Wonders of Advertisment- McGarrah Jessee

Hello all, this is Christian Nelson; I am a media protege.
I must admit, mediaxperiments has done something I never thought possible. That is organizing tours of Media companies in the area. That in itself was amazing! But what happened last Thursday is a feat that I was proud to be apart of.

I and my Protege Brothers embarked on a mission bound for one of the leaders in commercial advertising. Second in the state of Texas, and full of opportunities. Downtown Austin; the site of the acclaimed: McGarrah Jessee Advertisment Agency!

In doing my research I learned that McGarrah Jessee has a long circle if partners, including: Whataburger, Shiner Beer, Costa Del Mar, Frost Bank, Sun Mountain, Stripes, the list goes on! An impressive place altogether. The building itself may go unnoticed by your average citizen, for it has taken many forms over the years. In talking with on of the staff, I learned that The McGJ building had once been a slaughter house, and a grocery store, before taking it role as the McGJ mothership!

Now that we have gone over a brief history and clients of McGJ, lets me continue with our experience. Upon arriving, I got out of Mr. Settles’ beautifully air-conditioned car to met the sun slapping me in the face! I squinted my eyes onto the brown futuristic looking, yet still historic, building with the name: “McGarrah Jessee” across the top. We entered and we were met with a wall of baby pictures! I was like WTF (meaning: What’s That For)?!?! Later conversations confirmed that the pics on the wall were the baby pics of every McGJ employee! Okay back to the main topic, we entered the confrence room and were greeted by: Alisha Sare. If I may say, I like the way she explained and directed us during the whole experience. She was down on “my level”, if you get my drift. Another facilitator was: Elizabeth Salas, another down to earth helper that aided us in our stay.

They informed us about how advertising works and all the nuts a bolts that go into it. A very intresting topic was one about how advertising changes. How something that worked 10 years ago is completely obsolete now. An example of this was the way McGJ operated.

Their former “game plan” was to get a gig and have it travel to different compartments then to the next (The Machine Map). But over the years they came to realize that this straight forward concept completeally obliderated the while concept of Colaberation. They have since moved form a machine to a river. Rivers flow, forward yes, but they also leave room for intertwining ideas. All aspects of a project cross paths and overlap, creating a flowing arrowhead aimed at awesome success!

We were even greatful to meet the Peanut Butter of the PB & J sandwich called McGarrah Jessee! Mr. Brian Jessee, One half of the founders of the agency. A forrunner from when McGJ was only a small office building with 20 employees. He explained to my brothers and I how he started as a college student in Dallas, then with a friend of his (one Mr. McGarrah), moved to Austin to intern at the advertisment agency GSD&M. Tey learned the ways of advertising and decided to start their own agancy. Thus, McGarrah Jessee, was born.

We continued our workshop/tour meeting every department of the “successful advertising advertisement”! Drawing to the end of the tour, we once again convergered in the conferance room, to exchange “pleasantries” and information. Some thing that caught my eye was an ariel picture of the McGJ building. It had an effect that made the actual picture look like a minature model. I stared at this picture for a long time. It affected me in some way. I guess its a image of the McGJ agancy itself. A place of real origins, creating unreal advertising! Amazing place, McGJ. A wonderful place to experience, with magnificent employees.

I was truly honored to visit this place. It was without a doubt, the most awesome mediaxperiments moment I have witnessed. My name is Christian Nelson; I am a Media Protege. I am an artist, and I strive to imagine!