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Mary Wells Lawrence changed advertising forever. This is a thread about her story and how she became an ad industry legend in the 1960s.
1) Some say that Mary (92) was the real-life Peggy Olsen from Mad Men; a brilliant copywriter and a vocal copy chief. Mary was much more than that. She revolutionised the advertising industry and opened one of the trendiest agencies of the 60s/70s.
2) "The best advertising should make you nervous about what you're not buying." Mary Wells Lawrence
3) Mary’s first agency was McCann-Erickson, where she worked from 1953 to 1956. She then moved to DDB, where she eventually became the copy chief in 1963.
4) In 1964, Wells left to become a partner at the new venture Jack Tinker & partners. At the agency, she produced iconic work for the anti-acid drug Alka-Seltzer and created the ground-breaking work “End of the Plain Plane” for Braniff airlines.
5) In the 60s, drug advertising was dull. The ads focused on how drugs eased pain symptoms. Mary decided that they needed to entertain the audience, not just inform, to tell the story of how helpful and innovative Alka-Seltzer’s products were.
6) They decided to run a series of 16 funny adverts, each with a different reason to take Alka-Seltzer. This ad defied traditional drug advertising — it didn’t feature anyone in pain and it leaned on self-deprecating humour to connect with the audience.
7) Wells was the woman that made flying sexy. Braniff was an unknown airline with good routes before Mary. She thought they needed more than just an ad to stand out. Mary decided to paint all of their planes in colourful ways, redesigned waiting areas and the crew's uniform.
8) Mary created an image for the airline that felt fresh and that people wanted to be part of. Braniff was instantly the trendy airline. Sales rose consistently and some say people chose their routes based on the color of the planes.
9) At the top of her success at the agency, Mary resigned after being told she wouldn’t be made the agency’s president because of the fact she was a woman. She left with two other partners to set her own agency, Wells Rich Greene.
10) Upon founding Wells Rich Greene in 1966, Mary Wells Lawrence became the first woman to found, own and run a major agency, and the first female CEO of a company listed on the NY Stock Exchange. By the end of its first year, WRG had 100 employees and $39 million in billings.
11) They were instantly awarded the Branniff account and eventually had an amazing portfolio of clients including American Motors, Cadbury Schweppes, IBM, Pan American World Airways, Trans World Airlines, Procter & Gamble and Sheraton Hotels.
12) WRC became an agency known for their sense of humour and creative brilliance. They became one of the fastest growing agencies of the 70s.
13) For tobacco company Benson & Hedges, her team created smart and entertaining ads that promoted the extra long length of their cigarettes (and the extra puffs they provided).
14) Her agency's brilliant marketing for Benson and Hedges reportedly increased the sales of the company from 1 billion cigarettes in 1966 to 14 billion cigarettes in 1970.
15) Throughout the 70s, Mary’s annual salary of US$300,000 made her one of the best paid executives in the world.
16) Wells and her team were the brains behind the “I 
N Y” campaign in the mid-70s increase tourism and raise the spirits of the residents of NY during at tough violent period for the city.
N Y” campaign in the mid-70s increase tourism and raise the spirits of the residents of NY during at tough violent period for the city.
17) Mary revolutionised drug, automobile, airline and television advertising in general. She started and ran one of the trendiest agencies of the 60s/70s and was an iconic figure in a male-dominated industry.
18) After nearly 40 years in the advertising business, she retired in 1990 when WRG merged with the French agency BDDP. In 1971, Wells was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the American Ad Federation, and in 1999 she was inducted into the American Advertising Hall of Fame.
19) If you are interested, read this NY Times profile on Mary: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/fashion/mary-wells-lawrence-took-on-the-mad-men.html
20) Find more of Mary’s amazing work on this blog post https://davedye.com/2014/01/07/mary-wells/
21) Here are some of the sources for this thread:
Fonts:
https://www.thewonderwomenproject.org/pages/biography-of-mary-wells-lawrence
https://medium.com/@jessicaswanda/famous-advertisers-in-history-mary-wells-lawrence-bda30ec78d75
https://www.aaaa.org/timeline-event/mary-wells-lawrence-fabulous-first-female-advertising-ceo/
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/fashion/mary-wells-lawrence-took-on-the-mad-men.html
https://www.maharam.com/stories/muraben_the-end-of-the-plain-plane
https://www.creativereview.co.uk/i-love-ny-logo/ https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/wells-legacy-25869/
Fonts:
https://www.thewonderwomenproject.org/pages/biography-of-mary-wells-lawrence
https://medium.com/@jessicaswanda/famous-advertisers-in-history-mary-wells-lawrence-bda30ec78d75
https://www.aaaa.org/timeline-event/mary-wells-lawrence-fabulous-first-female-advertising-ceo/
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/fashion/mary-wells-lawrence-took-on-the-mad-men.html
https://www.maharam.com/stories/muraben_the-end-of-the-plain-plane
https://www.creativereview.co.uk/i-love-ny-logo/ https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/wells-legacy-25869/
22) "The first time I watched TV I felt as if something important had taken an elevator ride up to my head and turned on the light in my mind. I knew that I was going to do something on television. I remember feeling the warm relief of knowing where my future was."
- Mary Wells
- Mary Wells
