BBDO is a worldwide
advertising agencyAn advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
network, with its headquarters in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Formed through a merger of BDO (Barton, Durstine & Osborn) and Batten Co. in 1928, BBDO Worldwide has been named the "Most Awarded Agency Network in the World" by The
Gunn ReportThe Gunn Report and Showreel of the Year is an annual publication detailing the most successful print and television advertising campaigns of the year. It is authored by Donald Gunn and Emma Wilkie, and published by Flaxman Wilkie...
in 2007, for the second year running.
BBDO, with 17,200 employees in 287 offices in 77 countries, is the largest of three global networks (BBDO,
TBWATBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency headquartered in New York City. The Agency is a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising agency holding company. It was founded in 1970 in Paris, France, by Tragos , Bonnange , Wiesendanger , and Ajroldi...
,
DDB WorldwideDDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc, a part of Omnicom Group Inc., is the advertising agency company with highest revenue in the world at US$12.69 billion, according to Advertising Age's agency rankings...
) of agencies in Omnicom's portfolio.
BBDO was named Agency of the Year in 2005 by
ADWEEKAdweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
,
Advertising AgeAdvertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
, and
Campaign MagazineCampaign is the leading weekly UK trade magazine published by the Haymarket Group about the advertising and commercial media industry, known as "the Bible of British adland"....
.
History
BBDO was founded in 1928 by:
- George Batten
George Batten was a former Ayer employee who opened the George Batten Newspaper Advertising Agency on Park Row in New York City in 1891. Fiercely religious and humorless, he endeavored to make his advertisements 100% accurate...
- Bruce Fairchild Barton
Bruce Fairchild Barton was an American author, advertising executive, and politician. -Early years:Born in Tennessee in 1886, he graduated from Amherst College in 1907. He worked as a publicist and magazine editor before co-founding the Barton, Durstine & Osborn advertising agency in 1919...
- Roy Sarles Durstine
- Alex Faickney Osborn
Alex Faickney Osborn was an advertising manager and the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming.-Early life:...
During the years of Alex Osborn's association with the BBDO, it became one of the leading advertising agencies in the United States, with a total of 52 offices throughout the world. Its annual billing increased from $1 million in 1919 to $20 million in 1939, when Osborn became executive vice-president, and to $207 million in 1957.
The Work
With an extensive portfolio of creative advertising, BBDO focuses on the philosophy of "Total Work", citing "at BBDO, the Work encompasses every kind of creative content that can touch the consumer and reinforce the brand". The company's extensive list of clients includes:
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in an office in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a...
,
PepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in many places such as retail stores, restaurants, schools, cinemas and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked...
,
IkeaIKEA is a privately-held, international home products retailer that sells flat pack furniture, accessories, and bathroom and kitchen items in their retail stores around the world...
,
FedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States. The name "FedEx" is a syllabic abbreviation of the name of the company's original air division, Federal Express, which was used from 1978 until 2000.-History:FedEx Corporation was...
,
BBC NewsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
,
General ElectricThe General Electric Company, or GE , is a multinational American technology and services conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York. In 2009, Forbes ranked GE as the world's largest company...
, Campbells,
GilletteGillette may refer to:* Gillette , safety razor manufacturer* Gillette Stadium* Gillette, New Jersey* Gillette, Wyoming* Gilette, Alpes-Maritimes, France* Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, Minnesota hospital...
,
MotorolaMotorola, Inc. is an American, multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, and also designs and sells wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal...
,
ChryslerChrysler Group, LLC is an American automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG...
,
PfizerPfizer Incorporated is a pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world. The company is based in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut...
,
WrigleyThe William Wrigley Jr. Company was founded on April 1, 1891 originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began offering chewing gum with each can of baking powder...
, and Unicef amongst many more.
Timeline
- 1891 George Batten
George Batten was a former Ayer employee who opened the George Batten Newspaper Advertising Agency on Park Row in New York City in 1891. Fiercely religious and humorless, he endeavored to make his advertisements 100% accurate...
, 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."
- 1906 The agency, now with 50 employees, moves to the Metropolitan Annex building on East 24th Street, occupying the entire 11th floor - .
- 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
Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is an international designer and manufacturer of floors, ceilings and cabinets. Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Armstrong operates 40 plants in 10 countries and has approximately 12,300 employees worldwide. In 2006, Armstrong’s net sales were $3.42 billion, with...
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
Alex Faickney Osborn was an advertising manager and the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming.-Early life:...
joins the agency, renamed Barton, Durstine & Osborn.
- 1920 General Electric
The General Electric Company, or GE , is a multinational American technology and services conglomerate incorporated in the State of New York. In 2009, Forbes ranked GE as the world's largest company...
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
The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
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
Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"...
begins her first commercially sponsored radio show for BBDO client La PalinaLa Palina is a brand of cigars of particular note in the history of radio and advertising. The Congress Cigar Company La Palina is a brand of cigars of particular note in the history of radio and advertising. The Congress Cigar Company La Palina is a brand of cigars of particular note in the...
cigars. La Palina was originated by Sam Paley, father of William S. PaleyWilliam Samuel Paley , the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States....
, president of CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
. (The inside of every La Palina box was adorned with a picture of Mrs. Sam Paley in a Spanish costume.)
- 1935 DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont or Du Pont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont is currently the world's second largest chemical company in terms of market capitalization and...
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
The hit parade is a list of tunes—songs and instrumentals—that are most popular at any given time. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936...
" radio show. "Soon" was the No. 1 song.
- 1937 Bruce Barton is appointed to an unexpired term in the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
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
Alex Faickney Osborn was an advertising manager and the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming.-Early life:...
.
- 1939 Lever Bros.
