where it all started

      Keith Reinhard:

            For ten years, he’d tried to break into the Chicago advertising scene to no avail.  His big break finally came while working for the Biddle Agency in Bloomington, Illinois.  It was there in 1963 that a 16-year veteran of Needham, Louis & Brorby Agency named Frederick (Sandy) Sulcer noticed Reinhard’s work on State Farm Insurance.  Both agencies had taken on State Farm as a mutual client.

            A year later, Reinhard was hired to work for Needham, Louis & Brorby.

            His hiring came a short time before the merger that formed Needham, Harper & Steers.  Within three years, Reinhard had worked his way up through the ranks of the agency to become vice president, and by 1984, CEO.  In 1986, he was a key figure in the merger of NH&S with DDB and the creation of Omnicom.  Ironically, in march 1990, he brought Mr. Sulcer, then 59, back to DDB Needham in charge of new business, and Mr. Sulcer remains with the agency as a consultant today. 

            Now, at the helm of one of the largest agencies worldwide, Keith Reinhard can finally be considered in the upper echelon of advertising gurus (just like his hero, Bill Bernbach.)  He’s also a pretty cool guy, thank you very much, who smiles often and is proud to be well-versed in popular culture, specifically popular music.  It was this liking of pop music that led him to use The Wallflower’s cover of a David Bowie song, “Heroes,” in a recent ad for FTD.com.  This is the man who has left an indelible mark on the face of advertising, worldwide.