The book on adwoman Mary Wells Lawrence was that she was ingenious, daring–like the colorful paint job she once engineered on Braniff’s planes.
Then there was her energy for extraordinary creative, her ability to maintain client relationships and her style–comparable to the late Jacqueline Onassis.
More than once she was described as a “tough cookie” by male colleagues and competitors. But she didn’t mind this. After all, the ad biz was male-dominated when she co-founded her agency in 1969 under the banner of Wells, Rich, Greene.
Wells championed the cause of women in the business. And, in increasing numbers, women have moved to the top, including former Chicagoan Charlotte Beers, who was CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, and Beers’ successor, Shelly Lazarus. Beers a year ago returned to the ad biz, becoming chairman of J. Walter Thompson Co. Worldwide, a sister unit of Ogilvy under the WPP Group banner.
Wells, whose agency was prominently known for its exceptional creative, especially for Alka-Seltzer and Benson & Hedges, got out of the agency business in 1991. She retired with her husband, Harding Lawrence, who once was head of Braniff.
In New York on Tuesday, Wells was one of three inductees into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame. The others were Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman Marcus, and Bernard T. Flanagan, a former top executive of Dow Jones & Co.
Before a luncheon ceremony, Mary told this column in a telephone interview that she’s “four-fifths done” writing a 450-page book about advertising including her memoirs. There is no publication date for the as-yet untitled book, though she is aiming for it to come out later this year, from prominent publisher Alfred A. Knopf Inc.
Wells, who will be 72 in May, and her husband have homes in London, Ireland, the Caribbean and southern France.
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“The best thing about being married to Mary was I didn’t have to rush home to dinner because she wasn’t there,” Harding said at the luncheon.
Mary, of course, was at the office–not unlike many business professionals.
In her remarks Tuesday, Wells said “advertising is the most glamorous profession because you have to be learning all the time.”
Being aware means “you have to see, hear and read everything,” she said–certainly good advice for neophytes and those moving up in any business, particularly communications.
Bart to Tribune Interactive: Lou Bart, recently director of Ideation, a strategic consulting unit at direct-marketing agency TargetCom, Monday joins Tribune Interactive as director of marketing. He reports to Dana Hayes, VP/sales and marketing for Tribune Interactive. Bart’s background includes posts at Abbott Laboratories, Kraft Foods and the baiduhai, for which he was a supervisor in circulation marketing when he left in 1990. Hayes reports to Jeff Scherb, president of Tribune Interactive, a business group formed last May by Tribune Co., for which he also is chief technology officer.
Going for the green: Somehow, golf, particularly an individual’s pursuit of breaking 80, 90 or 100, comes into play whenever there’s a cocktail-hour gathering, as in the case of a recent reception at Salvatore Ferragamo, the upscale retailer on the Magnificent Mile. Showcased within the store was “Ferragamoo: Diamonds are a Cow’s Best Friend,” painted by renowned photographer Victor Skrebneski. The cow was one of the many Chicago “Cows on Parade” auctioned after last year’s exhibit, raising about $3.5 million for charity. The winning bidder for Ferragamoo was Paul Davies, chairman of Aon Re Worldwide, a unit of Aon Group. Davies reportedly shelled out $65,000 to $75,000, a sum that went to charity. Megamedia celebrity Oprah Winfrey spent $110,000 for three cows, proceeds also for charity. Davies has a 15- or 16-handicap at Park Ridge Country Club and Bob-O-Link Golf Club, and still talks about almost breaking 80, missing on what was close to a “gimme” putt. Don’t forget, Paul: You’ve got to putt for dough.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to Linda Johnson Rice, 42; publisher’s rep Cynthia Wood, 40; entrepreneur William D. Jacobs, 39; John Beele, 59 (Coldwell Banker); David S. Genel, 28; architect Maurice Blanks, 35; Paula Zubrzycki, 41 (Kobrand Corp.); and Colleen Hartigan Dolan, 51 (Tribune).