For the past six years, Mr Hayden, a soft-spoken 53-year-old, has helped oversee International Business Machines' massive $650 million advertising account. The account is often cited as an example of how to brand a global company across different platforms that include advertising, direct marketing and interactive marketing.

Now Ogilvy is allowing Mr Hayden to spread his wings. For example, he played a pivotal role in luring the $400 million Motorola account. And he has cosied up to the agency's Eastman Kodak and SAP accounts. Ms Lazarus says he "takes complex ideas and reduces them to simple thoughts. He never writes in jargon."

At some agencies, adding the title of vice-chairman means an old duffer is outward bound. Mr Hayden, lighting a Merit in his office, says he will be working harder, not less. He also insists he won't be flying "around the world for six months at a time" giving inspirational chats to creative directors. "I still believe that making one good commercial is more important than spending the weekend in executive-committee meetings," he says.

But Mr Hayden will be spending more time on planes. Ogilvy is hungry for more global business, and thinks the unflappable Mr Hayden will help land some.

Meanwhile, he will continue managing the IBM account, including the 1,050 employees who service it worldwide. Ms Abby Kohnstamm, IBM's senior vice- president of marketing, says, "Steve finds 28 hours in a 24-hour day."Ms Kohnstamm and Mr Hayden have weathered some tough times together. Back in 1994, for example, IBM was listing badly. In a bold move, the computer company fired its 40 ad agencies and consolidated its huge account with Ogilvy. At the time, Financial World magazine (itself now defunct) ran a story headlined: "The IBM brand name isn't worth a dime."

Mr Hayden was then chairman and chief executive of Omnicom Group's BBDO West. He knew the computer business, having worked for a number of years on advertising for Apple Computer. His credits include helping to shape the famed "1984" Super Bowl ad. In that commercial, a woman hurls a hammer at a giant video screen on which a "Big Brother"-type message is being broadcast. Many interpreted it as a knock on IBM.

Ogilvy asked him to switch companies-and sides in the computer wars. Today, IBM is ranked third in an annual survey of brand value conducted by Interbrand, a brand-consulting firm owned by Omnicom Group.

How much of that is due to Ogilvy is anybody's guess, but Big Blue is pleased with the agency's work. Mr Hayden "has a real instinct for what makes this industry tick," Ms Kohnstamm says. "He finds nothing wrong with spending three days at a technology conference looking for the next best thing to come along."

Mr Hayden has an eclectic background. He trained as a cellist, attending the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and ended up writing copy for a Detroit ad agency because they offered him $6,000 annually, more than a competing job offer from Xerox. His resume is dotted with amusing entries: He has written scripts for the television show "Welcome Back, Kotter," and created advertising for arcane products such as recalculating pumps in oil fields and chemical toilets.

Mr Hayden says he gets his technology know-how from his family, explaining, "My dad was a doctor and my oldest brother was into isotopes. I grew up with radioactive material all over the house." He sees one drawback to his new job: Since he'll be spending more time in Japan and Europe, he figures "it will be harder to stop smoking."

The Wall Street Journal