BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency began in 1891 with George Batten's Batten Company, and later in 1928, through a merger of BDO (Barton, Durstine & Osborn) and Batten Co. the agency became BBDO.[1] BBDO Worldwide has been named the "Most Awarded Agency Network in the World" by The Gunn Report for 5 consecutive years beginning 2005. As well, it has won "Network of the Year" at the Cannes Lions for half a decade. With more than 15,000 employees in 289 offices in 80 countries, it is the largest of three global networks (BBDO, DDB, TBWA) of agencies in Omnicom's portfolio.[2] BBDO was named Global Agency of the Year by Adweek in 2011. It has also been named Agency of the Year in 2005 by Adweek, Advertising Age, and Campaign Magazine.[3][4] In 2006, Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed January 10 as BBDO day in recognition of the strength of its advertising, as well as its contributions to New York City.[5]
With an extensive portfolio of creative advertising, BBDO focuses on the philosophy of "The Work The Work The Work", citing, "At BBDO, the Work encompasses every kind of creative content that can touch the consumer and reinforce the brand".
Origins
BBDO originated in 1891 when George Batten founded the Batten Company. The Barton & Durstine agency (founded by Bruce Fairchild Barton and William H. Johns) opened in January 1919, and when Alex Osborn joined the company, the company was named Barton, Durstine, and Osborn. In 1928, the Batten Company (then managed by William H. Johns) merged with Barton, Durstine, and Osborn to form BBDO.
Clients
The company's extensive list of clients includes:
The Economist, PepsiCo, Diageo, Skanska, FedEx, General Electric, Campbell's, Arby's, Gillette, Motorola Solutions, Orbitz, Bayer, Wrigley, AT&T, Mars, Bank of America, Pinnacle Foods Monster.com, HBO, Hyatt Hotels, Starbucks, Lowe's, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Fonterra, Imperial Chemical Industries, Hewlett-Packard, Watson's, Emirates, ThaiBev, Syngenta, and Olympus
History
- 1891 George Batten (1854–1918), 37, opens his one-room advertising agency, the Batten Co., at 38 Park Row, New York, with no clients and one employee.
- 1894 Batten's is the first agency to install in-house printing. He advocates the use of plain, simple type, which he says, "stands out like a Quaker on Broadway."[6]
- 1906 The agency, now with 50 employees, moves to the Metropolitan Annex building on East 24th Street, occupying the entire 11th floor – 5,000 square feet (460 m2).
- 1912 Hammermill Paper Co. awards its account to Batten. Hammermill, which was acquired by International Paper in 1988, left BBDO in 1995.
- 1917 Armstrong Cork Company awards its account to Batten. It is now BBDO's oldest client.
- 1918 George Batten dies at 64, and William H. Johns becomes president of the Batten Co.
- 1919 The Barton & Durstine Co. agency opens January 1 at 25 W 45th St., with Bruce Barton as president and Roy Durstine as secretary- treasurer. In August, Alex Osborn joins the agency, renamed Barton, Durstine & Osborn.
- 1920 General Electric becomes BDO client.
- 1923 Both BDO and the Batten Co. move to a new building at 383 Madison Avenue. BDO leases an entire floor, while the Batten Co., with 246 employees, takes a floor and a half.
- 1923 The Harvard Advertising Awards are founded by Edward Bok of the Ladies' Home Journal and the Harvard Business School. BDO wins more awards than any other agency in the seven years that the award is presented.
- 1924 BDO ranks as the fourth-largest U.S. agency.
- 1925 BDO airs its first radio program an hour show for Atwater Kent radios for which the agency had obtained the exclusive right to broadcast Metropolitan Opera stars. Two years later, BDO becomes the first agency to establish a radio department.
- 1927 John Caples, who later will become the world's authority on copy testing, joins BDO. In his 1931 book, "Tested Advertising Methods," he declared that the average American is 13 years old mentally, and that a copywriter should "use words you would expect to find in a fifth-grade reader." He also strongly advised against humor.
