Music and Marketing Together in HarmonyT3 Taps Local Musical Talent

There's a classical guitar propped in a sun-drenched corner of the copyeditors' den at T3.

It appears out of place amid stacks of presentation display boards, catalog back issues and photocopied pages with multi-color scribbles.

But it very much belongs here, a symbol of T3's status as home to a long line of horn blowers, guitar-slingers and singer-songwriters who, by day, make ads and, by night, make music.

That so many musicians have gravitated to the Austin, Texas-based agency is no surprise. T3 stands for The Think Tank. And, as its name suggests, the agency is built on the premise that successful advertising campaigns rely on fresh ideas.

"Talented musicians are a natural fit for an integrated marketing solutions company like ours that relies on 'out-of-the-box' thinking and the kind of natural creativity that musicians possess," said T3 President and Founder Gay Warren Gaddis.

The agency is housed on a campus of five renovated historic homes. Cubes and ties are prohibited, dogs and babies are welcome, and Friday happy hour is mandatory. It's the perfect habitat for musicians.

And there are plenty of them in Austin, the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World." The city's long and varied musical tradition has given rise to numerous national acts as well as the nation's premier music industry conference, South by Southwest.

T3's musicians are a multi-talented group that includes singer-songwriters, guitarists, drummers, keyboardists, and a trombonist. They work in a wide range of styles - from folk rock to Gothic heavy metal.

By day, they're copywriters, editors, Web developers and IT administrators. But signs of their off-hours passion abound in the form of e-mail gig invitations and impromptu lobby jam sessions.

This emphasis on artistic creativity is partly to thank for the agency's success. T3 experienced exponential staff growth in the past two years, reported $95 million in 2003 capitalized billings and claimed the number 15 spot in Adweek's 2002 Top Southwest Agencies. Major clients now include JCPenney, Samsung Telecommunications, Sprint, Baker Botts L.L.P. and Nortel Networks. Our recently established New York City branch office has doubled in size and handles media planning and purchasing as well as client work.

But it's not only 'out-of-the-box' thinking that musicians bring to the agency.

For example, Web developer Travis Higdon says his initial interest in Web design - long before coming to T3 - stemmed from efforts to better promote his own projects and the bands on his Peek-A-Boo Records label.

"I learned Web development because I wanted to create a Web presence for my band and record label, but couldn't afford to hire someone to do it," said Higdon. "I was then able to put my skills to a more lucrative use, like finding a job."

Musicians also bring to the office unique personal and interpersonal skills, including a perseverance learned over difficult years of struggling for success and a talent for collaboration.

"Playing in bands has given me a lot of experience in collaborative give-and-take, and I've definitely used similar skills here," says Rich Malley, drummer, singer and songwriter for "more bands than I can remember" over the last two-and-a-half decades.

But for as much as they bring to the agency, T3's musicians get much in return, beginning with every musician's bane and dream - a steady income. For some, financial stability is a welcome gift that not only puts food on the table, but funds fledgling careers.

"There is a certain amount of security with knowing you have a regular cash flow, not normal for most artists or musicians in the field," said Charles Dickey, who toured as a trombonist with international reggae act, Burning Spear, and continues to play locally with a variety of acts.

Several T3 musicians also confide that they take home a lot more than a paycheck, such as marketing know-how to promote their music and pop culture awareness that comes from working in a young, high-energy environment.

While many of the agency's musical members still await their big breaks, many are content to split their time between the office and the stage. It's an arrangement that's worked well for both parties and is, in the end, perhaps quite natural.

"Advertising at its core is creative, artistic, thought-provoking, and progressive. Music has a lot of the same qualities," says guitarist and copyeditor Kym Cooper, her classical guitar close by in case an idea comes.

About T3

T3, an agency with offices in Austin, New York and San Francisco, specializes in innovative marketing campaigns that cut across all media channels. As a collaborative think tank, T3 works with clients including ConocoPhillips Lubricants, Facebook, Intel, JCPenney, John Deere, JPMorgan Chase, Livescribe, Microsoft, Oriental Trading Company, Universal and UPS.

Founded by CEO Gay Gaddis in 1989, T3 is independent and the largest advertising agency wholly owned by a woman in the United States. T3 ranks among ADWEEK's Top 100 Agencies and Advertising Age's Top 100 U.S. Marketing Services Agencies lists.