Brainstorm:TECH — A Drink with Richard Edelman and Keith Reinhard

July 22nd, 2008

By Kyle Austin

Had the opportunity to share a quick chat and drink with Richard Edelman, CEO & President of PR-giant Edelman and Keith Reinhard, former CEO of advertising giant DDB yesterday evening at Brainstorm: TECH.

The two industry giants were worth a good laugh as they playfully chuckled about stealing each other’s clients at the conference.

Richard was chatting me up on the reason to be global and why PR is a scalable industry. He still feels like there is a true advantage in being a massive global agency over a mid-size shop.

Keith on the other hand couldn’t stop talking about DDB’s latest project with McDonald’s in reviving the “Big Mac” jingle, with its new digital campaign. Richard and Keith both had to actually let me know what the jingle was in the first place as it orignated in 1974, 9 years before I was born.

To celebrate the Big Mac’s 40th Anniversary, DDB helped with a campaign that calls for U.S. consumers to write their own songs using the exact words of the jingle, and submit them to a contest on MySpace.com.

Not only is the campaign succeeding by engaging in brand dialogue with consumers, but it also garnered coverage in the New York Times - Results that both men can appreciate.

BTW: Richard told me he was going to have a blog post up this morning at 6 a.m. (As he is one of the featured live bloggers at Brainstorm: TECH). Where is it Richard? I have five up already.

Entry Filed under: Branding & Advertising, Mainstream media, Public relations