Rest in Peace, Phil

The advertising industry lost something of a legend last week, as Phil Dusenberry, former Chariman and CCO of BBDO Worldwide died at age 71 after a long battle with lung cancer.

While a star copywriter at BBDO NY and eventually its global head honcho, many credit him with turning the shop into a formidable creative powerhouse over his 30-year tenure. He retired in 2002.

As #31 on AdAge’s top 100 People of the 20th Century, Dusenberry's famed phrase, (stating that advertising is all about) "The work, the work, the work," has became a BBDO mantra for the past several years.

In his time there, he helped create some of the most memorable slogans in history, including GE's “We bring good things to life,” Visa's "It's everywhere you want to be," and his most famous work for Pepsi during the "cola-wars," that branded it as "The choice of a new generation." He helped get Ronald Reagan re-elected in 1984, and, as a screenwriter, wrote "The Natural," starring Robert Redford.

He was also a former member of the Adcenter’s board of directors.

I read Dusenberry’s 2005 memoir, Then We Set His Hair on Fire last summer and recommend it, without question, as the greatest book on advertising after Luke Sullivan’s Hey Whipple. (They later changed the title to One Great Insight Is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas. I suppose the original title was a bit indistinct if you didn’t understand the context, which had to do with accidentally setting Michael Jackson’s hair ablaze during a 90’s Pepsi spot).

Over the last few years I’ve tried to read everything I could find on advertising, including books on creativity, and books by those who have been immensely successful as heads of their own agencies. People like Ogilvy, George Lois, Pat Fallon, Jerry Della Femina, and Bill Backer, among others. None of those books struck me as much as Dusenberry’s autobiographical account of over forty years in the ad industry where he had a front row seat to and was often the creative mind behind some of the best campaigns in the past few decades. What I liked most was that his book is about insights in business and not just about ads. Written as part memoir and part encyclopedia on great ad history, it captivated me and made me want to be a part of the industry more than anything I had read before it.

I liked his book so much, in fact, that I listed it as one of my top 3 favorites on my Adcenter application.


As someone who always thinks everything has already been said better by someone other than myself (thus my obvious love for great quotes), Dusenberry’s insights on advertising are second to none.

A few of my favorites. There are a lot of them:

There are three great motivators in the ad business: Passion, pride, and fear.

If I seem a little obsessed with the notion of insights, as opposed to ideas, it’s because insights are the brick and mortar of the ad industry and also its Holy Grails. We live and die on insights.

When everyone is the best, no one is the best.

I like any information that tells me what consumers are thinking, what moves them, what makes them choke up or laugh of swell with pride. If it makes you feel something, I can use that information, and turn it into a powerful brand appeal.

I’ve always been passionate about ideas that were simple and easy to understand because they were true. People could see the ideas and then see themselves.

Writing is just another way of thinking. And the more you think, the more ideas you’ll generate and, therefore, the more you’ll create. Writing is like weight lifting. The more you do, the better shape you’ll be in. Let it go and your creative muscle slowly turns to flab.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fit it; tweak it.

There’s no better way to connect with the product you’re trying to sell and the people you’re trying to reach than by diving into their world and mixing it up with them. That’s how you achieve empathy. Not by sitting at your desk and imagining it.

Especially at an ad agency where you are serving many different clients, each with strong, assertive but radically different personalities, it is vital to your reputation and mental health to stand for something.

Emotion is how branding a relationship begins. The consumer sees the advertising, hears a memorable tag line, conjures up images of your previous advertising, and brings that association to the marketplace when he or she has to choose your brand over someone else’s . . . To me, emotion is the nub of branding.

Elevate the product by elevating the emotions attached to the product. You don’t need to know much more than that.

You might ask: Why does standing for something help in the identification and harvesting of insights? Simple. It gives you a starting point. It reminds you of who you are, what you’re really about, and what you expect to become.

Nothing develops a great relationship with a client like great work. It’s like opium. One taste of great work, particularly for clients who have never had it, and they want more. It gains their respect and trust.

If you can create a seamless line of creativity where no one knows where the big idea came from, and no one cares, you are in the ideas position. As a wise man said, it’s amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.

If you’re in the insight-generation business, you have to think of yourself as someone imparting expertise, even wisdom. You have to think of yourself as an advisor, which means that people will be looking to you for advice. Age, title, and rank aren’t the barriers here; you can be a rookie or a veteran. It’s the quality of your thinking. That’s how you build relationships with people at the top.

A few words on the man from those who knew him best:

"Phil was indeed one of the truly great creative leaders in the history of advertising," said Allen Rosenshine, former Chairman and CEO, BBDO Worldwide. "He had an unerring instinct for the insight that elevates a good advertising idea to an emotional and human experience. He inspired people by example to never give up on making the work better and always shared credit for our successes with everyone who contributed. Our clients, our agency, and our industry were all his lifetime beneficiaries. Having Phil as a partner was one of the things I loved most about being in our business."

"He was a great person to work for, to work with, and a great friend," recalled Ted Sann, former chairman and chief creative officer at BBDO, New York. "It's really a loss to everybody who knew him, and to the business."

Said Andrew Robertson, president-CEO, BBDO Worldwide: "Our industry has lost a legend. BBDO has lost an inspiration. And many of us have lost a friend."

While I will never get a chance to meet Phil Dusenberry, he no doubt influenced my own thoughts on advertising through his written words. I hope that everyone who works in this business both currently and in the future takes the time to read what he wrote as well, as he truly was a spectacular ad man.

dubs. out.