Nearly two months after Montreal-based Sid Lee announced that it was opening up shop in the land of SXSW, the agency has finally opened its doors in the Penn Field project on “gritty” South Congress in Austin. This marks the fifth agency in the Sid Lee network and besides cozying up to new, Texas-based client Dell, it will also offer digital marketing, branding retail and experiential design services.
The management of Sid Lee Austin, which expects to house up to 40 staffers in a year’s time, includes creative director/partner George Giampuranis, managing director Jim Bailey and VP, strategy Eric Alper (pictured), who says, “Austin is an exceptionally surprising place that’s fully aligned with Sid Lee’s values and outlook—it’s a city built on entrepreneurship, artisanship, a belief in the possible and a heaping dose of plain weird. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate and become part of that?” Having been there a few times, can’t say we disagree.