you know, we, we have several of those in our careers if we're lucky. But I actually think back to, you know, work that I was doing with, with some of the TRG folks. Gosh, this is probably like, like 10 plus years ago now. And we were deeply entrenched in the talk of the town at the time among marketing circles. Everyone was chasing purpose. What is our purpose? What's purpose driven marketing? How do we get higher order? We've got to be about something more than what we are. And transparently, like I spent a lot of the company's money trying to rally up, charge up that hill for what is Our purpose on Doc Dr. Pepper.
- [42:04]
B
Reverse Engineer a purpose.
- [42:06]
F
Gosh, after months and months of work and bus rides down to Waco, which was the origin of Dr. Pepper and going to the museum and looking at old ads and old sales collateral, we sat in a conference room over a couple Chardonnays and we had my two Chardonnay rule, which means the truth comes out after two Chardonnays and finally someone on trg. I remember who it was. I won't say their name. I don't think they even said a lot in the meeting, like several hours until this moment. Said deck, doesn't the world need fun too? And it was this moment. I just, I just, it sticks with me to this day because that was, that was the moment that I realized we were just buying into our own BS. And if Dr. Pepper is this awesome, special, one of a kind, unique, nostalgic treat, then shouldn't our content and our advertising, our creative be about that too? And so if you flash forward to what some of the work we're doing today is, it's all based upon that. It was all based upon that. I think we're going to share some football, some of our fans stuff. That's a function of that. It's a little bit deeper. Our football stuff is really, it's honestly probably the biggest one of the Biggest occasion based marketing programs in out there right now. Yeah, but it's really just rooted in, hey, like people tend to have a lot of celebratory treats and indulgences and tailgates and all kinds of things with. Associated with college football. We want, we originate originally wanted. Wanted to be a part of that. And I believe the brief was something like if Gatorade is for the people on the field, Dr. Peppers for the people in the stands.
- [43:59]
B
Oh, that's interesting.
- [44:00]
F
Want to be a. We wanted to be a core intrinsic part of that. And you can tell the tone in that. It's just we wanted to. Want to have fun with it. We wanted to be a part of that culture and we want to make sure anytime someone was thinking about like Saturdays of college football that Dr. Pepper was in the cooler.
- [44:15]
B
But it's like you own college ball. You seem to be everywhere in college ball. What does that sort of represent in terms of your total spend roughly? Are you doing a heavy amount in college ball versus the rest of the year?
- [44:30]
F
Yeah, I mean it's.
- [44:31]
B
And why was that? Why did that feel like the right fit?
- [44:34]
F
Again, it's a little bit of a, you know, some of these things are about timing and serendipity is involved in this too. The awesome part about college football is always changing. So there's always like great cultural fodder to go jump on. Yeah. You said the Big Ten used to be 10 teams. Weirdly enough, there's all kinds of. So one of the benefits there though is now we've got playoffs. And now actually it went from just a four teams. Now we've got a bunch of teams and there's a whole new month. And so we call it playoff you area. And we create, you know, spins and cultural memes and stuff about now there's playoff you area. And we kind of likened it to the Christmas and holiday time period. So to answer your question specifically, yeah, we spend a big portion of our Dr. Pepper budget in those time periods. I would say it's probably, it's certainly more than it would be like proportionate to the time period that it goes, that it goes for.
- [45:24]
B
And then tell us about the evolution of it and then we'll play a spot because there was, there was. There has been phases to Fansville and there's this new work that's come out this, this season. Tell us about the evolution of that.
- [45:38]
F
Yeah, again, you know, we started with. All of our content is now from the voice of a fan. So whether it's during football or not Dr. Pepper fans. We kind of. It's. It's a little bit akin maybe to the kind of the Jeep wave or the head nod. It's like Dr. Pepper has to be. It's a choiceful thing.
- [45:57]
B
And it's choiceful for the listeners. It's choiceful because it has a very distinctive of one of a kind taste.
- [46:03]
F
It's just unique. It kind of looks like a cola, but it's not a cola. It's not everywhere. Every time, if you're a consumer of Dr. Pepper and you're at a restaurant, you have to say, do you have Dr. Pepper? And when they say yes, yes. And so, like, there's a little bit. There's just a little nuance there. But there is true. There is. There's connectivity and there's connections in there. And in a world where we are supposed to be more connected than ever because we've got all kinds of means to do so, we're actually. Actually more disconnected than ever. And it's just one of those little things that's kind of special. Like when I wear a Dr. Pepper vintage T shirt and I walk through the airport, I'll have three people stop, hey, Dr. Pepper. I love Dr. Pepper too. It's different than most brands, right? And it's one of the joys of working on a brand like that, right? That's one of the things, like, I'm a fan, right? Like, it's fun to work on a brand you're a fan of. The evolution of Dr. Pepper again started as this insight of, hey, we want to be. We want to be the.
