Mary Wells Lawrence

Mary Georgene Berg was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1928.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/business/mary-wells-lawrence-dead.html |title=Mary Wells Lawrence, High-Profile Advertising Pioneer, Dies at 95 |work=The New York Times |date=May 11, 2024 |access-date=May 11, 2024 |archive-date=May 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511162501/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/business/mary-wells-lawrence-dead.html |url-status=live |last1=McFadden |first1=Robert D.|authorlink = Robert D. McFadden }} Beginning in 1946, she studied for two years at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and met industrial design student Burt Wells. In 1949, they married and moved to Youngstown, Ohio. She began her advertising career there in 1951, as a copywriter for McKelvey's department store. She relocated to New York City, where she studied theater and drama. By 1952, she had become Macy's fashion advertising manager. She divorced Wells that year, only to remarry him in 1954. At the time known as “Mary Wells,” Berg worked as a copywriter and copy group head at McCann Erickson in 1953, later joining the Lennen & Newell advertising agency's "brain trust". In 1957, she began a seven-year tenure at Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB Worldwide). In her 2002 book, A Big Life in Advertising, Berg cited DDB partners James Edwin Doyle, Maxwell Dane, and William Bernbach as significant influences on her subsequent career.

Wells Lawrence went to work for Jack Tinker and his new advertising group, Jack Tinker and Partners. The members of this revolutionary new think tank were dubbed "Tinker's Thinkers". The "Thinkers" would create ad campaigns for other agencies at Interpublic, a holding company of many US advertising firms. Wells Lawrence had previously worked for Tinker at McCann-Erickson, and was excited to partner with him again. Her star rose in the advertising world with the success of her advertising campaign for Braniff International Airways, "The End of the Plain Plane". She hired Alexander Girard as project designer, and designer Emilio Pucci to create new uniforms for the airline's flight attendants and crew. The campaign was lauded as critical to the airline's turnaround.

Following the success of the Braniff campaign, and due to being denied a promotion promised to her, Wells Lawrence founded Wells Rich Greene on April 5, 1966, and became the agency's president. Partner Richard Rich acted as the agency's treasurer, and Stewart Greene as its secretary. Major WRG clients included American Motors, Cadbury Schweppes, IBM, MCI Communications, Pan American World Airways, Trans World Airlines, Procter & Gamble, Ralston Purina, RC Cola, and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts. Braniff remained a Wells Rich Greene client through 1968.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Wells Lawrence was behind the Benson and Hedges marketing campaign in the late 1960s which increased the sales of Benson and Hedges from 1 billion cigarettes in 1966 to 14 billion cigarettes in 1970.Whiteside, Thomas. "[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1970/12/19/the-fight-to-ban-smoking-ads Cutting Down]." The New Yorker. November 12, 1970.

By 1969, she 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 Americans, and was also invited by U.S. President Gerald Ford to represent business at an Economic Summit in Washington, D.C.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

After Wells Lawrence stepped down as CEO in 1990, the agency was sold to Boulet Dru Dupuy Petit, and became known as Wells Rich Greene BDDP. The agency officially ceased operations in 1998, and donated its archive of print and television ads to Duke University's John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Wells Lawrence had two daughters with Bert Wells, Pamela and Kathryn. She divorced Bert a second time in 1965, and married former Braniff International Airways president Harding Lawrence on November 25, 1967. Lawrence had four children. He died from pancreatic cancer on January 16, 2002, at the age of 81. Mary Wells Lawrence died in London on May 11, 2024, at the age of 95, two weeks shy of what would have been her 96th birthday.

A partial listing of Wells Rich Greene advertising campaigns:

• Plop plop, fizz fizz – Alka-Seltzer
• I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing (winner of the 1971 Clio Award) – Alka-Seltzer
• Try it, you'll like it – Alka-Seltzer
• I ♥ N Y
• Trust the Midas touch
• At Ford, Quality is Job 1
• Flick your Bic
• Raise your hand if you're Sure – Sure deodorant
• The “disadvantages” of a longer-than-King-size cigarette – Benson & Hedges 100's, cigarettes
• The "Unfair Advantage" campaign for American Motors Corporation (1968-1972), where their products were compared side-by-side with much more costly autos, such as the 1968 AMC Ambassador with standard air conditioning against the Cadillac Sedan de Ville, which still offered that feature as an extra-cost option.

