A Life in Advertising

      Bernbach came of age as prohibition was being repealed and after receiving his B.A. in English at NYU, jumped at the chance to work for Schenley Industries as a mail clerk making $16 per week. He spent his free time creating concepts for Schenley advertising (a task which was not a part of his job) and sent one to the distillery's ad agency, Lord & Thomas. After receiving no reply, Bernbach opened the newspaper to find his concept fully executed in a Schenley ad. After finessing a Lord & Thomas female file clerk with his knowledge of romantic Indian poetry, Bernbach retrieved the evidence of his idea and was moved from the Schenley mail room to the marketing and advertising department. It was in this capacity that Bernbach was noticed by Grover Whalen, the Chairman of the Board.

      For the next two years, Bernbach served as Whalen's right hand man, developing his long time interest in writing as Whalen's head speech writer. Whalen's long history in New York politics proved beneficial for Bernbach. He was invited to write political speeches for a number of notable New York politicians and eventually went with Whalen to work for the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

     For the rest of the story, follow these links...

Introduction  |  Early Career  |  Doyle Dane Bernbach  |  The Creative Revolution
The Other Club  |  Lasting Impression  |  Bernbach On...  |  More Classic Campaigns
Citations