Bernbach.
Lois.
Gossage.
McCabe.
Ally.
Chiat.
Wieden.
McElligott.
Goodby.
What about Wells?
I can only recall hearing that name once in the last twenty years.
Uttered by Tim Delaney.
In a tone that suggested he didn’t think she was completely useless.
Unusual, so it stuck with me.

When her autobiography came out, I was first in line.

But her tone was jarring.
“Sure I had in me what it takes to lead the agency into becoming a global behemoth, but I liked doing creative work more.”
“Research told us our campaign for Love Cosmetics was more recognisable than the Statue Of Liberty.”
“There were only two talents in the agency I could completely trust – myself and Charlie.”
Maybe it’s because I’m English?
One of the rules of being English is that you don’t big yourself up, you play things down.
You have to be self-deprecating 24/7.
It’s tiring.
But undoubtably, that self-confidence served her well.
Imagine the attitudes she faced as a high-flying women in Madison Avenue in the 50s?
And 60s, 70s and 80s?
She had no map, she had to make her own path in uncharted territory.
At least, uncharted by a women.
She was so well thought of, that in 1975 Bill Bernbach asked her to buy and run DDB.
(It very nearly happened.)

She started out in-house, writing ads for department stores.
In 1955, Doyle Dane Bernbach’s copy chief Phylis Robinson hired her.
Joining a copy department that was predominantly female.
In no time, she was running her own group.





Whilst at DDB she wrote for and ran The French Tourist Board account.
(The campaign was shot by the great Elliott Erwitt.)

In 1965 she left DDB to run a small agency called Jack Tinker & Partners.
First, she tackles a fantastically dull client; Braniff Airlines.
She adds a bit of colour to the previously grey airline by adding colour – having the whole fleet of planes repainted.
What was once white, like every other airline, was now bright pink, orange, blue, yellow and green.
WRG the set about redesigning their logos, lounges, ticket offices and even uniforms, getting trendy, enlisting sixties’s fashionista Emilio Pucci for the job.
It was “The end of the plain plane”.

The end of plain uniforms too.

 

Even the food was overhauled.

 

Next was to sell the new, lesser known routes Braniff flew to.

 

The work Mary wrote for Alka-Seltzer, they could run today. (If it wasn’t so darn pixellated.)

In 1966, she got an unpopular Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, re-elected.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, they did some cool-looking work Toni Hair Color.

In 1966 she set up an agency with two other creatives; Wells Rich Greene.

She takes Braniff with her.
(Not surprising, she was married to the owner.)

 

 

 

Alka-Seltzer also follows her.
When trying to figure out how to sell more, Mary asks “Would taking two tablets would increase their effectiveness?”
That question changed the company, their packaging and advertising.

 

 

 

 

Rather than write some ads for a cosmetic company, they come up with a new brand; LOVE COSMETICS.
They choose the fragrances, design the packaging then write the ads.
They get hip hippy Donovan to do the music.

 

American Motors had a problem; people didn’t know what they made.
Sure, they knew it was cars, the clue was in the name, but what kind?
The range was so wide it was confusing.
The solution was very ballsy, use other manufacturers category leading cars to show what category yours were.
This is our Beetle, this is our Mustang and so on.
It sounds like an obvious idea, but it’s risky.
Will our cars stand comparison to theirs?
Will their, more famous cars be remembered and ours forgotten?
And this is something we’e paying for it, millions of dollars.


It worked.
Having positioned each car, they set about selling them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benson & Hedges 100s were longer than usual cigarettes.
The way agencies would promote that extra bit of cigarette would be via the advantages.
It lasts longer, so many extra puffs, smoke less in number for the same smoking time and so on.
They all make total sense, but they’re dull.
Mary dramatised the disadvantages.

 

 

 

 

 

Midas Mufflers, or exhausts to us Brits, had a problem, they wanted to grow but said they were in a category of one, there were no other national exhaust fitting companies.
WRG found their competition: local garages.
People went there for petrol, tyres and a car wash; why not mufflers? It was very convenient.
So Midas took on local garages, saying they were not well stocked, staffed or informed.
But they did it with great charm.

We often talk about the ‘big idea’, but usually it’s simply a phrase.
Mary’s idea for TWA was a big idea.
A million dollar idea.
How do you get people to take seriously that your airline staff care about customer service?
You hive off a million dollars from your marketing budget to give your staff bonuses if enough customers tell TWA that they went the extra mile.
The staff are aware they can make more money, so they try harder.
The public are aware the staff are trying harder.
Brilliant.
Sounds so easy and obvious.
Like all the best ideas.

 

 

 

 

Having set the idea up, they cleverly use customer feedback to create ads to show people it’s working.

 

 

 

 

In 1975, New York City was a mess.
Strikes, garbage and murders were grabbing the headlines.
In fact, they lead the world in murders, they were world famous for it.
Plus, they had no money for fix it.
In fact, the government refused to help, hence this famous headline…

Mary was called in.
After a bit of research, she found that deep down, wherever they were from, people loved the New York.
The idea of New York, not the gritty reality – the spirit of it.
Mary decides the first thing they need is some kind of symbol for people to get behind.
She calls up Milton Glaser.
He’s busy, but they have a meeting in a yellow cab, before he gets out, he’s drawn this.

Which becomes this.

Then this.

Now you have a symbol, you get people to get behind it.
Literally.

People start declaring their love of NY, the logo begins to pop up everywhere.


On TV, they didn’t apologise, they just celebrated the city.
Who doesn’t remember this?

 

As it grew into the eighties, Wells Rich Greene seemed to focus more on growth and finance than the work.
It’s hard to find any of their work from this period, mainly because it’s not in any awards shows.
Like rock stars, if you die at your peak your reputation lives on.
Get rich, fat and start producing uninspiring work and people forget how great you once were.
work, you get forgotten, (no matter how groundbreaking your early stuff may have been).
It’s a shame, because for about a decade – Mary rocked.
Creating the kind of integrated, 360°, media-neutral, big, famous campaigns that every agency would dream of doing today.
But she did it 46 years ago.

 

MORE MARY…