- [46:57]
D
The.
- [46:57]
F
For the. The people in the stands. And it came to, well, what would this be if fans, you know, wrote this? And then our friends at TRG and DLA involved in the strategy, came up with this, like, great concept of, hey, what about, like, a TV show? But it's like an 80s kind of sitcom, but it's written with traditional sitcom tropes. And DLA and our. My chief creative officer, Ryan Lair. There was instrumental.
- [47:24]
B
DLA is Deutschland, which is now Deutsch.
- [47:28]
F
Deutsch.
- [47:29]
B
So let's do this. Let's. Let's play a couple of spots on.
- [47:33]
G
A troubling Fansville by Dr. Pepper.
- [47:35]
F
Our first away game, and we're lost. Pull over.
- [47:38]
B
I'll get directions and more.
- [47:39]
E
Dr. Pepper.
- [47:43]
F
What is this place?
- [47:44]
E
Those kids.
- [47:45]
C
Why aren't they watching college football and nobody's tailgating?
- [47:49]
F
Don't they know it's Saturday?
- [47:50]
D
Hey, you know how to get to the football stadium? Football stadium.
- [47:54]
B
We don't kick off until Sunday here.
- [47:57]
E
Jerry Jones, we're in pro town. We gotta get out of here.
- [48:00]
B
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- [48:01]
F
College football.
- [48:02]
B
It's a Pepper thing.
- [48:03]
G
Fansville special teams unit, how's it look?
- [48:06]
E
We got multiple punctures.
- [48:07]
D
Evidence suggests a crime of passion.
- [48:09]
B
It appears we have ourselves the flag. Planting those tech fans make me sick.
- [48:16]
E
We got a composite.
- [48:17]
B
Is that a duck with ice cold Dr. Pepper?
- [48:19]
F
That's.
- [48:19]
B
That's no duck. That's a platypus. And a mascot always returns to the scene of an upset. Get that fan.
- [48:31]
F
College football.
- [48:32]
G
It's a Pepper thing.
- [48:33]
B
Okay, so let's go on to the next one. Another favorite of mine on a longtime campaign is Southwest Airlines. So this has been, again, it seems to be that there are decades, decades long relationships with a lot of these clients, as is the case with Southwest Airlines.
- [48:52]
E
So Southwest, We've been together 44 years, and in many ways, the cultures are really twin spirits. GSD&M& Southwest, in part because Roy Spence, our founder, and Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest, started with a strong mutual respect, but also became best friends through their work together. And Herb founded the airline with a very clear vision. Democratize the skies. Like a powerful, powerful place for the brand to be and so different from every other airline. And what we brought is this idea that you need to give that a crusade. That's a powerful vision, a great mission to try and adhere to every single day. But how do you make people feel what that, what that actually means for them? And that's where we're like, this is about giving people, Americans, every American, the freedom to fly. Air travel back then was for the few, the elite. And it was hundreds of and thousands of dollars. It was very exclusive. So this was really about making it accessible, truly democratizing it. And you could get a low fare for 19 bucks from Austin to Dallas or even a Southwest expanded routes outside of intrastate travel from Dallas to California for $99. Just unheard of, really helping people to connect to all the places that they wanted to go. And when you think about how that comes to life in the work freedom, the first kind of iteration and brand platform for that was you're now free to move about the country. To your point on being very plain spoken about what it is we're trying to sell, it told people exactly that. And our longest running campaign together is want to get away, which is the epitome of freedom. You probably have seen them. You're in an awkward situation, and it flashes to want to get away. Well, $29 fares now you can and really has been running for, I think, almost 20 years now. We've got some that are just iconic from the good old days and produced some just last year that are still running. What's interesting is to watch that. How does freedom evolve? So when you think about where we started, it was freedom to go and see and do. You're not free to move about the country, want to get away. As we look at the early 2000s, every airline was starting to charge for more things. Hidden fees. You get your ticket, 100 bucks, and you finally get the full price. And it's almost $200 with all of the different add ons that were imposed by government and other things. And so we were like, what freedom could be now is freedom from hidden fees. And that led to great work like transparency or bags fly free. And then even more recently, freedom has carried us for quite a long time coming out of the pandemic. During it, every airline softened their policies, right? You could change, you could cancel. No big deal. It felt a lot like Southwest. And as we looked at our brand health tracker coming out of it, and I use royal we because we're so tightly intertwined. And when we looked at the brand health tracker coming out of it, our point of difference felt a little less special. So it was like, what does freedom mean today in 2021 and 2022? And we talked to people, we did tons of social listening. And like, y' all remember 2020, there was no freedom. There was no flexibility. So it really was like, freedom now is the flexibility to go where I want, when I want, how I want, change it if I want, and it's no big deal. So the last couple of years have been, that's a big flex you may have seen, really, about leaning into how people feel when they travel with Southwest, which is like, great, I'm gonna flex. When I get to stay a day later with no change fees, cancel my flight because my plans have changed so I can book it later. And that has been tremendously successful for the brand as well. And now we're figuring out what the next chapter will be.
