DDB Changes Name to DDB&R for International Women’s Day

By Erik Oster 

In honor of International Women’s Day, DDB is temporarily changing its name to DDB&R for the day, in honor of the agency’s first chief copywriter, Phyllis Robinson.

“The move to add Phyllis’ name to the door is a symbolic reminder of the contributions many women of her generation and later generations have made to the ad industry,” DDB North America CEO Wendy Clark said in a statement. “It also signals to our own employees our continued non-negotiable belief that talent has no gender.”

Robinson joined DDB in 1949 after starting her career with Bresnick & Solomont and Grey. She was the copywriter behind iconic campaigns for Levy’s Jewish Rye, Ohrbach and Polaroid.

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In addition to the name change, which will appear on social media and on email signatures, as well as on DDB’s door and in its meeting rooms, the effort also includes a social media initiative riffing on some of Robinson’s most famous ads. A famous print ad for Levy’s, for example, is changed to “You don’t have to be male to change advertising.”

There’s also a video riffing on Robinson’s Polaroid campaign which starred Candice Bergen.

While most of the efforts honoring Robinson will only be around for International Women’s Day, Adweek reports that a quote appearing in DDB meeting rooms today, “Do the kind of work nobody else is doing,” will remain permanently.

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