Page 4 - Steve Bergerson

of Business at Mankato State University and three years lateratMetroStateUniversityinMinneapolis,wherehe chaired its marketing and law departments for 15 years, and eventually became faculty president. All the while, hewaspursuinghisdreamofcreatingtheTwinCities’ first advertising law practice.
At first, he couldn’t figure out why his practice development efforts weren’t getting traction. He anguished over why, but then had an epiphany. First, hardly anyone knew what an advertising lawyer did, and second, the conventional ways that lawyers developed their practices wasn’t going to work.
“At the time, it was nearly unheard of for an attorney to advertise their services. Many considered it undignified and unprofessional,” remembered Bergerson. “But, I realized I needed to advertise, and do it very well, to reach and touch my audience, advertisers and ad agencies in a way they related to.”
Bergerson began to create award-winning ads for
“Think,” the Jeopardy! Theme Song, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Takin’ Care of Business,” and registered more than 3,000 trademarks in 80 countries, including such well-known trademarks as Worldperks, Prince, Breathe Right, Sam Adams, Buffalo Wild Wings, Minute Clinic, Miracle-Ear, Subway Kids Pack, Simply Potatoes, Weight Watchers, Crystal Farms and Expect More. Pay Less.
On the adversarial side of his practice, Bergerson has successfully challenged ad claims made by many leading national advertisers on behalf of such clients as Cargill, Breathe Right, Valspar, Land ‘O Lakes, PillsburyandSamAdamsbeerwhentheircompetitors crossed the line.
ProfessionalPhilanthropicWork
Bergerson’s dedication to pro bono work and community service has been a mainstay of his career. He served as pro bono legal counsel for Children’s Cancer Research Fund, the American Advertising
But, I realized I needed to advertise, and do it very well, to reach and touch
my audience ...
himself, which was unheard of at the time.
His career immediately gained altitude after his clients saw he could speak their language and understood advertising, advertising people and that he understood and respected creativity. He spent the next 16 years as a sole practitioner and joined Fredrikson & Byron in 1990, and began creating its advertising,
marketing and trademark law group.
“Steve was the lone wolf for so long,” said fellow
shareholder John Pickerill. “There was no real competition because nobody could match his background – one that married creativity with the law. He is honestly a case study in advertising law. He not only created a career in a traditionally hostile environment, but created and maintained a monopoly on the market. He knew how to help advertisers maximize creativity while minimizing the risk of legal liability. I’m grateful to have had such an incredible teacher in him.”
As the department chair at Fredrikson & Byron, Bergerson worked with both the nation’s largest and smallest agencies and advertisers, negotiated talent agreements with the world’s top celebrities like Crocodile Dundee, Robert Duvall, E. G. Marshall, Willie Mays and Star Jones, music licenses with dozens of music publishers for such all-time hits as
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Federation, Point of Purchase Advertising Institute and the Minnesota Advertising Federation. He is also a charter member of William Mitchell College of Law’s Intellectual Property Institute’s advisory board and served as a trustee for the law school as well. Additionally, Bergerson served on the National Advertising Review Board and was a board member of the American Advertising Federation, Minneapolis Visitors’ Bureau, Better Business Bureau and other community nonprofits.
He also fought against harmful government regulations relating to the advertising industry. He repeatedly led the Minnesota advertising industry’s successful efforts to defeat legislative proposals to tax advertising services and then was instrumental in securing legislation actually declaring that advertising services are not taxable. He was also instrumental in rallying Minnesota lawyers to vote down a 1992 state bar association proposal that would have effectively prohibited them from advertising.
PassingtheTorch
“I didn’t just wake up one day and decide it was time to retire,” Bergerson explained. “I’ve been planning it for a while, and gradually scaled back in recent years. I am leaving secure in the knowledge that clients will continue to be expertly served and that the department
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