BBDO
Encyclopedia
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency
Advertising agency
An 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 York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. 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. BBDO Worldwide was recently named the "Most Awarded Agency Network in the World" by The Gunn Report
Gunn Report
The 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...

in 2010 and in 2009, 2008, and 2007 before that. With 15,000 employees in 287 offices in 79 countries, it is the largest of three global networks (BBDO, DDB
DDB Worldwide
DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc., known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group Inc, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies...

, TBWA) of agencies in Omnicom's portfolio. BBDO was named Agency of the Year in 2005 by ADWEEK
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....

, Advertising Age
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...

, and Campaign Magazine
Campaign Magazine
Campaign 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"....

. 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.

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
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

,
PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...

,
Diageo
Diageo
Diageo plc is a global alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of spirits and a major producer of beer and wine....

,
Skanska
Skanska
Skanska AB, is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden, where it also is the largest construction company. The company's head office is in Solna, north of Stockholm.-History:...

,
FedEx
FedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...

,
General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

,
Campbell's,
Arby's
Arby's
Arby's is a fast food restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Roark Capital Group owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. It is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. The Arby's menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetizers,...

,
Gillette,
Motorola Solutions,
Orbitz
Orbitz
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. is an Internet travel company headquartered in the Citigroup Center in Near West Side, Chicago, Illinois. Through its primary web site Orbitz.com, Orbitz Worldwide enables travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products, facilitating 1.5 million flight...

,
Bayer
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...

,
Wrigley
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
The William Wrigley Jr. Company is a company headquartered in the Wrigley Building in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. The 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 packaging...

,
AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

,
Mars
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...

,
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

,
Pinnacle Foods
Pinnacle Foods
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC is a leading packaged foods company headquartered in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, owned by The Blackstone Group. Pinnacle Foods is a key player in the shelf stable and frozen food categories and their products can be found in more than 85% of American households.The company...


Monster.com
Monster.com
Monster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Monster is one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide, according to comScore Media Metrics...

,
HBO,
Hyatt Hotels,
Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

,
Lowe's
Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a U.S.-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves more than 14 million customers a week in its 1,710 stores in the United States and 20 in Canada. Expansion into Canada began in...

,
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

,
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....

,
Fonterra
Fonterra
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative owned by almost 10,500 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ$19.87 billion, is New Zealand's largest company.- History :In...

,
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

,
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

,
Watson's
Watson's
Watson's or Watson's is part of the Health and Beauty retail and consumer division of the Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson Group, which in turn is part of the world wide conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd...

,
Emirates,
ThaiBev,
Syngenta
Syngenta
Syngenta AG is a large global Swiss agribusiness company which notably markets seeds and pesticides. Syngenta is involved in biotechnology and genomic research. The company is a leader in crop protection, and ranks third in total sales in the commercial agricultural seeds market. Sales in 2010 were...

, and
Olympus
Olympus Corporation
is a Japan-based manufacturer of optics and reprography products. Olympus was established on 12 October 1919, initially specializing in microscope and thermometer businesses. Its global headquarters are in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, while its USA operations are based in Center Valley, Pennsylvania,...


History

  • 1891 George Batten
    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...

     (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."
  • 1906 The agency, now with 50 employees, moves to the Metropolitan Annex building on East 24th Street, occupying the entire 11th floor – 5000 square feet (464.5 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
    Armstrong World Industries
    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
    Alex Faickney Osborn was an advertising executive and the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming.-Early life:...

     joins the agency, renamed Barton, Durstine & Osborn.
  • 1920 General Electric
    General Electric
    General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

     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
    Metropolitan Opera
    The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

     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
    Kate Smith
    Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American Popular singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s.Smith was born in Greenville, Virginia...

     begins her first commercially sponsored radio show for BBDO client La Palina
    La Palina
    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 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. Paley
    William S. Paley
    William S. Paley was 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.-Early life:...

    , president of CBS
    CBS
    CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

    . (The inside of every La Palina box was adorned with a picture of Mrs. Sam Paley in a Spanish costume.)
  • 1935 DuPont
    DuPont
    E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

     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
    Hit parade
    A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. 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
    United States House of Representatives
    The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House 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
    Alex Faickney Osborn was an advertising executive and the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming.-Early life:...

    .
  • 1939 Lever Bros.
    Lever Brothers
    Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...

     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
    Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...

    ," 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
    Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

     moves its Dodge Truck and Car Divisions, with billings of $21 million, to BBDO. On April 6, BBDO wins the $17 million Pepsi
    Pepsi
    Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

     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
    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!
    "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
    Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation 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
    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 company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

    .
  • 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
    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). 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
    Michael Jackson
    Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

    's hair is accidentally set on fire during filming of a Pepsi
    Pepsi
    Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

     commercial. The mishap made front page news around the world. (Phil Dusenberry
    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...

    '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
    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 Computer
    Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

     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
    Steve Jobs
    Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...

     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
    Adweek
    Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....

     and Advertising Age.
  • 2004 Andrew Robertson is named President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Worldwide
  • 2004 David Lubars is appointed Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America
  • 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.

In popular culture

BBDO has had numerous appearances in American popular culture. Notable mentions include:
  • In the 1933
    1933 in film
    -Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....

     comedy Hard to Handle, James Cagney
    James Cagney
    James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

     says, "Well, so long, boys. I'm lunching with Bruce Barton of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn."

  • In an episode of Jack Benny
    Jack Benny
    Jack Benny 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 Strike
    Lucky Strike
    Lucky Strike is a brand of cigarette owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top selling cigarette in the United States during the 1930s.- History :...

    ). 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
    Fred Allen
    Fred Allen 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 fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...

    .

  • In the 1961
    1961 in film
    The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...

     Doris Day
    Doris Day
    Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

    -Rock Hudson
    Rock Hudson
    Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

     film Lover Come Back
    Lover Come Back
    Lover Come Back is a 1961 Eastmancolor 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
    1967 in film
    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 Trying
    How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
    How 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.

  • In the 1963 parody song "Harvey and Sheila" ("Hava Nagila
    Hava Nagila
    "Hava Nagila" is a Hebrew folk song that has become a staple of band performers at Jewish weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.-History:...

    ") by Allan Sherman
    Allan Sherman
    Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and 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...

    , 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
    Van Dyke Parks
    Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....

     alludes to the firm in "Palm Desert" on his 1968 album "Song Cycle
    Song cycle
    A 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
    1998 in film
    -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 Show
    The Truman Show
    The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical 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 Carrey
    Jim Carrey
    James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...

     works at a company named Omnicom (BBDO's parent company).

  • In the 2000
    2000 in film
    The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....

     Helen Hunt
    Helen Hunt
    Helen 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...

    -Mel Gibson
    Mel Gibson
    Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

     film What Women Want
    What Women Want
    What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office 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/Curtis.

  • The agency Sterling Cooper in the TV series Mad Men
    Mad Men
    Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...

    , set in the early 1960s, is supposedly inspired by BBDO, according to the show's creator, Matthew Weiner. 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
    Spam (food)
    Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...

     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.

Further reading

Rosenshine, Allen. Funny Business: Moguls, Mobsters, Megastars, and the Mad, Mad World of the Ad Game.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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