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Tim McClure is a founding legend of American advertising, best known as one of the original co-founders of GSD&M, the Austin-based agency he helped build from a scrappy startup in 1971 into a nationally recognized creative powerhouse. Alongside Roy Spence and a small band of ambitious Texans, McClure helped establish GSD&M as one of the most distinctive and culturally rooted agencies in the country — proving that world-class advertising didn't have to come from Madison Avenue. As the agency's Chief Creative Officer, he guided the creative vision for some of America's most iconic brands, including Southwest Airlines, Walmart, and the United States Air Force. McClure's most enduring contribution to advertising history is his co-creation of the **"Don't Mess with Texas"** anti-litter campaign — one of the most successful and culturally resonant public awareness campaigns ever produced. What began as a state-commissioned effort to reduce highway litter became a rallying cry for Texas pride, embedding itself permanently into the American cultural lexicon. The campaign is a masterclass in the power of authentic, place-rooted storytelling: it didn't lecture, it celebrated. It didn't beg, it dared. That instinct — to find the emotional and cultural nerve of an audience and speak to it with confidence and wit — defines everything McClure has built throughout his career. His work has been recognized by the Clios, Effies, and Addy Awards, and he has been inducted into the Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame. As an instructor at Ad Legends Academy, Tim brings decades of hard-won wisdom about what it truly means to build a brand from the ground up. His teaching draws on real-world case studies from his extraordinary career, exploring how great creative ideas are born from deep cultural insight, strategic clarity, and the courage to say something that actually matters. Students can expect a storytelling-driven, mentorship-rich experience that challenges them to think beyond the brief and connect their work to something larger — a community, a culture, a cause. A proud Texan through and through, Tim McClure is living proof that the most powerful advertising doesn't just sell products — it shapes identity, shifts behavior, and becomes part of the fabric of a place and its people.
