It`s not a rarity anymore for the top person at an ad agency to have been a creative director, rather than coming up on the business side managing accounts.
”Making ads is really the only thing we can do that the client can`t do themselves,” said Tatham/RSCG`s Ralph Rydholm.
In days gone by, advertisers depended more on their agencies for marketing advice and strategic planning. So the account-service people, usually MBAs who provided that counsel, gained power in their own companies through their clout with clients.
Today, many of the country`s leading ad agencies have former copywriters at their head. In Chicago alone, Leo Burnett Co.`s Rick Fizdale, DDB Needham`s Susan Gillette, Ogilvy & Mather`s Tom Hall and Bayer Bess Vanderwarker`s Gary Bayer all came from the creative side of the agencies.
In New York, the same is true. Young & Rubicam, J. Walter Thompson Co., BBDO Worldwide and DDB Needham Worldwide all have chief executives who earned their stripes writing and producing ads.
And in the case of JWT`s Burt Manning and DDB Needham`s Keith Reinhard, the two creative directors made their mark in their agencies` Chicago offices.