- 1928 On September 21, the Batten Co. and BDO announce a merger to form Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. Bruce Barton is made chairman of the board, while William H. Johns, president of the Batten Co., becomes president of the new agency. Durstine is made vice president and general manager. The new agency, with branch offices Chicago, Boston, and Buffalo, has over 600 employees. It will occupy 383 Madison for 59 years until it relocates to its current address, 1285 Avenue of the Americas.
- 1929 Chicago office opens.
- 1934 Kate Smith begins her first commercially sponsored radio show for BBDO client La Palina cigars. La Palina was originated by Sam Paley, father of William S. Paley, president of CBS. (The inside of every La Palina box was adorned with a picture of Mrs. Sam Paley in a Spanish costume.)
- 1935 DuPont hires BBDO to change the company's image from a World War I munitions manufacturer to a peace time manufacturer. The agency introduces the slogan “Better Things for Better Living … Through Chemistry.” The words “through chemistry” were removed in the 1980s. The slogan was replaced in 1999 with "The miracles of science."
- 1935 BBDO launches the first "Hit Parade" radio show. "Soon" was the No. 1 song.
- 1937 Bruce Barton is appointed to an unexpired term in the United States House of Representatives and is elected a year later.
- 1939 Roy Durstine resigns after three years as president, and opens his own agency. BBDO is reorganized under the leadership of Alex Osborn.
- 1939 Lever Bros. becomes a BBDO client.
- 1940 After losing his campaign for the Senate, Bruce Barton returns as president of BBDO.
- 1940 Alex Osborn introduces "brainstorming," a technique to generate ideas, to the agency.
- 1946 Ben Duffy, who started in the agency's mailroom and rose to head the media department, becomes president. Under his watch billings quadruple from $50 million to $200 million in ten years. He steps down in 1957 due to illness.
- 1952 Jim Jordan starts his career as a copywriter at BBDO. He will become the agency's chief creative officer in 1968.
- 1957 Charlie Brower, who was hired as a copywriter with the Batten Co. just before the merger with BDO, becomes president.
- 1960 On March 16, Chrysler moves its Dodge Truck and Car Divisions, with billings of $21 million, to BBDO. On April 6, BBDO wins the $17 million Pepsi account after a pitch against seven other agencies.
- 1961 Jim Jordan creates a campaign for Schaefer Beer based on research that revealed that 80% of the beer was consumed by 20% of the drinkers. The slogan and jingle: "Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one."
- 1962 Phil Dusenberry is hired as a junior copywriter.
- 1963 Jim Jordan creates the campaign "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!"
- 1963 BBDO introduces the slogan "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation." It is the first time a product is identified not by its own attributes but by its consumers' lifestyles and attitudes.
- 1968 Jim Jordan creates the "Ring around the collar" campaign for Wisk detergent, a Unilever product. Wisk left BBDO in 1989.
- 1973 BBDO creates the campaign (and jingle) "Have it your way" for Burger King.
- 1978 Jim Jordan leaves BBDO to open his own agency. Allen Rosenshine succeeds him as BBDO's creative director.
- 1979 Chicago office joins the BBDO Worldwide network.
- 1980 Phil Dusenberry becomes the agency's executive creative director.
- 1983 Tom Kiely is named president of a new BBDO division called the "BBDO Business-to-Business Group" to service the broad range of communications needs required by its BtoB-oriented clients, including The Timken Company, Hammermill Paper, certain General Electric Company departments and of Symbolics, Inc, (a so-called Artificial Intelligence computer manufacturer). Working in that group were a veteran group of business-to-business advertising and public relations professionsls including Les Lilliston, Bob Dudley, Charles Gade, Bruce Jordan, Bob Wilson, Cray Cyphers and Bill Reingold.
- 1984 On January 27, Michael Jackson's hair is accidentally set on fire during filming of a Pepsi commercial. The mishap made front page news around the world. (Phil Dusenberry's 2005 memoir is titled "Then We Set His Hair on Fire.") The commercial debuted a month later on the Grammy Awards, where Jackson, wearing a hair piece, collected a record eight awards.
- 1985 BBDO wins the $15 million Visa account and introduces the slogan "It's everywhere you want to be." The account, which grew to $350 million, remained at BBDO for 20 years until it moved to another Omnicom agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day.
- 1985 Advertising Age selects BBDO as Agency of the Year.
