A new book might take a bit of the shine off DDB legend, Bill Bernbach (the “B” in DDB).
From Ad Age:
Twenty-seven years after the death of legendary adman and DDB founder, the agency’s former PR director has quietly self-published a 200-page tell-all, Nobody’s Perfect: Bill Bernbach and the Golden Age of Advertising, that shatters the image of Mr. Bernbach as masterful copywriter and confident ad titan.
In it, Doris Willens, a former journalist who ran PR at the agency between 1966 and 1984, paints the man who many think of as the embodiment of the advertising revolution, and its golden age, as an insecure individual with no interest in the drudgery that was writing “all the little words” for ads, rising to fame largely on the backs of the talented creatives under him.
Ouch. You can order the book only on Amazon.com.
I’m not even sure I’ve ever met anyone who knew Bernbach, but he’s a legend. This book will certainly be an interesting read.
