Published August 3
Coca-Cola has used polar bears in ads for more than 100 years.
The Pepsi Challenge dates back to 1975.
It was in combining the two for the 2026 Super Bowl ad “The Choice” that agency BBDO discovered a formula that not only appealed to viewers but boosted sales. This connection between creativity and business results is vital to BBDO Global President and CEO Nancy Reyes and Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Chris Beresford-Hill — and not just on nights when more than 125 million people are watching.
Reyes and Beresford-Hill, who have also worked together at Goodby Silverstein & Partners and TBWA, have plenty of shared experiences. They even have a few alter egos, from NBA legends Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to a duo they refer to as Spicy and Nicey.
They sat down at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to discuss the power of their partnership to fuel epic creative, as well as how to avoid the trap of undervaluing creative in an era dominated by AI and data — and the tension between work that moves the business and work that exists simply to win awards.
Chris Beresford-Hill: How long have we been partners?
Nancy Reyes: We’ve known each other 20-ish years, and we’ve been partners three different times. We met at our first job, which was at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. You were a copywriter. I was an account executive. And after a really tough client meeting, you said, “Hey, if you ever want me to take the fall once in a while, let me know because it seems like you take the heat a lot.”
Do you have a favorite project we’ve worked on?
Beresford-Hill: There’s been some really big fun creative wins, like the Pepsi Super Bowl campaign. There’s some award-winning work we did together for Adidas, et cetera, et cetera.
Reyes: I think when you lock in, you are pretty unstoppable. I remember at TBWA, which is the second time we partnered, you came in like, “Why are we making so many versions of the client briefs? Show me the client briefs.” And after that, it was like 14, 15, 16 campaigns in a row that we did because you locked in. That was an epic moment in our partnership.
Beresford-Hill: You and I both like to ride the pain train and take on these things. And it’s fun when you have a compadre and a crazy mission.
"You’ve got to look at the awards as a byproduct of successful work. At that point, the award should be a cherry on top. It should not be the goal."
Chris Beresford-Hill, Chief Creative Officer
Reyes: I think it’s important to have somebody to report back to and to be accountable to. Knowing you are on the other side meant I had to deliver on what I said. Otherwise, I would be a total liar.
You always had a nice way of talking about it: The Scottie Pippen/Michael Jordan relationship, where sometimes it was Jordan’s turn to have the game of his life, sometimes it was Pippen. I think we almost instinctually know who needs to step up on what day because we’re not both on all the time. When we’re both on all the time, it’s another level. But sometimes you have to fill that hole for the other person.
Beresford-Hill: This is a good one for you: What do you think the biggest challenge facing agencies today is? And how do you think I help solve it?
Reyes: The biggest problem facing our industry is the lack of value we and some clients put on what it is that we do. Creative is a commodity. It can be replaced by AI. It is of a lesser value than media and innovation and data. And then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where the more we hear it, the more we believe it. And if we’re not careful, we are falling into the trap of believing that creative should be undervalued. We talk about creativity being as closely connected to the business as possible and when that happens, it’s a big impact, and that’s how you get to do big things.
You are as connected to the business as I have ever seen any creative person be. You’re a hustler. When I want to insult you, I call you shameless, right? You will go and get it, and I think having a creative partner that will enjoy riffing in front of clients the moment you’re in front of them is amazing. You’re the best proof of what it is that we’re talking about — and you work differently. If you’re in the room with a problem with the clients, you just solve it now, and you’re so good at that.
Beresford-Hill: I think sometimes Nancy can be Spicy and I can be Nicey, and that’s more of a knock on me because I’m not really Nicey, but I get to be Nicey because Nancy’s super direct and then I get to follow up with a little wave and a smile. Nancy is out there on our behalf all the time, trying to make sure that we get what we deserve as an agency, both from the holding company we’re part of and the clients we work with. And that stuff is quiet work, but that’s a big part of the recipe.
If someone joined BBDO tomorrow, what would you want them to understand about the place immediately?
Reyes: If it doesn’t move the business in an epically creative way, we don’t care about it. It’s not good enough. We have a high bar for sure. I think sometimes to bring a lot of people along, we inevitably lower it, and the more we lower it, the more we’re not extraordinary. So we have to keep pushing to be super extraordinary.
"If we’re not careful, we are falling into the trap of believing that creative should be undervalued."
