Post by BBDO Germany

Today, we say goodbye to Willi Schalk. To the industry, he was "Worldwide Willi". A name earned, not given. Few German agency leaders ever reached the global stage he reached. Few shaped it as much. He built BBDO's international network from the ground up. In 1986 he was one of the architects of the merger that created the Omnicom Group. The New York Times called it the "Big Bang of the industry". He served as President and Chief Operating Officer of BBDO Worldwide. Before all of that, there was a Managing Partner role at TEAM in Düsseldorf in 1969, and the decision to bring the German agency together with BBDO. Without that step, the BBDO Germany of today would look very different. He stayed sharp until the end. His last book, written with Peter Strahlendorf and Manfred Kirchgeorg, asked the questions about agencies and holding structures that we are still answering. Our work continues on the foundations he helped build. For that, we are grateful. Our thoughts are with his family.