Benton & Bowles was a New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

-based advertising agency founded by William Benton and Chester Bowles

Chester Bowles

Chester Bliss Bowles was a liberal Democratic American diplomat and politician from Connecticut.-Biography:...

 in 1929.

History

The agency's success was closely related to the rise in popularity of radio. Benton & Bowles invented the radio soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 to promote their clients' products, and by 1936 were responsible for three of the four most popular radio programs on the air. http://www.benton.org/publibrary/About/history.html

In 1956, B&B and their client Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

 launched the nationally-televised soap opera As The World Turns

As the World Turns

As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

 on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

.

B&B created some of the most memorable commercials on television, including "Look, Ma, No Cavities" for Crest toothpaste and "When E.F. Hutton Talks, People Listen" for the New York brokerage house.

Benton & Bowles merged with D'Arcy-MacManus Masius (D-MM) in 1985 to form D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles

D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles

D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was an advertising agency in the United States with worldwide subsidiaries.DMB&B was established in November 1985 by the merger of the Benton & Bowles and D'Arcy-MacManus Masius advertising agencies...

 (DMB&B). The agency later merged with Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett was an advertising executive who created the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro Man, Toucan Sam, Charlie the Tuna, Morris the Cat, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the 7up "Spot", and Tony the Tiger....

 to form BCOM3 which was subsequently bought by Publicis

Publicis

Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. It is one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies . Its current president is Maurice Lévy. Publicis Groupe S.A...

 marking the demise of the Benton & Bowles brand.

Alumni

• Shepherd Mead
  Shepherd Mead
  Shepherd Mead, born Edward Mead, , was an American writer. He is best known as the author of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which was adapted into a hit Broadway show and motion picture....
  
   joined B&B in 1936 as a mail-room clerk. He had worked his way up to a vice-presidency by the time he left in 1956 to pursue a full-time writing career. His most famous book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (book)
  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune was a humorous 1952 book by Shepherd Mead. It inspired a successful 1961 musical of the same name, which was made into a movie in 1967.-Description:...
  
  , published in 1952, satirizes his corporate experiences at the agency. Written in his spare time — before work and on weekends — the book was a best-seller, and in 1961 it was adapted into a hit Broadway
  Broadway theatre
  Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
  
   musical with songs by Frank Loesser
  Frank Loesser
  Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
  
   and a libretto by Abe Burrows
  Abe Burrows
  Abe Burrows was a Tony and Pulitzer-winning American humorist, author, and director for radio and the stage.-Early years:...
  
  , which in turn became a movie in 1967.

• In 1976, Howard Stern
  Howard Stern
  Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
  
  worked for Benton & Bowles before launching his successful radio career.

• Nina Lawrence, Publisher of W magazine worked here.