This was great and it made me think a lot. So much of what you said about betraying the philosophy is spot on, but I wonder, in a business (and a world) that puts so much emphasis on scale and growth, if it could have turned out any other way. I wonder if thinking that today’s DDB (despite some real desire) could truly have anything to do with Bernbach’s DDB is like believing that The Beatles could both be immortal and scale. There were 4 of them but are there 400 or 4000? And how many of the 4000 in the current version, 60 years later, can be as good as the original 4? It’s not the current version’s fault, it’s just not the same thing, (And the people calling the shots likely had no intention of it being that) they just kept the same name. (Sort of)
I’m sad there’s not an agency called DDB anymore. I never worked there (knew a bunch of people who did) but I went deep into the lore. I’d imagine that Bernbach’s DDB has been gone for a very long time. That was so rare, it’s amazing it existed at all, to expect it to live forever and then inside a holding company is probably too much. But it’s there in the story you’re telling. Keep telling it. And I’ll try to do the same.
This is so F’ing timely, you have no idea. Thank you for the gift.
This was great and it made me think a lot. So much of what you said about betraying the philosophy is spot on, but I wonder, in a business (and a world) that puts so much emphasis on scale and growth, if it could have turned out any other way. I wonder if thinking that today’s DDB (despite some real desire) could truly have anything to do with Bernbach’s DDB is like believing that The Beatles could both be immortal and scale. There were 4 of them but are there 400 or 4000? And how many of the 4000 in the current version, 60 years later, can be as good as the original 4? It’s not the current version’s fault, it’s just not the same thing, (And the people calling the shots likely had no intention of it being that) they just kept the same name. (Sort of)
I’m sad there’s not an agency called DDB anymore. I never worked there (knew a bunch of people who did) but I went deep into the lore. I’d imagine that Bernbach’s DDB has been gone for a very long time. That was so rare, it’s amazing it existed at all, to expect it to live forever and then inside a holding company is probably too much. But it’s there in the story you’re telling. Keep telling it. And I’ll try to do the same.
Best read ever… thanks Paul, you are a keeper!
Sooo good. And sooo many quotables that make it so good. Keep sharing your big-thoughts-bigger-heart energy.