BBDO Chief Wants To Spark Love Affairs With Advertisers

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Veteran ad man Dave Lubars likes to point out that as of 2003 the average American citizen was being bombarded by 5,000 advertising messages a day, up from 950 in 1985, as the number of TV stations soared to 200 from 15 in some regions during the period, magazine titles jumped by 50%, and Internet usage soared.

“Despite all this choice, the amount of time people spend consuming media remains the same, or around 60 hours per week,” the khaki-clad chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO North America said. “The most valuable thing in life is time, and consumers can flick off anything they don’t want to watch like a fly.Now we must use all different ways to seek them out. Our job is to find a way to get masses of people to engage and fall in love with you.”

Mr. Lubars, 47, rejoined BBDO in 2004 after a stint with a Midwest agency. In 2005, BBDO booked a record $1.5 billion in new business and was named Agency of the Year byADWEEK, Advertising Age, and Britain’s Campaign magazine. This summer, BBDO won more creative awards at the annual Cannes Festival than any other agency.

“We’ve had some success, but the awards were the wrong color.Too many bronzes,” he said in a recent interview in his office.

Mr. Lubars said he believes that advertising must deliver more than traditional services. For instance, he hired famous Hollywood directors to create a series of mini films to promote BMW cars.

“Their customers were young guys already into technology, and they knew that 90% were online already. The client panicked because it couldn’t get mass marketing so we did these films,” he said.

BBDO is currently doing a half-animated series for children on behalf of Snickers, the candy bar. The agency and its client also have formed a partnership to cash in on the merchandising, gaming, and DVDs that will result.

It’s also doing a comedy series for sponsor Sierra Mist, which will sponsor a traveling improv theatre.

“We are chefs, not waiters. We are in the service business. Waiters take orders from clients, but what clients want is for you to be a chef. They want to enjoy sumptuous sauces or other delights which add value,” he said.

“Take Snickers,” he added. “They never thought of this series but just wanted to place some ads. We brought back more.”

With competition for consumer headspace accelerating and TV viewers able to bypass commercials, content has become king, he said.”I zip through the commercials. If me, the head of a large advertising agency, doesn’t like looking at ads, then who does?” he said. “Advertisements had better be entertaining because the marketplace is going to get noisier and noisier.”

The storied agency (which coined the phrases “Pepsi Generation” and “ring around the collar”) was created in 1928 and became one of the first on Madison Avenue, now a figurative description of the global advertising industry. While agencies exist everywhere, Manhattan remains the hub.

“New York City is the advertising center of the world because it’s the media center and the biggest clients are also in the East,” he said. “This island is an oasis of creativity. New York invented creativity in advertising and talent comes here because the city is a big draw.”

The industry is an eclectic mix of skills, but Mr. Lubars is unique in that he began studying journalism before switching to advertising.

“I’ve always liked to write, but journalism’s formulaic.It didn’t suit me,”he said.

His journalistic background has made him concerned about trends that have changed the practice of journalism, its usefulness to advertisers, as well as its business model.

“Seems to me journalism was supposed to be society’s ombudsman, and now television and print both pick sides. Where does one get an agnostic view? Do you know? Should they do this? It’s dangerous. I don’t know if it’s a top of mind thing, if people know what’s happened, regarding biases,” he said.

He says that reading news online is “not realistic,” that print will be immune as people will continue to prefer to curl up with a newspaper, magazine, or book.

Advertising agencies and Hollywood, he says, face the biggest challenges.

dianefrancispost@gmail.com


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