One look at the results of GSD&M’s vertically integrated creative approach, and one has to wonder: What’s The Big Idea?

It’s GSD&M’s solution to successfully combining consumer desire with client needs.

“When we sit down with a client, we start with one mission: to determine what consumers want,” says Jennifer Warren, account executive and direct marketing expert at the Austin, Texas-based GSD&M. “We collaborate with our clients and best-in-class partners to nail down what approach and tactics are going to work best. We’re ultimately looking for The Big Idea, and from there, how we can drive that initiative across marketing disciplines.”

Once they’ve defined that Big Idea, GSD&M prides itself on developing solutions – with direct mail sometimes taking a leading role – that not only cut through clutter but soar above the pack.

Case in point: The U.S. Air Force, one of GSD&M’s most prestigious clients. GSD&M and the Air Force successfully increased recruiting among highly educated professionals. The tactic? Instead of the standard recruitment strategy, The Big Idea emphasized the indirect benefits of careers in medicine, nursing and engineering available through the Air Force.

“For the physician campaign, for example, we focused on the rising cost of malpractice insurance – something you don’t have to worry about in the Air Force,” says Warren. “And for engineers, we touted the cutting-edge, ultra-visionary technology that engineers in the Air Force create.”

“We chose direct mail as a key lead generating component of the campaign,” she explains. “We’ve found that direct mail is a very effective tool when you’re after highly targeted audiences, and that’s exactly what we needed for the Air Force.”

Response to the campaign was phenomenal. It was sent in two waves with specific messages during fiscal year ’04 and ’05 and raised response levels 82 percent for nursing recruits, 106 percent for engineers and 172 percent for physicians.

What was the client’s reaction? “Let’s just say they were very pleased,” says Warren. “Direct mail is an awesome medium because you can really predict your return. So you’ve already got a benchmark to work with.”

But the success didn’t stop there: For Southwest Airlines, another GSD&M client, The Big Idea capitalized on the fact that customers were looking for inexpensive, hassle-free travel opportunities. Ding!, a first-of-its-kind promotion, delivered those offers right to customers’ computers.

Customers download Ding! software and receive offers signaled by – what else? – a telltale “ding” from the computer. The campaign broke on Feb. 28, 2005, and by March 12, it had generated more than $20 million in bookings.

So what fuels GSD&M’s successful approach? “We find an effective balance between building the brand and driving immediate sales,” says Warren. “We’re not just creating marketing campaigns; we’re getting to the core of what the client needs to bring that consumer in. It’s what we mean by The Big Idea.”