DDB history

In 1951 the agency opened a New York office to concentrate on the rapidly expanding television industry.

By 1954 the firm had grown sufficiently to expand to the West Coast by taking over Factor-Breyer, a Los Angeles agency.

In 1960 the agency won the account of Avis, then the number-two auto rental company.

Ela foi também responsável pela campanha publicitária que ajudou Lyndon B. Johnson a ganhar a presidência dos Estados Unidos da América em 1964.

To strengthen its still weak New York base, the firm merged with Doherty, Clifford, Steers and Shenfield in 1965 and changed its name to Needham, Harper & Steers.

In 1966 the firm signed Mobil Oil, a major client for the next two decades with advertising budgets in the tens of millions of dollars.

In 1972 the agency opened an office in Washington, D.C. It initially handled advertising from local McDonald's owner/operator co-ops, but soon it was winning government, media, and local retail clients.

In 1980 NH&S started an Issues & Images division to concentrate on corporate, government, and association advertising.

In June 1982 the firm restructured, citing the preparation for future growth.

In 1984 NH&S bought the DR Group, Inc., a large direct-response advertising company with offices in New York, Boston, and London.

A centerpiece of the celebration today is the dropping of ''Needham'' from the name of the agency, which had been DDB Needham Worldwide Communications Group since 1986.

In the fall of 1987, with a creative direction chosen, Reinhard replaced executive creative director John Noble, who had been a divisive advocate of DDB methods, with the team of Jack Mariucci and Robert Mackall.

In 1988 the firm continued to win new accounts, like the $18.5 million contract to create advertisements for the New York State Lottery and a $25--30 million account for a global campaign for Seagram's Martell cognac.

In May 1992 the firm brought in Andy Berlin as president of the New York office.

But the effort was lagging by mid-1993, and billings in the Chicago office had actually been declining slightly for the past several years.

The agency, by renaming itself DDB, is accelerating a process that started in 1994 at various offices; for instance, BMP DDB Needham in London became BMP DDB.