Meet the bosses that give Launch its boost.


It’s 2021, and Launch has made its way into Uptown, nestled in an office building overlooking the bustling shops and restaurants below. It outgrew its location in Carrollton, TX, and has found a new home in the heart of Dallas. Years of expertise, successful campaigns, and busy days have molded the agency into what it is now.

National Boss’s Day is coming up this weekend, and we figured there was no better time to dig into Launch’s history and learn more about the people who created it. We can trace our culture, workflow, and success back to the founding Launchers and principals – Diane Seimetz, David Wilgus, and Michael Boone.

Prior to Launch’s formation, these three were off on their own, making a name for themselves in the ad industry.

Diane was working on brands such as Frito-Lay, American Airlines, and Match.com. Dave worked at TracyLocke, where he met Diane. He completed work for Bank of America, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, as well as many others. Michael, who previously worked at TracyLocke, Puskar Gibbon Chapin, and The Maxfield Group, came into the picture once Dave and Diane moved to Temerlin McClain, and the rest is history!

They formed Launch in 2000 within Temerlin McClain, and GroceryWorks was their very first client.

Some of the projects completed by Launch for GroceryWorks

These OG Launchers gave some insights into their passion and the work they do:


David Wilgus

What was your mission when first starting Launch?

“We wanted to take our experience working on big brands at large advertising agencies and apply it to launching startups and relaunching brands that needed help gaining momentum. In 2003, we left the world of big agencies and holding companies to start our own ‘startup’ and reshape what an ad agency looks like. We adopted the characteristics of the startups we were working with – lean, scrappy, creative innovators.”

What’s a source of inspiration for you?

“Our local arts community helps feed my creative spirit. Austin seems to always get the center stage, but Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Denton offer a wealth of talented artists, musicians, photographers and filmmakers.”


Diane Seimetz

At the agency, what is one major thing that has changed over the years?

“Embracing technology and leveraging consumer insights resources to help level the playing field for our clients and the agency. We’ve been using Slack, for example, since 2015 – less than two years after it launched. We also invest in several enterprise-caliber research tools to help understand our clients’ customers better and inform the work.”

What’s a source of inspiration for you?

“People-watching 😊 I love to observe how consumers think, shop, express themselves – it’s a wellspring of great ideas. I also like to immerse myself in creativity in many forms, whether it’s fine art, podcasts, crafting, music. The more diverse, the better.”


Michael Boone

What do you think is the biggest contributor to your or the team’s success?

“For Launch, it’s been a three-pronged approach. Start with talented professionals passionate about doing a good job, infuse a collaborative and creative culture, and finish with trusting clients.”

What’s a source of inspiration for you?

“I’ve always loved advertising. As a kid, I was impressed by unique, compelling ads and almost equally fascinated by terrible ones (what was that?). I first learned of ad agencies – and that they could be a career choice – from watching the old Bewitched TV show. In fact, I referenced that when I got my first agency job. I’m not sure whether they hired me in spite of that comment or partly because of it!”


When starting the agency, Michael mentions his desire to “create great work […] and have fun doing it without layers and bureaucracy to muddle the message.” This is the reason there is an air about Launch that asks people to notice it – to ask why it stands out. It’s more than an agency. To Diane, this is due to the “special culture of people who genuinely care about our clients and each other.” Because of this, the agency and those within it have made a name for themselves in this big Texas city. “The strong entrepreneurial spirit and business culture of Dallas is a perfect fit for Launch and it’s at the heart of who we are,” Dave writes.

These specific characteristics and elements have come together to forge a small-sized yet mighty advertising agency with equally tough team members.

Lights, Camera, Major Tom


2019 was an exciting year for Launch Agency. Our crew made a big move from Carrolton to Dallas right before the holidays. We needed an exciting way to share our new coordinates and spread some holiday cheer. Creative Director Dean Oram gives us his insight on how our team came together and developed an out of this world moving campaign and holiday card.

Shooting At West Village in Uptown

 What was the inspiration for the 2019 moving and holiday campaign?

At Launch, we’re all considered part of the ‘Crew’. In our agency rebranding, Caliber Creative (our design partner on our revamp), created an astronaut icon. That was the seed that led to Major Tom

Describe the process for creating the campaign? Did you do any sketching, location scouts, etc.?

We knew we wanted to let people know we were a) moving to a new space and b) Happy Holidays. From there, we created a teaser campaign hinting at the move, with a longer format Holiday video rolling out after that, that carried on Major Tom’s odyssey. We sketched and pulled scrap images to create key frames for the basic storylines. Refined the action from there. Scouted locations. And then went out and found ourselves one brilliant NASA-style space suit. Lastly, we cast Major Tom from within the ‘Crew.’

What was it like to shoot the entire campaign on an iPhone? Was it easy? Were there any challenges?

Fun. Really fun. Easy? No. Main challenges were to make sure we covered enough scenarios and moments of action to be able to edit (in iMovie) without needing reshoots or pick-up shots. We’re novices at this after all.

Was there a budget for the project?

The budget extended to the purchase of the NASA-style suit and the music. The rest was a combination of donated time and free labor from our ‘makers’ within.

Who was on the team for this project? What was each person’s role?

Team consisted of April Steinbach (Writer/Wardrobe/Make-up/Crowd Control/Public Relations while on locations), Richard Wezensky (Director of Photography/PA/Runner), Zach Deutsch (Crowd Control/Public Relations while on locations/PA), Myself (Director/Editor), Ray Ives (Actor/Comedic Genius), and Alejandro Hernandez AKA ‘Major Tom’ (Actor) .

What’s next for Major Tom?

The world’s his oyster. He’s now a permanent member of the crew. And likely to show up in a myriad of spaces in the not-too-distant-future.

Alejandro getting work done between takes
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