Ogilvy and Doyle Dane Bernbach President James R. Heekin, Jr. Dies at 82

Guided Ogilvy to a Public Company, Embraced Direct Marketing, Elevated
Creativity

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- James Robson Heekin, Jr., who was tapped by
David Ogilvy to serve as President of Ogilvy & Mather in the US at the age of
39 in 1965 and went on to hold the same post at Doyle Dane Bernbach, passed
away on October 5th. He was 82.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091008/NY89866 )

At the time of Mr. Heekin's appointment, David Ogilvy gave up his title as
Chairman to assume that of Creative Director. The ever-colorful Mr. Heekin
told the New York Times, "I consider him one of the most promising young
copywriters in the business. But if he doesn't produce....."

During Mr. Heekin's tenure, Ogilvy went public in 1966; set up its first
direct marketing unit in 1967; and won such new clients as Merck & Co.,
Gillette, General Cigar, Hershey and Contact cold capsules which was called
"the biggest single chunk of business since the agency landed Shell Oil,"
according to the New York Times.

A 1968 Ogilvy ad said the agency's profits increased 89.6 per cent in its
first two years under its new leadership and it won more major awards for
creative excellence than any other agency in the world.

An early proponent of the idea that creativity was the job of the entire
agency, Mr. Heekin told a columnist, "The president of an agency in 1969 must
be wholly immersed in the creative activity of the agency. I am intimately
involved on the creative work." He went so far as to set up a system for
agency executives to rate clients to help them get the most creativity out of
their agency.

Born in Cincinnati, he served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II and
graduated from Williams College in 1948.

Mr. Heekin founded Peck-Heekin in Cincinnati and joined Ogilvy in 1955, rising
from account executive to senior vice president, chairman of the plans board,
director and ultimately President of US operations during his 14 years there.

He oversaw the merger of Jack Tinker & Partners, then one of New York's
creative hot shops, and Pritchard Wood for IPG, in 1970, becoming President.
He went on to Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1972 and became President of its domestic
operations.

He entered the new world of client marketing consulting in 1974 as a partner
at Canter, Achenbaum, Heekin, spending seven years there.

Mr. Heekin is the father of James R. Heekin III, who serves as Chairman and
CEO of Grey Group. Amid speculation that he would become President and CEO of
McCann-Erickson Worldwide, the younger Heekin had said, "The future will take
care of itself." When the appointment was announced the first fax he received
was from the elder Heekin saying, "Well, I guess the future has taken care of
itself."

Mr. Heekin and his wife, Jane Jessup Heekin, were married for 61 years. In
addition to James R. Heekin III, he also leaves behind two daughters, a son, 8
grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren and his Irish setter, Paddy.

Never a sexist in the Mad Men era, Mr. Heekin told a Conference Board meeting
on "How to Be a Better Client" that they should "do the weekly family
shopping, read many magazines, watch TV regularly, cook supper, use
competitors' products and talk to your teenagers," to which columnist Phil
Dougherty commented "but does that make an advertiser a housewife?"

SOURCE GREY

Owen Dougherty for GREY, +1-212-546-2551