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April 4, 2008

Ad man entertains business leaders

James Kroemer

The man who gave the world several of its most famous advertising slogans entertained a large crowd Thursday at the 2008 Business and Community Leaders Luncheon at Goshen College.

Keith Reinhard, a native of Berne, Ind., and chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, earned his recent induction into the advertising hall of fame with his work on such memorable ad campaigns as:

• “Just like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” for State Farm Insurance.

• The “You Deserve a Break Today” jingle for McDonald’s.

• And ‘two-all-beef-patties-special sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame seed bun,” also for McDonald’s.

But in Thursday’s talk, Reinhard didn’t focus just on the history of advertising and his role in it, he also talked about its future and how it continues to change and evolve. His conclusion: while the message and the media on which advertising is carried have changed, the essential role of advertising in the economy of the United States has not changed.

“Advertising is the spark plug of our free market system,” he said. “It makes choices known and affordable, provides free information and entertainment, and at its best, lifts the human spirit.”

Backed by two large screens showing examples of television and online ads, Reinhard talked about how much advertising has changed since he got into the business more than 40 years ago. “Television was brand new when I started,” he said. “There were only three networks and everything was in black and white.”

He contrasted that with today’s environment and showed ads that run on Web sites, cell phones and I-Pods. “We are engaging consumers in ways we never could have imagined when I began my career,” he said.

Asserting that consumers’ media habits are changing, Reinhard said advertising has had to change too. For one thing, he said, with TIVO and digital technology, it’s much easier to skip ads, and more than 80 percent of the respondents to one survey Reinhard quoted said skipping commercials was important.

“Advertising’s challenge,” he said, “is to make ads so entertaining or informative that you not only watch them, you record them and share them with others.” He showed example after example of just such advertising, to the laughter and delight of his large audience.

In today’s interactive environment, he said, consumers no longer simply passively receive advertising messages. “Now they decide when, where, how and whether to engage with advertising’s message,” he said, adding advertising must treat consumers “as guests instead of targets.”

He told some stories, too, about his most famous work. “We heard from English teachers and students who suggested we correct the grammar of the State Farm slogan to ‘Just AS a good neighbor,’” Reinhard said with a smile. “We decided to stick with the way we wrote it.”

The McDonald’s “two-all-beef-patties” tongue twister, he said, “was the result of exasperation, not inspiration.”

McDonalds insisted they wanted their customers to know the ingredients of a Big Mac. The ad agency felt consumers didn’t care what was in a Big Mac, but that eating a Big Mac was a singular experience and wanted to adapt the song “One Singular Sensation” from the Broadway hit “A Chorus Line” to the ad campaign.

Finally, Reinhard said, he and his partner went back to their office late one night and wrote all the ingredients to a Big Mac on an easel. The partner had a guitar and the two decided to put the ingredients to tuneless music, similar to teaching kids the alphabet by singing the A-B-C song.

“McDonald’s loved it,” Reinhard said with a shrug and a grin.

Thursday’s event at Goshen College was the sixth annual Business and Community Leaders Luncheon. Reinhard’s visit was underwritten Leatherman Supply Inc., and State Farm Insurance.

Reinhard also spoke Thursday night at a dinner meeting of the Mennonite Economic Development Association.

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