About Advertising: Bernbach Puts Agency's Iron Fist in Velvet Glove The 1960s saw the ascendency of the creative man in advertising, and surely the grand guru of this creative cult was William Bernbach. The chairman of the board of New York-based Doyle Dane Bernbach is conceded to be the guiding genius behind 15 years of advertising, which took Volkswagen from obscurity to a major spot in the U.S. automotive market; and which included the Avis' "We're No. 2 We Try Harder" campaign and Alka-Seltzer's laugh-provoking "newly-weds" and "spicy meatball" commercials. The Bernbach touch Is distinctive whether on TV, in print or on billboards. It set a style copied by a large segment of the industry. Some advertising people might characterize the Bernbach approach as "light touch and soft sell." . . Soft sell?, .. , . Hell, no, Bernbach said in .an interview here last week it's , hard sen. . .;. ' "We're hard sell plus being attractive," he said, "We say things that stem right from the product and that's hard sell but we try to say them creatively. "What's the use of hard sell that no one listens to; the kind that BY, MARTIN EOSSMAN Tlnwt Staff Wriur shouts. How effective can it be? On the other hand, being entertaining without drawing strength from the product itself never was any good, either. "You need that wonderful combination of both. The advertiser who thinks he has to choose between the straightforward and dull or the beautiful but dumb is mistaken. The trick is to be relevant as well as bright." As a "hot" agency, Poyle Dane has built a reputation of insisting on having its own way In the creative approach to a campaign supposedly to the point of resigning an account if its views are challenged. That, Bernbach emphasized, is "an exaggerated story. We don't go in god-like; that's ridiculous." He added: "What gives us that reputation is that if we have convictions, we stand up for them. And we happen to have strong convictions.-But if a client ha3 a suggestion we didn't think, of, we will take it and be grateful." The point, he said, Is that the agency never approaches a client "out of fear," adding: "Any client who wants that kind of relationship is making a big mistake." -Reason is on his side, Bernbach said. "We get our 15 (commission) regardless of what they run, so it's never a personal thing. And we're certainly not out to mortify anybody." In what generally was a tough year for the advertising ' business, Doyle Dane Bernbach had its best year ever in both billings and profits in fiscal 1970, Bernbach said. (One of a handful of publicly owned agencies, DDB has not yet reported for the fiscal year, but for the nine months ended July 31, 1970 it had billings of $209.2 million and earnings of $3.4 million, equal to $1.80 per year.) , About 10 of the agency's business is handled by its West Coast office, headed by Ted Factor, executive vice president. The West Coast office is almost autonomous because it knows the territory intimately, Bernbach said, adding: "However, we work very closely on the creative product. We move people back and forth between here and New York. "I think the West Coast office does better outdoor (billboards) than we do in New York." As a consequence, Please Turn to Page 10, Col. 1
