At that same time the owners of Doyle Dane Bernbach, Needham Harper and BBDO merged their shareholdings to form the US listed holding company Omnicom.

Dane ran the administrative and promotional aspects of the business, Doyle had a client focus, and Bernbach played an integral role in the writing of advertising, leading the creative output of the agency.

The agency's first ads were for Ohrbach's department store exemplifying a new "soft-sell" approach to advertising - with catchy slogans and witty humour contrasting the repetitive and hard-sell style in vogue until then.

The DDB "Daisy" campaign is considered to have been a significant factor in Lyndon B. Johnson's defeat of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election[4] and landed Mac Dane on the infamous Nixon's Enemies List.

[6] Written by journalist Doris Willens, who was DDB's Director of Public Relations for 18 years, the book is based on oral histories and interviews with the three founders, the line of the agency's presidents, and key creative and account people.

By 1934, it was named Needham, Louis and Brorby, Inc., with billings of US$1 million, had signed the Kraft Foods account and had opened a Hollywood office to service its clients' network radio program production needs.

The Chicago office grew with accounts such as the Morton Company, Household Finance Corporation, General Mills and Frigidaire.

Soon, this agency was winning government and media business and an "Issues and Images" division was opened to service corporate public relations.

[11] Keith L. Reinhard came from Chicago to head the worldwide firm in 1982 and, by 1986, there were thirty two offices outside the US; American offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, Baltimore and Dayton; and diversification in Porter Novelli, Biederman & Company and the international direct-response agency DR Group, Inc.

[13][14] DDB Needham executives were among the fatalities in a whitewater rafting accident along the Chilko River in British Columbia, Canada in 1987.

The firm started to guarantee the results of its advertising in 1990 which was questioned by the industry as compensation for campaigns was tied to clients meeting sales goals.

The firm hired Phyllis Robinson, the first female copywriter chief in United States history, amongst its initial team of 13.

It operated under that name until January 2004 when it was changed to DDB London, in line with the network's decision to rebrand all agencies it had acquired.

Both offices trace their history to the post-war foundation of United Services Publicity in Melbourne in 1945 by ex-servicemen rebuilding their careers.

[26] United Services Publicity grew and in 1961 established international links when the British SH Benson group bought 25%.

[27] DDB Stockholm is one of the largest agencies in Sweden, with high-profile clients such as the Swedish Armed Forces, McDonald's, Telia, Volkswagen and Vattenfall.

In 1958, the forerunner of DDB Group Philippines, the Advertising Marketing Associates (AMA) was formed by Antonio de Joya.

[31] In July 2023, DDB Philippines publicly apologized to the Department of Tourism (DOT) for using non-original stock footage of travel destinations in other countries for the campaign's promotional video.

Subsequently, its operating unit Tribal DDB became the first digital agency to be named "Global Network of the Year" by Ad Age.