Wells Lawrence was one of the five founders of wowOwow, a website created, owned, and written by women for women, which launched on March 8, 2008, International Women's Day.

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|quote=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.

|source=Deborah K. Morrison.|}}

• Named one of the top ten newsmakers of the 1960s by Advertising Age.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
• The youngest member to be inducted into the Copywriters Hall of Fame.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
• Recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1969.{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business|access-date=July 24, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business|url-status=live}}
• Named the 1971 Advertising Woman of the Year by the American Advertising Federation.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
• Inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame in 1999.

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• Mary Wells Lawrence. A Big Life in Advertising. Hardcover: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002, {{ISBN|0-375-40912-2}} Paperback: Touchstone, 2003, {{ISBN|0-7432-4586-5}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url= http://www.aef.com/industry/news/data/2002/2035 |title= An Advertising Legend |author= Stuart Elliott |work= The New York Times |date= May 27, 2002 |quote= During her heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, 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. |access-date= January 4, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070328091118/http://www.aef.com/industry/news/data/2002/2035 |archive-date= March 28, 2007 |url-status= dead }}

{{cite web |url= http://www.ciadvertising.org/sa/spring_04/adv382j/danamd/website2%20mwl/interest.htm |title= Wells Rich Greene: Si modesti essemus, perfecti essemus |work= The Center for Interactive Advertising |date= March 30, 2004 |access-date= July 25, 2007 |archive-date= February 5, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120205203811/http://www.ciadvertising.org/sa/spring_04/adv382j/danamd/website2 |url-status= live }}

{{cite web |url= http://www.development.duke.edu/campaign/news/1999/ads.html |title= Ad Agency Archive Donated to Duke Libraries |work= Duke University News Service |date= June 3, 1999 |quote= 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. |access-date= December 26, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070612063441/http://www.development.duke.edu/campaign/news/1999/ads.html |archive-date= June 12, 2007 |url-status= dead }}

{{cite web |url= http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/073102_ss2.html |title= The (advertising) World According to Lawrence |work= Book review on Knowledge@Wharton, an online publication of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050221103750/http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/073102_ss2.html |archive-date= February 21, 2005}}

{{cite book |last= Wells Lawrence |first= Mary |title= A Big Life (in advertising) |url= https://archive.org/details/biglifeinadverti00mary/page/56 |year= 2002 |publisher= Alfred A. Knopf |location= New York City |isbn= 0-7432-4586-5 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/biglifeinadverti00mary/page/56 56–59] }}

{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/17/living/17VILL.html?ex=1185508800&en=02927a3024cf16b9&ei=5070 |title= From Dream House to Dream House on the Riviera |author= William Norwich |work= The New York Times |date= May 17, 2001 |access-date= February 11, 2017 |archive-date= May 12, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240512142255/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/17/garden/a-giver-of-parties-that-a-set-jetted-in-for.html |url-status= live }}

{{cite news |url= http://www.spinics.net/lists/airline/msg03390.html |title= Harding L. Lawrence, 81, Airline Chief, Dies |first= Kenneth N. |last=Gilpin |work= The New York Times |date= January 19, 2002 |quote= 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. |access-date= July 25, 2007 |archive-date= September 28, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928125927/http://www.spinics.net/lists/airline/msg03390.html |url-status= live }}

{{cite web |url= http://www.thebranifffamily.org/events.asp#28 |title= Harding Lawrence – July 15, 1920 – January 16, 2002 |author= Michael McMurtrey |work= The Braniff Family |date= April 2000 |access-date= July 25, 2007 |archive-date= September 28, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928070702/http://www.thebranifffamily.org/events.asp#28 |url-status= live }}

{{cite web |url= http://www.themodernist.com/terminal2/girard.html |title= Alexander Girard |author= Jason Mojica |work= The Modernist |year= 2003 |access-date= June 30, 2008 |archive-date= September 27, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210927003917/https://www.themodernist.com/terminal2/girard.html |url-status= dead }}

