please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message bbdo batten barton durstine & osborn industry advertising marketing founded 1891 headquarters new york city usa number of locations 289 offices in 80 countries area served world wide key people founders william h. johns bruce fairchild barton roy sarles durstine alex faickney osborn number of employees 15 000 employees parent omnicom group website www.bbdo.com bbdo is a worldwide advertising agency network with its headquarters in new york city . the agency began in 1891 with george batten s batten company and later in 1928 through a merger of bdo barton durstine & osborn and batten co. the agency became bbdo . 1 bbdo worldwide has been named the most awarded agency network in the world by the gunn report for six consecutive years beginning 2005 . it has won network of the year at the cannes lions five times . with more than 15 000 employees in 289 offices in 80 countries it is the largest of three global networks bbdo ddb tbwa of agencies in omnicom s portfolio . 2 bbdo was named global agency of the year by adweek in 2011 . it has also been named agency of the year in 2005 by adweek advertising age and campaign . 3 in 2006 mayor michael bloomberg proclaimed january 10 as bbdo day in recognition of the strength of its advertising as well as its contributions to new york city . 4 contents 1 origins 2 history 3 in popular culture 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links origins edit the barton & durstine agency founded by bruce fairchild barton and william h. johns opened in january 1919 and when alex osborn joined the company the company was named barton durstine and osborn . in 1928 the batten company then managed by william h. johns merged with barton durstine and osborn to form bbdo . the second b represents barton . 5 history edit this section contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate . editing help is available . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message 1891 george batten 1854 1918 37 opened his one room advertising agency the batten co. at 38 park row new york with no clients and one employee . 6 1894 batten s was the first agency to install in house printing . he advocated the use of plain simple type which he says stands out like a quaker on broadway . 7 1906 the agency now with 50 employees moved to the metropolitan annex building on east 24th street occupying the entire 11th floor 5 000 square feet 460 m2 . 1918 george batten died at 64 and william h. johns became president of the batten co. 8 1919 the barton & durstine co. agency opened on january 1 at 25 w 45th st. with bruce barton as president and roy durstine as secretary treasurer . in august alex osborn joined the agency renamed barton durstine & osborn . 9 1923 both bdo and the batten co. moved to the knapp building at 383 madison avenue . bdo leased an entire floor while the batten co. with 246 employees took a floor and a half . the 12 story building designed by the architectural firm of cross and cross was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for the 47 story bear stearns building now jp morgan chase . 1925 bdo aired its first radio program an hour show for atwater kent radios for which the agency had obtained the exclusive right to broadcast metropolitan opera stars . two years later bdo became the first agency to establish a radio department . 1927 john caples who later would become the world s authority on copy testing joined bdo . in his 1931 book tested advertising methods he declared that the average american is 13 years old mentally and that a copywriter should use words you would expect to find in a fifth grade reader . he also strongly advised against humor . 1928 on september 21 the batten co. and bdo announced a merger to form batten barton durstine & osborn . bruce barton was made chairman of the board while william h. johns president of the batten co. became president of the new agency . durstine was made vice president and general manager . the new agency with branch offices chicago boston and buffalo had over 600 employees . it was to occupy 383 madison for 59 years until it relocated to its current address 1285 avenue of the americas . 10 1934 kate smith began her first commercially sponsored radio show for bbdo client la palina cigars . la palina was originated by sam paley father of william s. paley president of cbs . the inside of every la palina box was adorned with a picture of mrs. sam paley in a spanish costume . 1935 dupont hired bbdo to change the company s image from a world war i munitions manufacturer to a peace time manufacturer . the agency introduced the slogan better things for better living through chemistry . the words through chemistry were removed in the 1980s . the slogan was replaced in 1999 with the miracles of science . 1935 bbdo launched the first hit parade radio show . soon was the no. 1 song . 1937 bruce barton was appointed to an unexpired term in the united states house of representatives and was elected a year later . 1939 roy durstine resigned after three years as president and opened his own agency . bbdo was reorganized under the leadership of alex osborn . 1940 after losing his campaign for the senate bruce barton returned as president of bbdo . 1940 alex osborn introduced brainstorming a technique to generate ideas to the agency . 