Who

David Lubars is chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO, the agency of record for Pepsi and FedEx.

Backstory

Brooklyn native Lubars held posts at Chiat/Day in LA and Leonard/Monahan in Providence before becoming creative director at BBDO's West Coast branch office in the '90s. In his role as creative director and eventual president of the hot-ticket Minneapolis agency Fallon Worldwide, Lubars made a splash overseeing 2001's BMW Films campaign, a series of online mini-films by A-list directors like John Woo and Guy Ritchie. His work helped usher in a wave of branded content and earned him billing as an adland wunderkind. It also led to a move that sent shockwaves through the industry when, in 2004, Lubars was snatched away from Fallon and summoned back to his hometown by BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson, who installed him as chairman and chief creative office of BBDO North America, replacing the abruptly canned Ted Sann. Robertson promised that Lubars would modernize the tradition-beholden agency, and he's largely lived up to that promise.

Of note

During the reigns of previous BBDO chief creatives Phil Dusenberry and Ted Sann, BBDO was known for producing extravagant, big-budget, celebrity-driven television spots. But by the time Lubars took the reins in 2004 convergence was all the rage, and BBDO's traditional approach was looking especially fusty considering that television was no longer the be-all-and-end-all and consumers were now dispersed across a million different media platforms. To help BBDO adapt to the changing media landscape, Lubars shuffled the creative team, dismissing 17 old-school execs. He then started changing the way ads were made, producing spots where the sell was oblique, not hard, and redirecting the agency's focus to new media, launching webisodes for Snickers, user-generated content for Mountain Dew, and a site for M&M that allowed users to create personalized candy. Lubars's interactive-friendly approach has been a boon for BBDO: A handful of big clients have since climbed aboard including eBay, Hertz, Motorola, Mitsubishi, and Target, joined existing blue chips like Chrysler, GE, Volkswagen, HBO, Gillette, Nike, and Pepsi.

Trophy case

In addition to the armful of Clios and lions he's bagged, Lubars has thrice won the Emmy award for best commercial.

Personal

Lubars and his wife, Cindy, live on the Upper West Side in an apartment they bought for $4.2 million in 2004. They have two sons, Michael and Alex.