Former Chairman of BBDO & Author Allen Rosenshine Share Stories From 40 Years in Advertising

Co-host Brad Forsythe interviews Allen Rosenshine, former Chairman of BBDO. Allen has been recognized by Advertising Age as one of the hundred most influential people in advertising over the past century. In 1986, Allen spearheaded what Time magazine called advertising’s “big bang” which was the creation of Omnicom Group, now the largest and most successful marketing communications companies in the world. At the time, Allen was head of BBDO Worldwide, which came together with Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper to create this unique merger of three major advertising agencies. Allen joined BBDO in 1965 as a copywriter and came up through the creative ranks to become the BBDO New York creative director in 1975. In 1980, he became president of the New York agency and in 1985 he was named chief executive officer of BBDO Worldwide. Since then, the agency grew steadily in billings from $2.5 billion to $16.2 billion in 2001 (the last year for which it published financial information). In 2004, he turned over the CEO responsibility to Andrew Robertson, the network president. Allen remains actively involved as chairman.