The best position I’ve held has to be Account Executive on the Bud Light account at DDB Needham Chicago. Youth is wasted on the young, as I was too naive to realize my good fortune at the time. I worked with a group of guys (I was the only gal on the team) led by Bob Scarpelli, who became a super hero at DDB. We launched a brand to compete with Miller Lite, the product that invented and owned the light beer category. The agency created over 150 “funny light” commercials as “Give me a light. Bud Light” became one of the most effective campaigns for one of the most successful product launches of all time.

We also developed a young adult campaign. The idea was spurred by a popular college poster called “Delta Omega Gamma (DOG): The Original Party Animal” featuring a black-eyed bull terrier. We put that dog in front of a camera and shot a series of Spuds MacKenzie commercials that attracted a cult-like following. All told, we shot over 25 of those silly commercials in the pre-digital days – strapping Spuds to a horse, sending him speeding down a ski jump and vaulting over a pole -- providing some of the funniest production moments in my life. I also had the unusual task of managing Mr. MacKenzie’s calendar of appearances. We booked Spuds and the Spudettes for three years solid at baseball games, parades, you name it; they were nationwide. I still wonder what would have happened if I’d chucked it all then and there to become a Spudette.

DDB still manages the account, more than 25 years later. Today Bud Light is the number one selling beer in the US, outselling even its namesake Budweiser.