Bill Bernbach Overview

Bill Bernbach was rather down-to-earth and uneccentric for an ad-man who is still considered the "Father of the Creative Revolution." Though his name came third on the masthead of Doyle Dane Bernbach, there was no question that Bill Bernbach was the... [more]

Bill Bernbach was rather down-to-earth and uneccentric for an ad-man who is still considered the "Father of the Creative Revolution." Though his name came third on the masthead of Doyle Dane Bernbach, there was no question that Bill Bernbach was the impetus and direction behind the agency. After ghostwriting publicity for the 1939 New York World Fair, Bernbach landed a job with the Weintraub agency. There he partnered with art director Paul Rand, whose graphic and industrial design background influenced Bernbach's ideas about ad layout. Like his Volkswagon headline that urged the public to "Think Small," the Bernbach's concepts had a trademark simplicity that permeated both the copy and visual elements. After Weintraub, Bernbach moved on to Grey Advertising, where he ascended from copywriter to creative director in four years. In a now-famous 1947 letter to his bosses at Grey, where he feared his campaigns were being diluted by testing, he commented, "I'm worried...that we're going to worship techniques instead of substance. Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art." His disdain for research and scientific advertising made him the "hero of the creative fraternity" according to fellow ad-man David Ogilvy. When DDB opened in 1949 it had only one main (and small-budget) account, Ohrbach's, a not-so-trendy discount department store on New York's not-so-fashionable Seventh Avenue. Instead of mentioning bargain prices in the ads, as department stores had done in the past, Bernbach used a softer approach. For instance, one ad featured a puppy lamenting the loss of its time in the park because its owner was spending all day at Ohrbach's. In another, a man is shown carrying in his wife to exchange her for a "new woman" for just a "few dollars" under the headline "Liberal Trade-In." The store was suddenly as popular as Macy's among New Yorkers. Levy's Bread came calling soon afterward and Bernbach broadened the struggling Jewish rye-maker's target to include non-Jews with the "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's" campaign, featuring large photos of ethnically diverse people enjoying sandwiches on Levy's bread. Success here brought El Al airlines, for which Bernbach created one of his most famous ads: a photo of a turbulent sea is torn away, leaving white space on which copy says that the Atlantic Ocean will soon be 20 percent smaller (and one line of body copy explains that the airline will be the first to offer cross-oceanic jet service). The ad broke from previously staid airline advertising, which had done little more than show airplanes and logos. The success of these campaigns, all executed with small budgets, brought even bigger clients calling. The most famous of these is Volkswagen, for which DDB provided the quintessential campaign of the 1950-60s Creative Revolution. "Think Small," "Lemon," and other self-deprecating headlines presented the Beetle in an offbeat manner and afforded an opportunity to make things right with honest, explanatory body copy. Think small in terms of price and the efficiency of a non-gas guzzler. The lemon is a car with a small interior blemish, enough to keep it on the assembly line. As success built upon success, Bernbach helped DDB produce memorable campaigns for myriad other clients, including Avis, Clairol, Polaroid, Mobil, and Jamaica. While much of the work coming out of DDB was created by other writers and art directors, Bernbach is universally recalled as an inspirational mentor; he reviewed all work and created an atmosphere where creative personalities blossomed. [show less]