Nancy Reyes, CEO, BBDO
Beresford-Hill: There’s this great story when the disruptive agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky was at their prime, they started getting all of these giant clients. And Alex Bogusky went on the record and said the problem with that was clients would hire them because they were this big, bold, disruptive agency. But then they would think that hiring them was the bold move and they wanted safe work. And I think you have an incredibly high creative bar, and I want us to uphold it. But I also feel like the wrong people are talking about creativity too much because bureaucrats can say creativity is important and then it makes them not look like bureaucrats.
Reyes: Remember a few years ago when we were having an internal debate as to whether or not we should be an advertising agency or if we should be an experience company or whatever it was? That felt like are we ashamed of what it is that we do? We’ve lost the plot on creativity. You’ve got to dig in and be more of that thing.
Beresford-Hill: There was a period where sometimes people would see a great piece of work back in the day when film was king and they’d be like, “That transcends advertising. That’s art.” And I’m like, “You just fucked our industry by saying the best thing we do isn’t what we do.”
A couple of our favorites are from the turn of last century through the former FCB brand that’s now part of BBDO. They invented the notion of orange juice as a staple of the American breakfast and the reason is that the client said, “We grew too many oranges in California, so we need an idea to sell more oranges.” And the agency said, “Don’t try to sell more oranges. Make orange juice, and we’ll sell it as a breakfast food.” It’s not a stupid commercial at the end of it; it’s evil genius. Or maybe that’s pure genius.
OK, who’s more competitive?
Reyes: I think we’re both ridiculously competitive.
Beresford-Hill: Yes, but I think you’re like an endurance athlete and I’m a sprinter. I think you can play a long game where you see the big prize. I swing a lot, but it’s a good match because you’re always trying to win the long game, and I’m always trying to find a quick little dopamine daily win.
Reyes: The quick short-term wins are probably one of the biggest reasons we can play a long game.
Beresford-Hill: Who is more optimistic?
Reyes: I think we trade off on this. If I’m down, you will find a way to bring me up. If you’re down, I will find you a way to bring you up. There was a thing last year where we had a martini and we were both sad.
Beresford-Hill: And that is known…
Reyes: …as the Sad Martini.
We were both like, “I guess this is the way it’s going to be,” and we left in that state. And then you did the great thing of being like, “We are not going to go down like that.” So you sent me 50,000 text messages to be like, “Fuck this. We got to turn this shit around. It’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be great.” And you came uptown and we had a Happy Martini.
Beresford-Hill: It felt pretty good. The Sad Martini was like a client problem, an agency problem … it just seemed like an open problem, and it was so weird the whole day because it’s not like us to end like that. If you have a Sad Martini, just take a beat and then make sure you have a Fuck Yeah Martini.
We’re here this week at the Cannes Festival for Creativity, which has definitely become more like a big marketing conference that has an Oscars for ads. People spend a lot of time talking about the influx of marketers and platforms and ad tech, but I think that probably is obscuring the question around do you and I share an opinion on whether Cannes is still the place where you really look to what’s the best work in the industry?
Reyes: Every year it gets less and less about creativity. This is what happens in the business. The pendulum swings all the way to whatever the coolest thing is to talk about. So, last year, AI. I’m sure this year it’s agentic brands. Those things are fine, but this is the Cannes Festival of Creativity. We don’t talk about creativity enough. And when we do look at creative, too much of it is not doing what we want it to do, which is to impact the business. Too much of it still feels like it exists to be here at the festival.
Beresford-Hill: When those brilliant ideas are attached to some real skin in the game from a marketer with a real business problem, the results are outstanding. When a brilliant idea is manifested just to make the case study to win the award, it has the opposite effect.
Every year there will be work awarded that’s really driven business, and that’s the work you remember. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” Nike and Colin Kaepernick, a million of those examples. I want everyone that participates to bring a healthy skepticism and look down and say, “These are great ideas, but which of these were really put in front of consumers and which one really had the impact?”
Reyes: When you were talking with CMO Mark Kirkham about the Pepsi Super Bowl stunt … the way you guys told the story was all about how creative it was, how the idea was born, and in the end, what results it had for Pepsi, which were pretty remarkable. So whether it wins or loses, I think I heard both of you say it already won.
Beresford-Hill: I think you’ve got to look at the awards as a byproduct of successful work. At that point, the award should be a cherry on top. It should not be the goal.