Bill Bruce, Chairman and CCO of BBDO New York Shares a “Shockingly Refreshing” Account of the Current State of Creativity in Advertising
Co-host Brad Forsythe interviews Bill Bruce, Chairman and CCO of BBDO New York.
As Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for BBDO New York, Bill Bruce is responsible for overseeing BBDO New York’s creative output for its ever-growing client roster and to drive the Agency towards its goal of being the best creative agency in New York and beyond.
Before this, Bill was best known for his work for Mountain Dew, which he gave a look and an attitude to America’s Gen-Xers when two commercials, “Done That” and “Never Did Dew,” launched the “Do the Dew” campaign in 1993. What became known as the “been there done that” spots took on a life of their own as they became not just award-winning, but world-renowned and part of the popular lexicon.
Today, “Do the Dew” is the longest running campaign in the soft drink category and continues to take its trademark irreverence to new heights. It has garnered five Clios, multiple Adweek “Best Spots” and five ADDY awards over the last three years. A commercial for Mountain Dew (“Cheetah”) that debuted in the 2000 Super Bowl was judged the second most popular spot in the game according to USA TODAY’s annual “Ad Meter” poll. And the series of “Spy vs. Spy” spots has won critical acclaim. What’s more, the success of Mountain Dew has led to the launch of new line extensions, including Code Red and Live Wire, two of the more successful new product introductions in the soft drink category.
Bill has also received accolades for his work on brand Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Aquafina, and Stainmaster. Shortly after joining the agency, his first BBDO commercial, Pepsi “Mustang,” won a gold Lion at Cannes. Later, his Pepsi “Goose” spot won a Cannes Lion, three Clios and topped USA Today’s Ad Meter poll as the most popular Super Bowl commercial of 1998. Bill created the “Shockingly Refreshing” advertising to support the national launch of Sierra Mist, PepsiCo’s lemon-lime soft drink entry and more recently, a series of commercials, entitled “Mist-Takes,” that has helped redefine television advertising, with the debut of new spots in this series positioned as “appointment television,” much like any network TV series. For the past two years, commercials for Sierra Mist have aired during the Super Bowl and have been judged by consumers to be among the most liked in the game. His Emmy nominated Aquafina “Drink More Water” campaign has kept that brand in the #1 position among all bottle-water brands. Previously, Bill was also successful creating the Stainmaster brand for DuPont.
Beyond this, Bill has also been a major contributor to AOL, Campbell’s, Frito-Lay and GE.
Bill joined BBDO as a copywriter in 1987. One year later, he was made a creative supervisor and elected a vice president. In 1993 Bill was appointed a creative director. He was promoted to his current position in October 2005.
Prior to BBDO, Bill was a copywriter on the Ford account at J.Walter Thompson in Detroit. He also spent a year as a copywriter at BBDO Detroit where he worked on the Dodge business and several new business assignments.
Bill has a B.A. from Michigan State University.
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