1946 ben duffy who started in the agency s mailroom and rose to head the media department became president . under his watch billings quadrupled from 50 million to 200 million in ten years . he stepped down in 1957 due to illness . 1952 jim jordan started his career as a copywriter at bbdo . he would become the agency s chief creative officer in 1968 . 1957 charlie brower who was hired as a copywriter with the batten co. just before the merger with bdo became president . 1960 on march 16 chrysler moved its dodge truck and car divisions with billings of 21 million to bbdo . on april 6 bbdo wins the 17 million pepsi account after a pitch against seven other agencies . 1961 jim jordan created a campaign for schaefer beer based on research that revealed that 80 % of the beer was consumed by 20 % of the drinkers . the slogan and jingle schaefer is the one beer to have when you re having more than one . 1963 jim jordan created the campaign us tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch 11 1963 dick mercer created the slogan come alive you re in the pepsi generation . it is the first time a product is identified not by its own attributes but by its consumers lifestyles and attitudes . 1968 jim jordan created the ring around the collar campaign for wisk detergent a unilever product . wisk left bbdo in 1989 . 1973 dick mercer created the campaign and jingle have it your way for burger king . 1975 allen rosenshine succeeded jim jordan as creative director of bbdo . jim jordan became president . 1978 jim jordan left bbdo to open his own agency . 1980 allen rosenshine became president ceo of bbdo new york . 1980 phil dusenberry became the agency s executive creative director . 1982 bbdo was named agency of the year by adweek . 1983 tom kiely was named president of a new bbdo division called the bbdo business to business group to service the broad range of communications needs required by its btob oriented clients including the timken company hammermill paper certain general electric company departments and of symbolics inc a so called artificial intelligence computer manufacturer . working in that group were a veteran group of business to business advertising and public relations professionals including les lilliston bob fuller bob dudley charles gade bruce jordan bob wilson cray cyphers and bill reingold . 1984 on january 27 michael jackson s hair was accidentally set on fire during filming of a pepsi commercial . the mishap made front page news around the world . phil dusenberry s 2005 memoir is titled then we set his hair on fire . the commercial debuted a month later on the grammy awards where jackson wearing a hairpiece collected a record eight awards . 1985 allen rosenshine succeeded bruce crawford as chairman ceo of bbdo worldwide . 1985 bbdo won the 15 million visa account and introduced the slogan it s everywhere you want to be . the account which grew to 350 million remained at bbdo for 20 years until it moved to another omnicom agency tbwa chiat day . in 2012 visa returned global creative duties to bbdo . 1985 advertising age selected bbdo as agency of the year . 1986 omnicom was formed from the merger between bbdo and ddb needham . sometimes referred to as the big bang merger it was spearheaded by bbdo worldwide ceo allen rosenshine in response to competitive threats from other large advertising agency comglomerates . 1986 allen rosenshine becomes president ceo of omnicom overseeing bbdo as a subsidiary . norm campbell and willi schalk become chairman and president of bbdo respectively . 1986 bbdo s business to business group was folded because of lack of business ... the same fate that befell the itsm division of mccann erickson back in the late 1960s . 1989 allen rosenshine returned to bbdo as chairman ceo . bruce crawford succeeded him at omnicom . norm campbell and willi schalk retired . 1991 allen rosenshine served as president of the jury at the cannes advertising festival 1991 a diet pepsi commercial with ray charles singing you got the right one baby won the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . 1992 executive creator director lee garfinkel writes famous cindy crawford pepsi commercial considered one of the ten best super bowl spots of all time . 1993 ted sann becomes chief creative officer and vice chairman of bbdo north america . 1994 a pepsi commercial about a lab chimp that turns into a party animal won the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . 1994 bbdo was selected agency of the year by both adweek and advertising age . 1995 a pepsi commercial where a boy on a beach tries to suck the last drop of pepsi out of a bottle with a straw won the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . 1996 a pepsi commercial about a fictional coke driver who causes a whole shelf of pepsi cans to tumble to the floor won the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . in 2008 the commercial was chosen as the best ad in the twenty year history of the ad meter poll . 1997 a pepsi commercial featuring grizzly bears dancing to the village people s 1970s disco classic ymca wins the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . 1997 first commercial to be filmed in space tnuva milk noted in the guinness book of records . 12 1998 for the fifth consecutive year a pepsi commercial won the usa today super bowl ad meter poll . a sky surfer does aerial tricks with a goose and they share a pepsi afterwards . 2001 mike fyshe stepped down as president and ceo of toronto based bbdo canada