by USP Needham or DDB and which trace a lineage to DDB Australia today include the Sydney agencies SPASM; Bartlett, Murphy and McKenzie; Harriman and Hill; Beeby Advertising; Magnus, Nankervis & Curl; and the Melbourne agencies Berry Currie; Hyde Everett Fuller Kutt; Leonardi & Curtis; Walker Herbert & Associates; Nowland, Robinson & Perret; Kuczynski & Zeigler; Whybin Dery Barnes. Stockholm DDB Stockholm is one of the largest agencies in Sweden with clients as Swedish Armed Forces, McDonald's, Telia, Volkswagen and Vattenfall. It is also one of the most acclaimed agencies within DDB Worldwide in recent years, earning accolades like "World's best interactive agency" in Cannes 2010 and Cannes Lions Titanium in 2011. Canada DDB Canada opened in Vancouver in 1998 where Frank Palmer became its CEO after merging his own company Palmer Jarvis into DDB Worldwide. He left the company in 2019. Rafting Incident, 1987 DDB executives were among the fatalities in a whitewater rafting accident on 1 August 1987. A group of 12, including 11 top-level executives from major firms, were rafting along the Chilko River in British Columbia, Canada, in a stretch of water known as the "Whitewater Mile." The raft struck a large rock and pitched 11 of the occupants into the rapids. Five people were killed. Among the dead: Richard T. O'Reilly - Director of Media/Advertising for Partnership for a Drug-Free America and an integral part of US President Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign advertising strategy. Robert V. Goldstein - Vice President for Advertising, Procter & Gamble James Fasules - Former Senior Vice President, DDB Needham Stuart Sharpe - Senior Vice President, DDB Needham Gene Yovetich - Senior Vice President, DDB Needham The family of Robert Goldstein filed a lawsuit against DDB afterwards. DDB’s US President Al Wolfe had planned the whitewater rafting excursion. At issue in the lawsuit was the lack of specificity in the trip waiver as to assumed risks in whitewater rafting. The waiver presented to the participants of the trip did not specify that whitewater rafting would be involved. The HBO movie White Mile (1994) was based on the rafting accident and portrays not only a similar trip and accident but subsequent litigation with a nearly identical award outcome. The film stars Alan Alda, Peter Gallagher, and Robert Loggia. Reputation DDB has been cited as one of the leading creative agencies in the world by the Gunn Report (Nov 2007, 2008, 2009,