Southwest adds Leo Chicago to creative roster alongside longtime partner GSD&M

Southwest Airlines has added Leo Chicago to its creative agency roster after a review. The Publicis Groupe-owned shop will work alongside Southwest’s longtime agency partner, GSD&M. “Southwest Airlines is proud to add Leo Chicago to our roster of industry-leading agency partners,” Southwest confirmed in a statement. “Leo’s approach to building domestic and global brands, along with our longtime agency partner GSD&M, will be helpful as we strategically evolve our business to create more meaningful connections between our customers, our brand, and the products we offer.” Southwest did not disclose the scope for each agency, but it could be a worrisome development for GSD&M, which will now have to split duties on its flagship account. Together since 1981, Southwest and GSD&M represent one of the advertising industry’s longest-running client-agency relationships. GSD&M referred comment back to Southwest. A Southwest spokesperson said “Leo will introduce a fresh approach for the brand and the agencies will complement each other.” The news comes amid leadership changes at GSD&M. In March, the agency named Lee Newman as its new CEO, succeeding Duff Stewart, who had held the role since 2009. Newman joined GSD&M as president in 2023 after serving as the U.S. CEO of Interpublic Group of Cos.’ MullenLowe for eight years. GSD&M, which is part of Omnicom, lost one of its other key clients, Pizza Hut, last year. The agency picked up lead creative duties with Corona Extra in 2024. Other key clients for the agency include Capital One, Stanley and the Air Force. Southwest spent $142 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, a 9.1% increase over 2023, according to MediaRadar. Total advertising and promotion expenses in 2024 were $346 million, up a whopping 30.1% from 2023’s $266 million, according to Ad Age Datacenter analysis of Southwest’s annual financial filings. GSD&M co-founder Roy Spence was hailed as one of Southwest founder Herb Kelleher’s “closest business partners” and “the force behind so many of Southwest’s memorable ads” according to a Kelleher obituary published six years ago. Indeed, Austin, Texas-based GSD&M was responsible for many of Southwest’s most familiar taglines, including “Wanna Get Away.” After introducing the tagline in the late ‘90s, Southwest has repeatedly brought the tagline back as it continues to push its low fares. Yet, in more recent years, the airline has been plagued with issues that threaten the long-running customer loyalty it has enjoyed since its 1966 founding. Last month, Southwest announced an end to its popular free baggage policy, prompting backlash and complaints. Its subsequent post on social media that made light of the complaints was criticized for being tone-deaf, particularly at a time when consumers are concerned about tariffs, job losses and other financial uncertainty. Even for Southwest, a brand known for its jokey tone, the marketing came across as glib and out of touch, a sentiment that could further hurt the brand as financial woes and other corporate cutbacks grow. Southwest also recently ended its open boarding policy. Read more: Southwest social post on baggage policy draws backlash—how a joke backfired This is not the first time Southwest has looked beyond GSD&M. “We have had other creative agencies join the roster and each time their focus was different,” the airline spokesperson said. The airline has worked in the past with VML and Wunderman, it told Ad Age in 2012. This is another significant win for Leo since Publicis merged Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide in January. At the beginning of April, Leo picked up the U.S. creative business for Subway.

Southwest adds Leo Chicago to creative roster alongside longtime partner GSD&M

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