According to Gibson, the key to managing the broadcast department (which consists of 14 producers) is communication. "Here at The Richards Group, internal e-mails are discouraged because if you're sending e-mails you're not talking," says Gibson.

"You end up wandering the halls a lot and bumping into people. It's an archaic and good way of passing communication around. Ultimately, it is a good way of solving problems before they get started."

A veteran ad-maker, Gibson entered the commercial arena straight out of college, securing a position with Bozell. He joined the broadcast department at The Richards Group in 1982 as a junior producer and rose to a senior position before returning to Bozell. In 1990 he helped found a production house in Dallas called Concrete Productions (now Blind Spot Media).

"I opted to get out in 1999," says Gibson of his exit from the production company. "I started to have a yearning to get back into the agency side. The opportunity to come back here and work with a bunch of old friends who are now all senior creative people was too good to pass up."

One of the senior creatives, in fact, is group creative director and brother, Gary Gibson. Their relationship is symbolic of that between the broadcast and creative departments at The Richards Group.

"It's a great culture here. There's a real team effort between the creatives and producers which allows us to get involved as early as we can on projects," notes Gibson. "We can avoid some of the pitfalls a lot of agencies have to work through because there seems to be a good way of moving information back and forth. Most of it has to do with the fact that we talk a lot."

Recent projects include an Olympic sponsorship program for The Home Depot. Gibson collaborated with @radical.media director Gregor Nicholas on a spot called "Happy." It captures a moment felt around the world in which Olympians and viewers are connected through an emotional showing of tears.

February marked the launch of a new image campaign for The Home Depot. Six spots were created for the US and Canada featuring the theme of empowerment. Rather than profile individual employees using an interview format, the new campaign highlights real customers and their accomplishments, incorporating themes such as "I can do this." The series was shot by directing team Chris Riess and Amy Hill at Palomar Pictures.

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The Richards Group: www.richards.com