Mary Wells Lawrence

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For the singer, see Mary Wells.

Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg, 25 May, 1928, in Youngstown, Ohio, United States) is a retired American advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells Rich Greene,[1][2] an advertising agency known for its creativity and innovative work,[3] and the first woman CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the late 1940s, Mary Wells studied for two years at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She relocated to New York City, where she studied theatre and drama, and had by 1952 become Macy's fashion advertising manager. Wells was a copywriter and copy group head at McCann Erickson in 1953, later joining the Lennen & Newell advertising agency's "brain trust." She began a seven-year tenure at the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency (now DDB Worldwide) in 1957. In her 2002 book, A Big Life in Advertising,[4] Wells cited the the Doyle Dane Bernbach partners James Edwin Doyle, Maxwell Dane, and William Bernbach as significant influences on her subsequent career.

Wells married former Braniff president Harding Lawrence in 1967.[5][6] He died in 2002[7][8] at age 81.

Wells Rich Greene

Mary Wells' profile in the advertising world increased dramatically in the mid-1960s[2][7] when her 1966 "End of the Plain Plane" advertising campaign for Braniff International Airways was a critical factor in the airline's turnaround.

In 1967, Mary Wells founded the agency Wells Rich Greene (WRG)[2][1] as its president, with partners Richard Rich and Stewart Greene as company treasurer and secretary respectively.

Braniff remained a Wells Rich Greene client through 1968; other major WRG clients[3] included American Motors, Cadbury Schweppes, IBM, MCI Communications, Pan American World Airways, Procter & Gamble, Ralston Purina, RC Cola, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts.

By 1969, Mary Wells was reported to be the highest-paid executive in advertising. She was selected by U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to be a member of his Commission on Critical Choices for America, and invited by U.S. President Gerald Ford to represent business at an Economic Summit in Washington, D.C.

Mary Wells stepped down as CEO in 1990 and the agency was sold to Boulet Dru Dupuy Petit (BDDP).[3] After ceasing operations in 1998, Wells Rich Greene BDDP donated its archive of print and television ads to Duke University's John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History.

Notable agency slogans

A partial listing of Wells Rich Greene slogans[3] (the first three were for Alka-Seltzer):

  • Plop plop, fizz fizz
  • I can't believe I ate the whole thing (winner of the 1971 Clio Award)
  • Try it, you'll like it
  • I ♥ New York
  • Trust the Midas touch
  • At Ford, Quality is Job 1
  • Flick your Bic
  • Raise your hand if you're Sure
  • Friends don't let friends drive drunk


wowOwow

Mary Wells Lawrence is one of the five founders of wowOwow.com, a website created, owned, and written by women for women. WOW will launch on March 8, 2008, International Women’s Day.[9]

Honours

Born to a generation of women who eventually sought to change the landscape of American culture, Mary Wells came of age at a time and place when she could also reshape the world of American Advertising.

Deborah K. Morrison.[10]

Book

  • Mary Wells Lawrence. A Big Life in Advertising.[4] Hardcover: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002, ISBN 0-375-40912-2. Paperback: Touchstone, 2003, ISBN 0-743-24586-5.

References

  1. ^ a b Stuart Elliott (May 27 2002). "An Advertising Legend". The New York Times. During her heyday in the 1960's and 1970's, she and her agency, Wells Rich Greene, were the architects of an approach to advertising that blended entertainment production values with old-fashioned selling techniques as never before. The campaigns she helped develop in a time before giant agency companies resulted in jingles and tag lines - "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz" for Alka-Seltzer and Ford's "Quality Is Job One" - that burrowed their way into the American memory. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c ""Wells Rich Greene: Si modesti essemus, perfecti essemus."" (html). The Center for Interactive Advertising. 30 March 2004. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d "Ad Agency Archive Donated to Duke Libraries". Duke University News Service. 3 June 1999. An intelligent, energetic, and aggressive leader, Wells became known early in her career as the first woman in advertising to break through the industry's "glass ceiling," especially after she landed a $12 million account with American Motors Corporation in 1967. Based in New York City, the company made its reputation with innovative work and experienced intense growth in its first decade of business. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b "The (advertising) World According to Lawrence". Book review on Knowledge@Wharton, an online publication of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  5. ^ Lawrence, Mary Wells (2002). A Big Life (in advertising) (html). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. pp. 56-59. ISBN 0-7432-4586-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ William Norwich (17 May 2001). ""From Dream House to Dream House on the Riviera."" (html). The New York Times. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Kenneth N. Gilpin (19 January 2002). ""Harding L. Lawrence, 81, Airline Chief, Dies."" (html). The New York Times (NYT abstract). Braniff was the first client of Wells, Rich, Greene Inc. Ms. Wells's concept, the "End of the Plain Plane," led Braniff to paint its planes in bright colors and dress its flight attendants in Pucci-designed uniforms. One DC-8 jetliner on the airline's Latin American routes was painted in playful wavy patterns by Alexander Calder. "More people will see this painting by a famous artist in a shorter time than perhaps any other in history," Mr. Lawrence said in 1973. Braniff paid the artist $100,000. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)
  8. ^ Michael McMurtrey (April 2000). ""Harding Lawrence - July 15, 1920 - January 16, 2002."" (html). The Braniff Family. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  9. ^ www.wowOwow.com Online. 5 March 2008.
  10. ^ Edd Applegate. The Ad Men and Women: A Biographical Dictionary of Advertising. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-27801-6 (Table of contents).
  11. ^ "Mary Wells Lawrence". American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame website.
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