{{cite web |url= http://www.sfmoma.org/press/pressroom.asp?arch=y&id=283&do=events |title= Press Release |author= San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |author-link= San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |work= SFMOMA Celebrates the Vibrant Work of Alexander Girard |date= June 23, 2006 |quote= In 1968 Girard designed a line of furniture for Herman Miller based on his earlier (1965) designs for Braniff Airlines. |access-date= June 30, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070702155143/http://www.sfmoma.org/press/pressroom.asp?arch=y&id=283&do=events |archive-date= July 2, 2007 |url-status= dead }}

Edd Applegate. The Ad Men and Women: A Biographical Dictionary of Advertising. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994. {{ISBN|0-313-27801-6}} ([http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/ANW%252f.aspx Table of contents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061106025621/http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/ANW/.aspx |date=November 6, 2006 }}).

{{cite web |url= http://advertisinghalloffame.org/members/member_bio.php?memid=834&uflag=w&uyear= |title= Mary Wells Lawrence |work= American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame website |access-date= March 22, 2007 |archive-date= September 28, 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060928175911/http://www.advertisinghalloffame.org/members/member_bio.php?memid=834&uflag=w&uyear= |url-status= live }}

{{Cite web |url=http://www.wowowow.com/ |title=wowOwow website |access-date=March 5, 2008 |archive-date=April 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413011001/http://www.wowowow.com/ |url-status=live }}

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• {{cite magazine |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902084-2,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090413091752/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902084-2,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= April 13, 2009 |title= Taking Off with Talk |magazine= TIME |date= June 2, 1967 }}
• {{cite magazine |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838642,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101029070105/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838642,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= October 29, 2010 |title= Up, Up and Away with Mary Wells |magazine= TIME |date= August 23, 1968 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/4197941-1.html |title= Something About Mary |author= Noreen O'Leary interview with Mary Wells Lawrence |work= Adweek, on AllBusiness.com |date= April 15, 2002 }}
• {{cite web |url= https://www.usatoday.com/money/covers/2002-05-03-wells-lawrence.htm |title= Queen of advertising tells all |author= Bruce Horovitz, Vancouver |work=USA Today |date= May 2, 2002 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.observer.com/node/45984 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080807160720/http://www.observer.com/node/45984 |url-status= dead |archive-date= August 7, 2008 |title= 'Grey Flannel Gal' Tells All – Flying High on Madison Avenue |author= Adam Begley |work= The New York Observer |date= May 12, 2002 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.madisonavenuejournal.com/2005/09/14/an_open_letter_to_mary_wells_lawrence/ |title= An Open Letter To Mary Wells Lawrence – A Sentimental Look Back |first= Tim |last=McHale |work= The Madison Avenue Journal |publisher= MediaPost |date= September 14, 2005 |access-date= June 30, 2008 |archive-date= May 10, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080510061416/http://www.madisonavenuejournal.com/2005/09/14/an_open_letter_to_mary_wells_lawrence/ |url-status= dead }}
• {{cite web |url= http://edition.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/books/06/19/lawrence.advertising/ |title= When Mad. Ave. was the center of the universe |first= Todd |last=Leopold |work= CNN book review |date= June 19, 2002 }}
• [http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/student/96_fall/lawrence/index.html The Lady Who Got an Era.] Student thesis for [http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/student/96_fall/index.html Fall 1996 course] in the [http://advertising.utexas.edu/ Department of Advertising] in the University of Texas at Austin College of Communication. Copyright 1996, Youngseon Kim. Thesis hosted online by the University's [http://www.ciadvertising.org/ Center for Interactive Advertising]

• [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Braniff-Flying-Colors/405906479478663 Braniff Flying Colors Historical Page]
• [http://www.wowowow.com/users/mary Mary Wells Lawrence] at [http://www.wowowow.com/ wowOwow]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/ "Madison Avenue"], BBC Adam Curtis blog discusses Wells' career and features a film about Braniff from 1967 in which Wells speaks.

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Category:1928 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:American advertising executives

Category:Businesspeople from Youngstown, Ohio

Category:Women in advertising

Category:20th-century American businesspeople

Category:20th-century American businesswomen