- [52:30]
B
So here is a. Here are a couple of spots from Southwest Airlines.
- [52:34]
A
You're taking an enormous risk speaking with.
- [52:36]
B
Us, so thank you. Of course.
- [52:37]
A
What was the key to toppling this notorious crime ring?
- [52:41]
F
By keeping my identity a secret, I was able to witness the atrocities firsthand. I've been undercover for five years. Anonymity is critical to my survival.
- [52:54]
E
Want to get away now? You can With Southwest fairs as low as $59 one way, yes to low fares with nothing to hide. That's transparency.
- [53:09]
C
Address should be there, 1800. Anne, hello.
- [53:15]
B
Yeah.
- [53:25]
E
Want to get away now? You can. With Southwest Ferris as low as $59 one way, yes to low fares with nothing to hide. That's transparency.
- [53:35]
D
It's great stuff.
- [53:36]
E
That one's my favorite.
- [53:38]
B
Yeah, mine too.
- [53:39]
F
It's wonderful.
- [53:40]
B
Really great stuff. So let's talk about, I think, a campaign or a spot in particular. Super bowl spot that ran that. I think I can imagine that every home in America that was watching the super bowl, everybody just stopped for the Ram farmer spot. Where did that come from?
- [54:02]
D
Okay, well, you want to talk about Texas and grit again, an agency, like another agency, submitted an idea for super bowl for ram, but they didn't have ram. We were aor, and it's like somebody's trying to break in our house. So the team that worked on it.
- [54:22]
B
It was like, don't mess with Texas.
- [54:24]
D
Yeah, don't mess with them. And it's like the team that worked on it just. They just went into. Just went in old to try to come up with something, and they just wanted something great. So they dug, dug, dug, dug. And then they just came across that.
- [54:38]
B
That.
- [54:38]
D
That poetry, you know, that was like. It's like the national. The farmers national anthem. And when I talk about contrast and doing something different, it's like when you saw that and you're thinking about for a Super bowl spot, because you gotta look at, like, super bowl spots. A bunch of celebrities, a bunch of jokes, a bunch of fun, big, like, special effects. When you look at Ram trucks and it's like the success that they had had. I mean, this company was in bankruptcy basically, like, at one point, you know, and they were having the bailouts. And then to come and have a campaign, have a spot like that running in the Super Bowl. And the risk was it was so quiet. It was like a risk, but there was no music. And in fact, the sound effects that you heard, they were, like, scratchy. Like, you recorded them on your grandfather's, like, cassette tape recorder. And it's just like this quiet sound. And then this Paul Harvey Poing that he did that you hear underneath stills, no movement. There's a little parallax going on just to keep it, like, super interesting. But the shots were just drop dead gorgeous.
- [55:45]
B
Yeah.
- [55:46]
D
And you couldn't help but pay attention. And I remember seeing it. I seen it, but I was in a Super bowl party, and there are about 50 or 40 people there. I just never forget. And I'm sitting there and you've been watching everything from the rock. And then it's like Seth, Seth. And like all these different people, like all these big celebrities and humor and special effects. And this is the bigness, bigness, bigness. And then all of a sudden this spot comes on and it's dead quiet. And then he Sundays on the eighth day, puts that pause in like, oh, God, this was eight days. I didn't even know there was eight. I thought he got you now.
- [56:24]
B
Right?
- [56:24]
D
And then you're watching it and he said God looked down on his miracle. And then he said, and said. Well, he said looked down as paradise and said, we need a caretaker. So God made a farmer. Okay, you're gonna watch it now.
- [56:36]
C
Dave Allen, Jimmy Rob, Dave Snell, Allison Rife, the team around that had helped conceive of the brand in this space that, you know, built to serve. Guts, glory, connecting. And so this story wrapping up of how to then actually spend that moment that you're going to make a memory, Right. And if an ad isn't remembered, it never happened. And most ads aren't. It's air guitar. So if you got two minutes and you've got all that reach, what are you going to do with it?
