An agency is only as good as the people that work there, T3 CEO Gay Gaddis shares tips on keeping the troops happy.

Gay Gaddis is the visionary behind T3, an agency whose dynamic approach and corporate culture has led to national recognition. In 2004, Gaddis was named one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Inc. Magazine and one of 25 Advertising Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother Magazine and the Advertising Women of New York. T3’s family-friendly workplace programs were recognized by the White House and have been profiled on NBC’s Today Show and in The New York Times.

iMedia is pleased to have had Gaddis on the "Agents of the Future: Human Capital" panel at an iMedia Agency Summit.  When the advertising industry is growing, and the job market is tight, there's much to learn from T3's focus on providing a positive work environment.

iMedia: How do you attract and keep talented human capital?

Gay Gaddis: A successful company that is growing and attracting great clients can attract the necessary creative talent; they go hand-in-hand. T3 embraces a life/work balance where babies and dogs are welcome, encourages open communication in a relaxed setting and provides an innovative environment comprised of five historic homes. In addition, we offer motivational and compensation incentives such as competitive salaries on a national level, flextime scheduling, profit sharing, 401(k), an all-expense paid trip after five and ten years of service, and paid vacation from Christmas Eve to the day after New Year’s.

iMedia: What are the skill sets that need to be hired to succeed in the future advertising landscape?

Gaddis: We are in the midst of a radical, equilibrium-shaking, no-going-back transformation. Those that hope to work in this industry must be ready and eager to embrace change and those that do work in this industry must be willing to adapt to the changing times. Two important qualities we look for are creativity and curiosity. 

iMedia: How do you change the agency culture so that it's innovative?

Gaddis: In a productivity-driven economy that demands speed, agility and around-the-clock commitment, innovative agency culture is a must. I believe in creating an environment that fosters opportunities for change and growth. There is no room for people that cannot understand the big picture. Employees must be ready and willing to make a shift and embrace the future for the agency to do so as well.

iMedia: How do we fix the broken agency model and renew the spirit of the agency?

Gaddis: T3 trashed the antiquated ad agency model more than 10 years ago and drives its solutions by what’s best for the client. People inside agencies and client companies have to be motivated to transcend across departments to get the job done. In the new agency model, the interactive team is not pitted against the traditional team. Ideally, all elements are intertwined to work together. Both agencies and clients must encourage the renewal of a new agency spirit.

iMedia: New media groups are having to compete against traditional shops to attract talent. How do you see this playing out in the next year?

Gaddis: On the whole, we don’t look at traditional shops as our competition because we are looking for a new breed of people. Over the next year, new media groups will compete for talent with other new media groups and with technology companies. New media groups must recognize that the pool for creative talent is expanding and can come from virtually anywhere.

More on Gay Gaddis

Gay Gaddis is the president and founder of T3 (The Think Tank), an integrated marketing services firm and idea factory with a range of regional, national and global clients including Dell Inc., Marriott International, Inc., JCPenney, MSN and Nortel Networks. Gaddis founded T3 in 1989 and has since built the company into the largest privately held agency wholly owned by a woman in the country. Committed to making T3 the most innovative agency in the nation, she drives the company's business philosophy — smart people doing smart things. Gaddis' career began at The Richards Group in Dallas and later she served as the director of public relations for Baylor University Medical Center and then as the marketing director for Leadership Dynamics, a national management-consulting firm in Atlanta. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art.