Honoring the Women Who Changed the Game of Advertising — Joanne Davis
In honor of Women’s History Month, a few of my favorite women in advertising history — the last one I am lucky to have worked with (no I’m not that old 😉) — set the stage for the rest of us.
Helen Lansdowne Resor was hired by J. Walter Thompson as the first female copywriter in 1908. She wrote for P&G, the Red Cross, and Cisco. She pioneered advertorials and brought Norman Rockwell into JWT as an illustrator. She and her team wrote “Women Must Work to Win the War,” which resulted in three million women entering the workforce by 1943.
Shirley Polykoff wrote “Does She — or Doesn’t She” for Clairol in 1957 at FCB. Before the campaign, seven percent of women in the US dyed their hair. After, it was more than 50 percent.
Mary Wells Lawrence founded Wells, Rich, Greene in 1966 and took it public in 1968, the first female CEO of a company traded on the NY Stock Exchange. She then took the agency private and stepped down in 1990.
WRG created “I Love NY,“ “Raise Your Hand if You’re Sure,” “I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing” — for Alka Seltzer, and so many more.
I was lucky as a very young account person to work at Wells Rich Greene.
We celebrated our clients and as a woman-owned agency, women were treated equally — good or bad.
I learned from Mary; we love our clients. Every day.
Accounts went into review because we weren’t loving our clients, not because of bad creative — that the clients briefed and approved.
The most important lesson was to love our clients.
My wish to young advertising women in this history month is to love your clients — every day. And watch how the relationship flourishes.
And to clients everywhere, love your agencies back — beyond Women’s History Month — every day. And see the results of the work. And share the success.
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