- 1986 BBDO wins the $50 million Apple Computer account from Chiat\Day, which had produced Apple's "1984" Super Bowl commercial. Apple returned to TBWA\Chiat\Day in 1997 soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple.
- 1986 Omnicom is formed from the merger between BBDO and DDB Needham. Sometimes referred to as the "Big-Bang" merger, it was spearheaded by BBDO Worldwide CEO Allen Rosenshine in response to competitive threats from other large advertising agency comglomerates.
- 1986 BBDO's Business-to-Business Group is folded because of lack of business.
- 1994 BBDO is selected Agency of the Year by both Adweek and Advertising Age.
- 2004 Andrew Robertson is named President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Worldwide[7]
- 2004 David Lubars is appointed Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America[8]
- 2005 BBDO Chicago is rebranded as Energy BBDO
- 2006 Mayor Bloomberg names January 10 "BBDO Day"
- 2007 BBDO Worldwide is awarded the Network of the Year award at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.
- 2008 BBDO acquires Barefoot Advertising in Cincinnati, Ohio, makes it part of Proximity Worldwide, renamed Barefoot Proximity it is the network's largest US office.
- 2008 BBDO is named Network of the Year by CAMPAIGN Magazine, as well as the Clios International Advertising Festival
- 2008 BBDO Worldwide is awarded Network of the Year for the second straight year at Cannes. BBDO New York is named Agency of the Year, and ALMAPBBDO is #2 as Agency of the Year.
- 2009 BBDO Worldwide wins Network of the Year at Cannes for the third year in a row.
- 2010 BBDO Worldwide wins Network of the Year at Cannes for the fourth year in a row.
- 2011 BBDO Worldwide wins Network of the Year at Cannes again, for an unprecedented five consecutive years.
- 2011 BBDO Worldwide named Global Agency of the Year by Adweek.
In popular culture
BBDO has had numerous appearances in American popular culture. Notable mentions include:
- In the 1933 comedy Hard to Handle, James Cagney says, "Well, so long, boys. I'm lunching with Bruce Barton of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn."
- In an episode of Jack Benny's radio program (broadcast 11/21/48), Jack spends virtually the entire show on the phone waiting to talk to either Batten, Barton, Durstine or Osborn (the agency for his sponsor, Lucky Strike). During this episode, Jack's wife, Mary Livingston, cracks that the agency's name "sounds like a trunk falling down stairs." The line has also been attributed—probably erroneously—to Fred Allen.
- In the 1961 Doris Day-Rock Hudson film Lover Come Back, the pair play rival advertising executives; Hudson's character works at 383 Madison Avenue—BBDO's address—and is shown entering the building's lobby.
- In the 1963 parody song "Harvey and Sheila" ("Hava Nagila") by Allan Sherman, BBDO makes an appearance in the lyric: "Sheila's a girl I know/At B.B.D.& O./She works the PBX/And makes out the checks."
- Pop composer and lyricist Van Dyke Parks alludes to the firm in "Palm Desert" on his 1968 album "Song Cycle": "I came west unto Hollywood, never-never land. Juxtaposed to B.B.D. and O. Beyond San Fernando on hillside manors on the banks of toxicity those below and those above the same."
- The agency Sterling Cooper in the TV series Mad Men, set in the early 1960s, is supposedly inspired by BBDO, according to the show's creator, Matthew Weiner.[9] BBDO is mentioned fairly frequently as a competitor, including Season 1 Episode 7, when a department store customer says, "He's a media buyer at BBDO." Remnants of BBDO's work can be seen throughout the office as well. Spam advertising from BBDO's Minneapolis office is also displayed behind Peggy's first desk as a copywriter in the copy room. A third-season episode mentions that Sterling Cooper "lost the Campbell's Soup Great Britain" account, leading one executive to lament that now they'd "lost all of Campbell's to BBDO." In Season 4 "Hands and Knees," Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce loses its biggest account, Lucky Strike cigarettes, to BBDO, putting the agency on the brink of bankruptcy.
References
Further reading
Rosenshine, Allen. Funny Business: Moguls, Mobsters, Megastars, and the Mad, Mad World of the Ad Game.
External links