- [57:06]
B
Did they have two minutes or did you come and say, we got a two minute spot for you?
- [57:10]
C
I go back to Terrence on that. I probably have to ask Jimmy Rob on that.
- [57:13]
D
Or the poem was two minutes.
- [57:15]
B
So.
- [57:15]
D
And you couldn't go and just cut it.
- [57:17]
C
Yes.
- [57:18]
D
And it was glass.
- [57:20]
B
We love this so much, we're gonna buy two minutes.
- [57:22]
D
You had to give him the entire time to let that story play all the way out till it got to the end where it talked about the sun.
- [57:28]
B
So for the listeners who don't know this, Paul Harvey is an. Was an iconic radio host among the farming community not just in Texas, but across the country.
- [57:39]
D
Right.
- [57:40]
B
So he, he was the, one of the, the most that remains one of the most distinctive voices around.
- [57:45]
D
Yeah.
- [57:46]
B
So let's play this. Let's play the spot. This is. We'll play some of the spot. Farmer.
- [57:50]
G
And on the eighth day, God looked down on his plan paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So God made a farmer. God said, I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board. So God made a farmer. God said, I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, maybe next year I need somebody who can shave an axe handle from a persimmon sprout shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps, who planting time and harvest season will finish his 40 hour week by Tuesday noon. And then paynen from tractor back put in another 72 hours. So God made a farmer. God said, I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink combed bullets who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadowlark. So God made a farmer to this.
- [58:57]
B
Point of straightforward forwardness of Texan sensibilities. Then you guys produce this next spot. Let's go ahead and play this next one. Seems like a huge departure in a good way.
- [59:53]
D
Tonight is young.
- [59:55]
C
Let's have some fun sexy people.
- [59:59]
B
So this, this, this spot, this goes ahead. This is actually. Will you tell us guys, this is about, I believe, the introduction of the Fiat to reintroduction. Reintroduction, yeah.
- [60:08]
C
Italians are back and ready to party. As opposed to a Fiat X19 that as soon as it gets, you know, bumped on the bumper turns into flame, you know. And so it's reputation that it had when it was last in the country was not great. So this in some ways was trying to create some memory erasure, kind of relink those memories to something more playful, kind of lean back into like that Italian spirit and then bring the brand back in a way that just had this to kind of a joy and playfulness around it. And so yeah, the cinquecente back and how best to do it. Throw it in the ocean.
- [60:41]
B
Yeah.
- [60:42]
E
Was that shot practically?
- [60:44]
D
No.
- [60:45]
E
Okay. I'm like, wow, that seems expensive.
- [60:48]
B
What do you mean? What do you mean by that? What is it?
- [60:51]
D
Did they really plunge into it?
- [60:53]
B
Didn't happen. That's a shame.
- [60:57]
D
Glad you asked the question because that means it didn't look like it was.
- [61:00]
B
Did you guys, did you guys shot over in Amalfi? Copy.
- [61:03]
D
She knows.
- [61:05]
C
Wait, we'd have to ask David and Linda.
- [61:10]
D
Wait, you actually dropped it into the ocean? I thought that you were working on the splash. Okay, I'm wrong.
- [61:17]
B
I want to do a shout out to one of what I think is one of the greatest campaigns of the last couple of years, which is he gets us that. Lerma did. I want to recognize that because that to me is just like extraordinary work. And I don't want to forget to mention that. I also want a shout out to Preacher because not everybody could be here. A couple of folks from GSDNM came up from is it up or is it up?
- [61:48]
C
It's up.
- [61:50]
B
So I really, really appreciate that. But others couldn't do it. But Preacher has been on the show. Favorite delivery, great campaign. One gold Effie. And then also there's Firehouse here. And I know there's lots of other agencies. Many are representative in this room. I wish we could have had everybody on the stage, but we'll be back another time to do more. But I want to recognize that there's also great work happening today that we couldn't talk about or couldn't fit into the show. So we'll drop some of that out, too. So this has been about ideas. Born in Texas. I know that people listening are going to find just a lot of this fascinating, that these campaigns, these brands are coming out of this state. I hope that this evening does a lot in sort of continuing to build on that recognition as we go forward. So thank you to Terrence, thank you to Kate, thank you to Derek, thank you to Christopher. Brilliant for having you here. Thank you so much for all being in the show and thank you all for coming out tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you to TRG for hosting us. Brilliant. Thanks very much.
- [62:59]
F
It.