By Alfred Maskeroni
Best known lately for Petsmart’s perfectly bizarre spot and an irreverent Avocados from Mexico Super Bowl ad, GSD&M is one of the more versatile agencies in the industry. And being located in Downtown Austin gives them a unique perspective on South by Southwest—and of course, a canvas on which to paint one of the festival’s biggest shows each year.
In our video above, we sat with chief creative officer Jay Russell and group creative director Bill Bayne to hear exactly how they put on a party of this scale (there were an estimated 3,500 people in attendance on Monday night).
The agency’s massive campus healthily accommodated the crowd, serving up free food and drinks from various local sponsors as well as three of GSD&M’s clients—Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (which debuted its new Red Stick Chicken menu item), Pacifico and Southwest Airlines (which held a photo contest, with the winners getting to watch the night’s conert in airline seats in the front row). There were also vendors and pop-up art installations to browse. Read more – and see the video – here.
