By Hubert Boulos
CEO and founder of Das Kapital and former CEO of DDB Middle East
DDB’s sunset has been in the news for more than a month, and now the guillotine has fallen. Any Adman’s feed on Linkedin is filled with opinions, emotions, and tears. I do not believe any death of any other agency has generated as many emotions and outrage. Wink wink FCB and Mullen Lowe! But hey, let’s not cry over spilled milk. Anyone who has worked there lately knows why DDB got axed. It had stopped breathing a while ago. A perfect case of lions led by donkeys. Bernbach used to say, that to work at DDB you had to be “Talented and Nice”. I guess some people at the top there, clearly missed the “talent” part, hence the tragic, but expected outcome.
So yes, DDB is the most creative agency ever. That’s not even debatable. It has more iconic campaigns than any other agency. Bill Bernbach is the greatest adman of all times! His quotes and wisdom can be used on a daily basis as a North Star, especially in an era where everybody seems to have lost the plot with digital diarrhea on AI steroids. And here’s one from Bernbach, on the matter, from the 1960’s: “New inventions will never create great ideas” .
And guess what? Here’s the good news, all of DDB is yours. The agency no longer exists, so anything Bill Bernbach said, or any of the amazing work DDB produced anywhere, is all yours! I actually showed a DDB commercial today in a pitch as a great example of the direction we should be taking. I did that, without any fear of seeing the prospective client interested in an agency called DDB. All the DDB ad library is now ours!
From now on, there will be a DDB in each of us Admen and Adwomen. We can happily steal with pride anything we want from the DDB legacy and use it to our advantage. Omnicom does not want it! In times where we desperately need a new creative revolution, we can all get inspired by Bill Bernbah. He initiated the first creative revolution. Everything he said is even more relevant today. Whilst most established agencies will have their own philosophies, the new independents can steal the entire DDB playbook and keep turning ideas into magic.
Here’s my personal loot: “Bill Bernbach Said” is a mandatory reading for anyone at Das Kapital, my agency. I will write on my walls the ‘4 Freedoms at DDB’. Ironically these are not from Bill Bernbach but from the legend who succeeded him: Mr Keith Reinhardt. Not so long ago, legends could actually succeed legends in Adland.
Any business can actually be built on these pillars:
- The freedom to be (be who you are)
- The freedom from fear (from your management and from your clients)
- The freedom from chaos (creative industries need an organized chaos)
- The freedom to fail (you don’t achieve great things without taking risks)
Unfortunately for DDB, their past leadership took the “freedom to fail” a bit too literally and too far!
DDB will never die. It will certainly outlast any holding company. As long as there is a Madman alive, Bill Bernbach is alive. True legends never die. Just try to remember the names behind TBW and A or BBD and O, or the first name of Mr McCann, and you’ll perfectly understand what I mean. Good luck guys ever catching up with Mr Bill Bernbach! And as a final tribute : WAZZZZZZZZUUUUUUUUP Mr Bernbach!
