When we were invited to

New Milford Hospital's marketing agency review, word was, a former "guy in advertising" was one of the main decision makers on what agency would get the account. Oh great, we thought. We have heard about the guy-in-advertising-is-a-decision-maker scenario on accounts before, where the "ad guy" is little more than a corporate has-been taking more credit than he deserves. So okay, we deliver the pitch presentation, and we were "on" – strategic, surprising, engaging, thoughtful. Then, after slide upon slide of sound brand strategy and creative – the ad guy speaks. And he says, in his stoic and deliberate drawl, "So, tell me again, what... is... the big idea here?"

After winning the account, we came to know and implicitly respect the ad guy. In fact, it was his stamp of approval on our new idea — calling our ambitious brand positioning "absolutely brilliant" to head of marketing Linda Wiseman, to several hospital committees, and to CEO Joseph Frolkis — that let the work even see the light of day.

The brand work for New Milford Hospital, with its “digital mural” style and “Your home for health” tagline, was about as bold as hospital branding gets – and was called by some in the industry the best hospital branding they had ever seen. “It was my absolute favorite account to work on,” said Worx Designer Erica Leever. “The collages were so exciting to make, so flexible. It’s rare to have that much fun.”

The ad guy, was no ordinary ad guy – it was Robert Lenz. Bob Lenz, the retired chairman of ad agency Backer Spielvogel and former art director at McCann Erickson who came up with, among other things, the famous "Tastes Great, Less Filling" Miller Lite campaign — recently named one of the top 75 advertising campaigns of all time. Upon retiring from the ad business, Lenz took to fine art, becoming a renowned painter who shows at major galleries around the country.

Two years into the account, "Bob introduces me at a gallery show party to a few of his friends, legendary ad copywriters themselves, as 'the mind behind the New Milford Hospital branding and the new President of Worx," recalls Grant Copeland.

The group simultaneously burst out in laughter. "I wanted to crawl into my drink," said Copeland. Then, one of Lenz's group said, "You want to know why we're laughing? Because you've gone to the Dark Side — the 'business side,' the death of all good creatives."   Lenz, always aware, and polite, emailed Copeland a few days later. He wrote to never stop looking at life differently than "other civilians."