A Promotion, No Less

He created the first ad campaign to put some bite into Lite beer. And now, he is everything that the West Coast office of DDB Needham Worldwide decided it ever wanted in a creative director--and less. In this case, “less” is more.

That phrase “and less” from Miller Lite commercials was the brainstorm of Pacy Markman. The slogan not only helped make Miller Lite a household name, but set Markman’s ad career on the fast track. He joined DDB Needham three years ago to oversee the ad writing staff. Now, he has been named to replace the agency’s former creative director, Robert Kuperman, who was recently snatched by the ad firm Chiat/Day.

Besides the Miller Lite campaign, Markman also created the current crop of GTE ads--”We hear you”--that feature British actor Simon Jones. “It was really a gut decision,” Markman said, “but I felt the way to make the character believable was to make him an alien (British) and make it seem like he was discovering something for the first time.”

Meanwhile, Markman says he doesn’t know if he’ll ever top his Miller Lite spot. “Ask me in 15 years,” he said. That, by the way, is how long the Miller Lite spots have been airing.