The British manufacturer Lever Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James.-History:In 1885 they bought a small soap works in Warrington. Using glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow, to manufacture soap, they produced a good,...
becomes a BBDO client.
- 1940 After losing his campaign for the Senate, Bruce Barton returns as president of BBDO.
- 1940 Alex Osborn introduces "brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. In 1953 the method was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with...
," 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
Chrysler Group, LLC is an American automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG...
moves its Dodge Truck and Car Divisions, with billings of $21 million, to BBDO. On April 6, BBDO wins the $17 million PepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in many places such as retail stores, restaurants, schools, cinemas and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked...
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
Philip Bernard Dusenberry was an American advertising executive for the BBDO advertising agency.Dusenberry was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1936, and attended Emory & Henry College in Virginia...
is hired as a junior copywriter.
- 1963 Jim Jordan creates the campaign "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!
"Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" is an enduring slogan which appeared in magazine, newspaper, and television advertisements for Tareyton cigarettes from 1963 until 1981. It was the American Tobacco Company's most visible ad campaign in the 1960s and 1970s.-Beginnings:The slogan...
"
- 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
Unilever is a multinational corporation, formed of British and Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products...
product. Wisk left BBDO in 1989.
- 1973 BBDO creates the campaign (and jingle) "Have it your way" for Burger King
Burger King , often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The first restaurant was opened in Miami, Florida in 1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton, and has since used several...
.
- 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
Philip Bernard Dusenberry was an American advertising executive for the BBDO advertising agency.Dusenberry was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1936, and attended Emory & Henry College in Virginia...
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).
- 1984 On January 27, Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson , known as the "King of Pop", was an American musician and one of the most commercially successful and influential entertainers of all time...
's hair is accidentally set on fire during filming of a PepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in many places such as retail stores, restaurants, schools, cinemas and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked...
commercial. The mishap made front page news around the world. (Phil DusenberryPhilip Bernard Dusenberry was an American advertising executive for the BBDO advertising agency.Dusenberry was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1936, and attended Emory & Henry College in Virginia...
'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
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
selects BBDO as Agency of the Year.
- 1986 BBDO wins the $50 million Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and the iPhone...
account from Chiat\Day, which had produced Apple's "1984" Super Bowl commercial. Apple returned to TBWA\Chiat\Day in 1997 soon after Steve JobsSteven Paul "Steve" Jobs is an American businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs previously served as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios....
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.
- 1994 BBDO is selected Agency of the Year by both Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
and Advertising Age.
- 2005 BBDO Chicago is reborn as Energy BBDO to better communicate unique ability to energize brands.
- 2007 BBDO Worldwide is awarded the Network of the Year award at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.
- 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 third year in a row.
In popular culture
- In the 1933
-Events:*British Film Institute founded.*March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey....
comedy Hard to Handle, James CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.For his first performing...
says, "Well, so long, boys. I'm lunching with Bruce Barton of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn."
- In an episode of Jack Benny
Jack Benny , born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
'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 StrikeLucky Strike is a famous brand of American cigarettes, often referred to as "Luckies".- History :The brand was first introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company , and...
). 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 AllenFred Allen , born John Florence Sullivan, was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and...
.
- In the 1961
The year 1961 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue
source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1961.shtml- Awards :Academy Awards:*Bridge to the Sun...
Doris DayDoris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff , known by her stage name Doris Day, is an American singer and actress.With the versatility to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of America's biggest box-office stars. Day has 39 movies to her credit, even though she retired from films in...
-Rock HudsonRock Hudson was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably in several romantic comedies with his most famous co-star, Doris Day...
film Lover Come BackLover Come Back is a 1961 romantic comedy released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas....
, 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.
- A character in the 1961 Broadway musical and 1967
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:*December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
film How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
is named Benjamin Burton Daniel Ovington, and referred to by his initials, "BBDO." Naturally he becomes the head of advertising.
- Mentioned in the 1963 parody song "Harvey and Sheila" ("Hava Nagila") by Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
: "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
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, and actor. He has worked with performers including Grace Kelly, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Loudon Wainwright III, Silverchair, Ry Cooder and Joanna Newsom....
alludes to the firm in "Palm Desert" on his 1968 album "Song CycleA song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
": "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."
- In the 1999
The year 1998 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
film The Truman ShowThe Truman Show is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
, Jim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and stand-up comedian. Carrey is best known for his performances as multiple characters in the sketch comedy show In Living Color, as the title character in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, as the unlucky TV...
works at a company named Omnicom (BBDO's parent company).
- In the 2000
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.-Top-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the United States and Canada in 2000...
Helen HuntHelen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good As It Gets, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress...
-Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
film What Women WantWhat Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie achieved enormous success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall , a Chicago...
, Hunt's character leaves top agency "BBD&O" to work at fictional Sloane/CurtisSloane Curtis Advertising may refer to several fictional advertising agencies.*Sloane Curtis Advertising in Baby Boom, where Diane Keaton's character works....
.
- The agency Sterling Cooper in the TV series Mad Men
Mad Men is an American period drama television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The show is broadcast on the American cable network AMC and is produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007 and completed its second season on October 26, 2008...
, set in the early 1960s, is based on BBDO, according to the show's creator, Matthew Weiner http://www.adweek.com/aw/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003615039. 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 November 2008, a sex tape circulated of two of the employees having sex in an office, it went viral and was found on gawker and other websites. The person who recorded the video was fired, as were those engaging in the act.
- Allen Rosenshine, who was made CEO of BBDO in 1985, published a book Funny Business - Moguls, Mobsters, Megastars, And the Mad, Mad World of the Ad Game with anecdotes about his many years in the ad business.
External links