Diane Francis Business Profiles

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Dave Lubars with BBDO

New York Sun Tuesday July 25:

Experienced ad man Dave Lubars likes to point out that between 1985
and 2003 the number of TV stations soared from 15 to 200 in some
regions; the number of magazines jumped by 50%; the bombardment of
advertising messages went from 950 per day to 5,000 and the Internet
is now in two out of three homes.

"Despite all this choice, the amount of time people spend consuming
media remains the same or around 60 hours per week," said Mr. Lubars,
the khaki-clad Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for BBDO North
America. "The most valuable thing in life is time and consumers can
flick off anything they don't want to watch like a fly. Now we must
use all different ways to seek them out. Our job is to find a way to
get masses of people to engage and fall in love with you."

Mr. Lubars, 47, re-joined BBDO in 2004 after a stint with another
agency in the midwest. In 2005, BBDO booked a record $1.5 billion in
new business and was named Agency of the Year by the industry's
ADWEEK, Advertising Age and Britain's Campaign. This summer, BBDO won
more creative awards at the annual Cannes Festival than any others.

"We're had some success but the awards were the wrong color. Too many
bronzes," he said in a recent interview in his office.

The storied agency (which coined the "Pepsi Generation" or the "ring
around the collar" tag line) was created in 1928 and became one of the
first on Madison Avenue, now a figurative description of the global
advertising industry. But while agencies exist everywhere, Manhattan
still remains the hub.

"New York City is the advertising center of the world because it's the
media center and the biggest clients are also in the east," he said.
"This island is an oasis of creativity. New York invented creativity
in advertising and talent comes here because the city is a big draw."

The industry is an eclectic mix of skills, but Dave Lubars is unique
in that he began studying journalism before switching to advertising.

"I've always liked to write, but journalism's formulaic. It didn't
suit me," he said.

His journalistic background has made him concerned about trends which
have changed the practice of journalism, its usefulness to advertisers
as well as its business model.

"Seems to me journalism was supposed to be society's ombudsman and now
television and print both pick sides. Where does one get an agnostic
view? Do you know? Should they do this? It's dangerous. I don't know
if it's a top of mind thing, if people know what's happened, regarding
biases," he said.

"I also think many reporters have become lazy, looking for titillating
little sound bytes or making reckless statements that affect peoples'
jobs and lives," he added.

Mr. Lubars believes that advertising must deliver more than
traditional services. For instance, he hired famous Hollywood
directors to create a series of mini films to promote BMW cars.

"Their customers were young guys already into technology and they knew
that 90% were online already. The client panicked because it couldn't
get mass marketing so we did these films," he said.

BBDO is currently doing a half-animated digisode series for kids on
behalf of Snickers, the candy bar. The agency and its client also have
formed a partnership to cash in on the merchandising, gaming and DVDs
that will result. It's also doing a series of comedy for sponsor
Sierra Mist which will sponsor a traveling improv theatre.

"We are chefs not waiters. We are in the service business. Waiters
take orders from clients but what clients want is for you to be a
chef. They want to enjoy sumptuous sauces or other delights which add
value," he said. "Take Snickers. They never thought of this series but
just wanted to place some ads. We brought back more."

With competition for consumer headspace accelerating and TV viewers
able to bypass commercials, content has become king, he said.
"I zip through the commercials. If me, the head of a large advertising
agency doesn't like looking at ads, then who does?" he said.
"Advertisements had better be entertaining because the marketplace is
going to get noisier and noisier."

He believes that reading news online is "not realistic", that print
will be immune as people will continue to prefer to curl up with a
newspaper, magazine or book and that advertising agencies and
Hollywood face the biggest challenges.

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