June 16, 2020

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Thadeus Giedd, brand manager and strategist of PINstudios and license holder of TEDxSiouxFalls.

Name: Thadeus Giedd 

Age: 30 

Hometown: Sioux Falls and Crooks

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

My parents. 

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

Love from those in my family and friend network. But also in our downtown, I can experience some of the best-in-the-world coffee-shop hopping during the day and then brewery crawling at night. That with some time on the bike path may be the perfect day!  

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Many, many things. One I can pick is being involved and working in between our clients and our talented videographers. I love the aspect of learning about the clients’ vision, developing an understanding of their needs and crafting a strategy for production that delivers more than they were even anticipating. It is over-the-moon fun for me to take a client’s one idea and, with our creative team, turn that into 10 different video or visual options that capture the client’s desired outcomes and leave a lasting impression. 

How did you get connected to your industry? 

I have actually been on the client end of the PIN organization on several projects. I have been able to witness the caliber of work they do and am always immensely impressed. Pinnacle Productions is actually who I partnered with to launch and make nonprofit TEDxSiouxFalls as successful as it has been. 

When owners Jeff (Meuzelaar) and Chris (Hintz) reached out, shared with me their vision of the future of PINstudios and asked if I’d like to come on board to help lead the client video division, I was instantly interested. Having the chance to join this team and be a part of the work they do is a dream job of an opportunity!

In the industry of video, photography and creative marketing, I have an odd background, but my introduction was managing marketing accounts with The Bakery co-working space, Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship, TEDxSiouxFalls, Chelsea’s Boutique and my own self-employed marketing clients. Video production has come a long way, and now more than ever, the power of video can be harnessed by all and used to build brands or form more connection. 

Describe PINstudios in three words.

Culture. Connection. Creativity. These are our three new core values we just established together as a team. They really speak to what we believe and what makes up our identity. 

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

Recently, it has been all the livestream services we’ve been doing with nonprofits of the community. PINstudios has chosen to donate a lot of our time and efforts during COVID-19, so organizations in need, like Feeding South Dakota, can still conduct their fundraising events even without having their normal physical events. It has been new and chaotic, but it has worked and is so rewarding to know we are making a difference. 

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

I have all the businesses here I could ever ask for and more, personally. One thing I would be an advocate for although is a shipping container marketplace. Look it up if you’ve never seen those. They are amazing. And also, when designed right, they make great public squares and everyday performance centers in higher density areas that make urban places awesome. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

This would be way too long of an answer if I wrote out everything. For right now, let’s say a family man with my wife, Chelsea, handing off TEDx to a new younger generation of leaders, teaching personal development workshops to our community’s youth, mentoring more and possibly having my own mentorship network/organization, teaching teenage men absent of father figures how to drive manual transmission V8 sports cars and traveling more as we have more outside-the-region video clients with PINstudios. 

Anyone can feel free to grab me for lunch, coffee or a beer, and we can talk about my other 18 five-year ambitions!