The real mad men

1) The period of 1950s-60s in USA was a new era in advertising and a start for the creation of the new generation of people: restless, reflecting and searching for their identity. Cultural and aesthetic context of that time allowed the new generation to feel free and get inspired. Cinemas were showing Rebel Without a Case and Seven Samurai. At the theater Pulitzer Prize winners were on stage: Tennessee William's Cat on Hot Tin Roof and Eugene O'Neil's Long Day's Journey into Night. And everything was surrounded by jazz. This was the background of this new generation of creative people. And this cultural context was surrounding DDB ads in 50s & 60s.

The DDB creatives become rebellious, they were taking risks in their works. One of the new trends in DDB's work was ignoring the laws on the use of space laid down by Ogilvy. The agency's art directors knew how to and were prepared to play with the imagery that allowed them to create significant pieces of work such as the Polaroid's campaign.
Another trend of that time was Jewishness. DDB had a big number of Jewish clients but, in contrast to others, they had never hid them. Moreover, DDB celebrated its Jewishness by creating ads full of specific ethnic jokes and idioms. One of these ads - the El Al Airlines Noah's Ark was among DDB's best works.

2) In my opinion, the "Think Small" campaign epitomises the Creative revolution because the campaign itself become an example of the completely new advertising and demonstrated creatives a new way of working at he industry.

Traditionally, the majority of ads before the "Think Small" revolution looked very similar using old-school methods to communicate with the target audience. These ads were all about obvious benefits of products: low price, high value etc, - standardised images and featureless copy.
DDB's "Think Small" campaign in some way caused a revolution in creative minds. First of all, the DDB's team wasn't scared of taking huge risk "to sell a Nazi car in a Jewish after-war town". Moreover, their work had become a masterpiece of all times. The "Think Small" was the first car ad that moved away from the typical "beautiful house/happy people/glamorous car" concept and showed the product as an animated object with its imperfections and benefits. The honesty and simplicity of the ad made this campaign revolutionary.