DDB chairman Keith Reinhard is a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Reinhard gave birth to the Hamburglar and the other denizens of McDonaldland. He was responsible for McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today” and for the Big Mac tongue twister, “Two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions, on a sesame seed bun.” He also penned State Farm’s long-running theme, “Just Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There.”
Today, he has some important things to say about the state of the industry. Let’s listen in…
It’s refreshing to hear anyone speak in earnest about the need for fundamentals, and Reinhard nails it.
We had the Creative Revolution. Then we had the Digital Disruption at the end of the century, which in some cases became the Digital Distraction because we became so obsessed with the tools that we forget about some of the basics. The basic human drives to succeed, to belong, to be loved, and so forth. So, now we’re getting back to some of the basics. I’m calling this new period the Next Revelation.
Our job hasn’t changed—conect that brand with those drives in the best way possible.
What I love about Reinhard’s testimony and POV is how hard he leans on the need to understand human behavior. We need to know what motivates people to buy before endeavoring to fix a client’s website or develop storyboards for their next TV campaign.
