He then built up the next wave of creativity at the agency with Robertson. He now sees Beresford-Hill, who recently rejoined the agency from Ogilvy, leading up the next wave of creativity at the network.
Beresford-Hill worked at BBDO from 2010 to 2018, and Lubars always pictured him coming back. “This next 10 years, I think he’s really going to lead the next renaissance with BBDO,” said Lubars.
Beresford-Hill, who was named chief creative officer of BBDO The Americas in December, will succeed Lubars as chief creative officer for BBDO Worldwide.
“Based on the work alone, David has a place on advertising’s Mount Rushmore. If you’ve been fortunate enough to work with him, you’d probably also consider him the most reductive, decisive and supportive creative leader in the world,” said Beresford-Hill in a statement. “If it weren’t for David’s leadership, I wouldn’t be here.”
Changes in the industry
Lubars has seen many changes over the course of his career, from the longtime mainstays of print, television and radio to the digital revolution to the current state of multiple channels and platforms and near endless tactics. He said he wouldn’t have stayed in the industry if it hadn’t morphed over the years.
“It’s new and different, zero sum every day, as opposed to defined channels. Now it’s confusing and kind of messy and foggy, and for somebody who’s ADD and constantly bored like me, that was a good reason to want to wake up every day and go in and figure it out,” said Lubars.
Lubars said that figuring out what’s new and what’s going to stick around is an ongoing challenge, and, of course, AI is a tool that the industry is still trying to get a handle on. He sees good uses in the technology, including one where BBDO was able to use AI to replace dialogue in a film.
“AI copied his voice, and nobody knew the difference,” said Lubars.
Favorite work
Lubars is a believer in the big idea that moves a campaign forward.
“It’s like a pyramid of marbles. What holds it together? A big idea. But if you don’t have a big idea, all these things scatter on the floor as unconnected, random dots that don’t make sense to people,” said Lubars.
Some of his big ideas have resonated for decades, and he counts plenty as favorites. To him, people respond to a good story no matter if it’s movie-length or a six-second video on TikTok.
At BBDO, the work his team did for Mars, Snickers, GE, FedEx, HBO and AT&T are all highlights.