Deutsch, Tylenol: Shared Values

NEW YORK When Bill McComb became a client of Interpublic Group’s Deutsch three years ago, one of the first things he said to Val DiFebo, a co-president at the agency, was, “Scare the hell out of me.”

By that, the company group chairman for Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy unit meant that he wanted DiFebo and her team to come up with creative that was risky and imaginative for its Tylenol brands. The level of imagination and creativity is first and foremost the responsibility of clients, not agencies, McComb said, which is just one of the reasons that the client and New York agency’s partnership has worked so well.