Robert H. Huntington Joins DDB Needham

When the two giant ad firms--Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Worldwide--merged to form DDB Needham Worldwide in 1986, there were skeptics who said it would be a management nightmare.

And as proof that the 1 1/2-year transition into a single agency has not been an easy task, the ad firm on Tuesday hired Robert H. Huntington, former chairman and chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Compton Group, to oversee the company’s day-to-day operations.

In fact, Huntington, 50, will become part of a new three-man office of the chairman and will hold the title of vice chairman and chief operating officer. Keith Reinhard continues as chairman and chief executive and John Bernbach remains president of the firm, which handles advertising for such clients as Seagram, Clairol and GTE.

Reinhard, however, said Tuesday that the new setup does not signal continued growing pains at the agency but instead indicates that DDB is “ready to move into the next phase” of the merger. He added that this phase will focus on getting new business. Some advertising analysts have been critical of the agency for taking on little new business since the merger.

“It’s tough to merge two big agencies,” said Alan J. Gottesman, research analyst at the New York investment firm L. F. Rothschild & Co. “It seems that the only guys who can do it magically are the Saatchis.” Gottesman was referring to the British conglomerate, Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, which has quickly grown by merger and acquisition to become the world’s largest advertising firm.

But Gottesman said that the addition of Huntington may prove to be a good one. “The company has gone from great chaos to something far more stable,” he said. “Maybe it has reached a point where his kinds of skills are needed.”

Until October, 1987, Huntington was chairman and chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Compton Group, which oversaw a number of Saatchi’s so-called specialty ad firms, including several direct marketing ad shops and one that specialized in placing yellow pages advertising. That operation, however, was disbanded by the Saatchi organization late last year.

“But the guy in charge of DDB is still going to be Reinhard,” said Gottesman. “You can bet on that.”