T3 Helps Sponsor Chuy's Children Parade

T3 (The Think Tank) participated as a corporate sponsor in Chuy's 16th Annual Children Giving to Children Parade and toy drive benefiting Operation Blue Santa Saturday, Nov. 27.

"Giving back to the community during the holiday season is something T3 looks forward to every year," said Gay Warren Gaddis, T3 president and CEO. "We felt the Chuy's Blue Santa Parade was a great cause for our employees to get involved in by making toy contributions and by participating and showing support during the parade. It was a wonderful way to get into the holiday spirit while spending time with our community."

Thirty T3ers, along with family and friends, joined the parade lineup of giant inflatable balloons, marching bands, holiday floats and children's characters, by riding in the Gaddis's 15-foot horse-drawn wagon pulled by their very own Percherons Draft horses, Bud and Charlie.

Kicking-off at the Capitol, the parade commenced at 11:00 a.m. It then traveled south on Congress Avenue, turned west on 6th Street and ended at Guadalupe Street. Over 80,000 spectators attended.

In addition to the sponsorship, T3 donated an overstuffed shopping cart's worth of new toys.

Since 1972, the Austin Police Department's Operation Blue Santa program has delivered food and toys to thousands of families in need, helping the Austin community celebrate the magic of the holiday season.

The parade was the inspiration of Mike Young, co-owner of the Chuy's Mexican restaurants in Austin. In 1987, Chuy's and radio station KLBJ-FM started an annual toy drive held at two Chuy's locations, in Austin to benefit Operation Blue Santa. Two years later, Young decided to increase awareness for the toy drive and collect more toys by putting on a parade.

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.