After a fairly bumpy last few months, GSD&M appears to be looking for a fresh start, and in doing so, has decided to drop the “Idea City” portion from its name. From what the Austin-based agency tells us, it’s a way to pay tribute to the founders (Roy Spence, Judy Trabulsi, Tim McClure and Steve Gurasich) and a celebration of the GSD&M’s 40th anniversary, which will take place this August.

In a couple of weeks, the agency will also launch GSDM.com to cement the name change. According to the Omnicom-owned shop, president/CEO Duff Stewart and the founders both agreed to the change. The building that houses the agency, meanwhile, will still keep the Idea City sign. It was nearly three-and-a-half years ago that GSD&M officially added Idea City to its name.

It looks like Mike Wilson is having trouble fitting in yet again. Seven months after apparently getting the boot from his EVP/CCO gig at Dentsu, Wilson is now out as CCO at his follow-up employer, GSD&M Idea City. Once again, we’re being told he just “wasn’t the right fit.” Early on in his career, though, Wilson did rack up some tenure at Ogilvy, where he spent over 10 years and eventually assumed the worldwide creative director post until 2006.

After the jump, check out a memo that GSD&M president/CEO Duff Stewart just sent out to staff this afternoon.

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Sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that GSD&M Idea City let staff know this morning that it will not be renewing its contract with client BMW after it expires on Dec. 31 of this year. From what we’ve been told, Idea City is leaving BMW, thus ending a five-year relationship the Austin-based agency had with the automaker. We’ve gotten hold of an internal memo sent by GSD&M’s president/CEO Duff Stewart that may shed some light on this decision. Read on after the jump.

More: “Crispin Nabs GSD&M’s BMW Lead Creative”

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