Duff Stewart, GSD&M's Idea City

"The second generation or the third generation is running the industry now. Idea City is about visionary ideas."

Duff Stewart, the President and COO of GSD&M's Idea City, spoke this morning for a crowd of students, faculty, and visitors of Mass Comm Week.

He began his talk with outlining several principles that Idea City strives to adhere to:

• Purpose
• Dynamic Collaboration
• Visionary ideas that make a difference

Stewart said that in the rotunda of the Idea City, several words are inscribed:

Freedom Responsibility, Community, Winning, Integrity, Curiosity and Restlessness.

Of those, Stewart said that Curiosity and Restlessness should be constantly in the mind of advertising professionals and students. Curiosity, he said, should be for the world around you; Restlessness keeps you going. "In advertising, you're only as good as your last ad, so you have to keep moving, keep changing."

Stewart said that advertising for advertising's sake is useless: An ad agency has to be representative of the population and also be a part of the population.

He also discussed a creative philosophy written by Tim McClure, a founder of GSD&M: advertising is an uninvited guest in anyone's lives. Have to entertain and persuade the consumer. If you can do that, then you are invited back into their lives, which is the first step to brand loyalty.

Stewart showed a few advertising spots they had produced for their clients, including:

-BMW
-Southwest Airlines
-AIDS Walk
-US Air Force
-PGA Tour
-AT&T
-YellowPages.com
-AARP
-Kohler
-American Red Cross
-BecomeAnEx.org




A couple of the commercials brought laughter from the audience, including the one seen above. Others, striking silence.

He offered three tips for young advertisers and communicators:

• Be Curious- Read anything, stay involved, and constantly push yourself to learn.
• Work Hard at Listening- Especially in this business. Listening to clients is key. Listen to the world around you, listen to the people. You'll have a much better understanding.
• Don't Be Afraid to Try- He mentioned "Got Game" by John Beck. In the book, Beck says that people who play games are more likely to get up and try again after failing. The new generation is very good at multitasking.
  

Bob Mann asked how Stewart finds the time to read and learn constantly. He responded by saying that it's easy to find time throughout the day to read things online, including newspapers and Digg. At night, he said, he tries to read books before going to bed.

During the Q&A portion, Stewart talked about focusing on the digital change in the world, and how different things are now that everything is online. He also said that Idea City is trying to become more aware of the population; more involved. They are currently working with Huston-Tillotson University to encourage minority students to attend college.

Overall, it was a good presentation by Stewart, but it seemed to be lacking, leaving audience members wanting more. It would have been nice if he spoke further about online advertising, and where that element of the industry is growing.

Additionally, showing television spots that Idea City created was entertaining, but not informative or educational. Perhaps he could have set up the scenario and then shown the ad. For example, maybe he could have talked about what each client was trying to achieve through the advertisement, what Idea City's procedure was in creating it, and then talk about why it was successful (or not).

Finally, I understand that Stewart is a busy guy, but did he really have to rush back to Austin? We're the future, and we're after his job. He should be aware of that.