History professor?

or

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Execution becomes content in a work of a genius

- Bill Bernbach

William Bernbach
(1911-1982)
Bernbach was born in the Bronx. His father designed womens clothes. After completing his schooling, he went to New York University everyday by subway, where he studied English, music, and philosophy.

William Bernbach
Advertising Department

1932

Office boy

Schenley Distillers Company

1939

Ghostwriter

Grover Whalen

William Bernbach
1940
Copywriter William H. Weintraub

World War II

1945

Copy Chief

Grey Advertising

Im worried that were going to fall into the trap of bigness, that were going to worship techniques instead of substance. I dont want academicians. I dont want scientists. I dont want people who do the right things...Let us blaze new trails.

DDB
June 1949
Maxwell Dane William Bernbach

Ned Doyle

Doyle, Dane, Bernbach

William Bernbach Bill Bernbach

Be careful, maybe he is right!

Almost all his colleagues called him BILL.

Bill Bernbach
For Bernbach, carrying out numerous studies, attaching excessive importance to tests, and building the results of those tests up into certainties led ineluctably to uniformity and a failure to capture the viewers interest.

Sometimes I play things I never heard myself. - Thelonius Monk

DDB
El Al Israel Airlines Avis Levys Rye bread

Polaroid
Ohrbachs store

Volkswagen

Ohrbachs

Ohrbachs

Liberal Trade-In: bring in your wife and just a few dollars...we will give you a new woman.

Levys

Levys
The posters marked the beginning of a campaign that made this authentic Jewish rye bread a delicacy appreciated far beyond the confines of New York.

Polaroid
The launch took place on television with a one-minute film which had a very simple structure.
In 1958, one ad simply showed a ridiculous little man on a beach holding a Polaroid camera in his hand, pursued by a horde of pin-ups.

El Al

For the launch of the transatlantic New YorkTel Aviv flight, offering reduced prices of 20%

DDB
In 1958, DDB won five of the eight gold medals awarded by the New York Art Directors Club. In 1959, DDB became one of the top ten groups, with billings of $28M.

Volkswagen
The arrival of the German manufacturer was not Worse still, as in creator of Firstly, they would be greeted with joythethe agency.the campaign Julian Koenig neatly put it, without charm,selling astyle, car advertising a car they would be without Nazi in the power, and without the world! withoutbiggest Jewish city in an automatic transmission.

Volkswagen
Julian Koenig, the copywriter, refused to work with Bernbach on the account. Koenig was Jewish. George Lois, who was Greek, also refused. Several members of his family had been massacred by the Germans. So it was Helmut Krone alone who would team up with Bernbach.

Volkswagen
However, by a stroke of luck, West Germany had just agreed to sell a fleet of fighter planes to Israel. Julian ran into Lois office, and both agreed that the circumstances had changed. They went to see Bernbach to tell him that they would work on the Volkswagen after all. Meanwhile, Helmut Krone had developed a type of layout for the campaign.

Volkswagen

Bernbach decided to send Julian and George to Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen headquarters. He sent a chaperon with them in the person of Ed McNeilly, head of advertising.

Volkswagen
Dr. Nordhoff, the boss of Volkswagen.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Later, when American astronauts were setting foot on the moon, DDB created an ad showing the lunar module.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Avis
In the autumn of 1962, the rental car company Avis switched its $1.5M account from McCann-Erickson to DDB.
According to the analysts, Americans generally only put their trust in winners. Once again, Bernbach paid no heed on this.

Avis

Avis
Avis share of the market increased by 28%, with billings rising from $3.5M to $5M.
Avis slogan We try harder was on everyones lips and even appeared on lapel badges which were sold to the public.

DDB

American Airlines and Seagram arrived from Young and Rubicam. They were followed by Heinz, Sony, Uniroyal, Lever, Gillette, Bristol Myers, and Mobil.

DDB
In 1966, DDB joined the club of top ten agencies in the world, with billings of $130M. They were chosen as the best in opinion polls.

Bills Creative Zoo

It included the three greatest graphic designers of the time: Paul Rand, Bob Gage, and Helmut Krone.
And then there was Phyllis Robinson, who was head of copywriting and had several young women under her wing, notably Judy Protas, Paula Green, and Mary Wells.

Bills Creative Zoo

Other distinguished people who worked at DDB included Ed Vellanti, David Herzourn, John Noble, Ron Rosenfeld, a future copywriting star, and the unruly Julian Koenig, already a star, who was the most gifted of all. There was also the rather unrefined George Lois.

Bills Creative Zoo

When they left DDB, Bills disciples would preach the Bernbach creative creed. Some joined other agencies; others set up their own businesses. Some were unable to succeed outside of DDB, and eventually came back to their dad.

DDB
In 1964, DDB was floated on the New York stock market. The idea had been Max Danes, with the aim of getting funds to enable the agency to diversify. With the agencys introduction on the stock market, diversification, and the creation of a network of offices, DDB seemed to lose its uniqueness, its strength, and its soul.

DDB

Unlike other agencies, DDB was a chapel, built by one man: Bill Bernbach. And unlike Volkswagen Beetles, Bernbachs could not be mass-produced.

DDB
After ten years of creative supremacy and stunning commercial results, DDB began the 1970s by losing one of its biggest accounts: Alka-Seltzer. The $20M went instead to Wells, Rich, Greene, a new agency created by Mary Wells.

DDB

Business had dropped by $33M in 1972. In 1973, the agency lost a further $11M in accounts.

Bill Bernbach
When Bill died on October 2, 1982, there would still be a little of Bernbach in other agencies where his disciples were working, but there would never be another DDB.

Because there was no Bill. The magician was no longer there and the magic had gone with him.

DDB

DDB merged with Needham, Harper and Steers under the control of the Saatchi Brothers.

Bills Legacy

But the campaigns for Levys, Ohrbachs, Volkswagen, Polaroid, Alka-Seltzer, and Sony are eternal.