With All Due Respect Mr. Churchill, You Never Met Mark Goldstein

It’s not clear who originally stated, “To be a great man, you can’t be a good one.” Some say Churchill; others Machiavelli; still others a Roman senator lost to the ages. Whoever wrote it, the premise is proven wrong by our Mark, who died unexpectedly last week.

Mark was not only a brilliant, innovative, insightful, inspired thinker and leader, he was a loveable, thoughtful, funny, eccentric and beautiful soul. As good an egg as a good egg can be.

He’ll be incredibly missed by the many hundreds of people he worked with and even by people who never knew him. Because his approach was a model for how to succeed – and, important, how to behave – in our industry.

Mark’s was a career of breakthroughs. Called the 'guru of new business' by the Wall Street Journal, he was the first agency person ever to hold the title of chief marketing officer. And was among the two or three most successful new business developers in advertising history.

I was lucky enough to work with him in two fantastic settings: first at Fallon from the late ‘90s to the early ‘00s, then at BBDO from the mid-‘00s into the teens.

By far the best new business leader I’ve ever met because, to use a baseball metaphor, he was a five-tool player:

He grew up as a writer, then a copy supervisor, at Burnett- so he understood that powerful creativity can function as an economic multiplier when properly applied.

While never holding an official strategy title, he was one of the best planners ever. Connected the crucial dots, always saw a through-line, thought big and simply. A fantastic reductionist.

He understood clients in, what I’ll call, an emotional way. Understood how they felt lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling, stressing out. Absorbed it, had answers for it, delivered on it.

He understood economics and the mechanics of business and marketplaces in an extraordinarily deep way.

And, crucially, he was trustworthy.

This combination led to much success.

At Fallon, he drove the agency’s new business efforts, growing from $185mm in billings to $1bb, with a win list that included Citi, BMW, Sony, Qualcomm, United Airlines, Nikon, and others.

At BBDO, he helped us gain over $4.2 billion of billings as well as multiple Network of The Year recognitions from AD AGE, ADWEEK and Campaign. He led and wrote winning pitches for Bank of America, Motorola, and global businesses like HP, Mercedes-Benz and Johnson & Johnson.

And, later, when he decided to open his own consultancy, Eleven (haha, a glimpse of his humour here – Spinal Tap fans will get the reference), he built his company creating long-term engagements with four holding companies, two global advertising networks, and five world-famous creative boutiques, working directly as counsellor to the CEOs.

But, right now, none of us are thinking about any of that. I mean, geez, Mark, we already miss you and your endearing goofiness so.

I’m remembering funny little things, like the time he showed up wearing a suede sport coat with hippie fringes paired with suede fringed loafers. I said, Marky, wtf, if Neil Young were in advertising this is how he’d dress.

Or the time we visited him in the hospital after heart surgery and made him laugh too much. The angry nurse yelled at us for endangering his stitches, which made him laugh more.

Ah, well.

We can take some comfort in the rich life he lived. Mark loved art, music, travel, literature, movies, and those ever-present Big Gulps.

He loved his family, loved his friends, loved his co-workers. Goes without saying, vice versa.

David Lubars, former chief creative officer at BBDO