“Creativity isn’t a luxury in advertising—it’s the very heartbeat that brings brands to life.”
Mary Wells Lawrence was born Mary Georgene Berg in Youngstown, Ohio, on May 25, 1928. Growing up in the American Midwest, she experienced a world still reeling from the economic aftershocks of the Great Depression. Surrounded by industrious people who valued grit and perseverance, Mary developed a strong work ethic early on. Yet, the idea of a woman running a major company—let alone an advertising agency—was practically unheard of in mid-20th-century America.
She attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), majoring in drama. This theatrical background would later inform her flair for showmanship, storytelling, and presentation—skills that would become her signature in advertising. After college, she explored various roles, from fashion to minor stage productions, gradually discovering how to capture people’s attention and spark emotional reactions. These formative experiences planted the seeds of what would eventually bloom into a groundbreaking career in advertising.
Mary began her formal advertising career in the early 1950s, initially working as a copywriter at smaller firms. These early roles taught her the fundamentals of writing concise, compelling copy that resonated with consumers. At a time when many women in advertising were confined to secretarial or administrative tasks, Mary had a knack for cutting through conventional wisdom and pitching bold ideas.
Seeking greater challenges, she found her way to Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), one of the most creative agencies of the time. The company was already rewriting the rules of advertising under Bill Bernbach’s leadership, championing originality in everything from concept to art direction. Mary thrived in this environment, where out-of-the-box thinking was celebrated rather than suppressed. Surrounded by innovators, she refined her ability to craft audacious campaigns that spoke directly to consumers’ emotions.
Reference: For more on Mary’s background and early career, see Mary Wells Lawrence on Wikipedia.
Buoyed by her success at DDB, Mary Wells Lawrence decided to forge her own path. In 1966, she co-founded Wells Rich Greene (WRG) alongside Richard Rich and Stewart Greene. At a time when the advertising industry was still dominated by a male-led establishment, the launch of WRG with a woman at the helm as CEO was nothing short of revolutionary.
From the onset, Mary wanted Wells Rich Greene to be an agency where creative ideas flourished. She believed in hiring diverse talent, including writers and art directors whose backgrounds and perspectives would challenge the status quo. Employees described the environment as energetic, driven by Mary’s unwavering belief in bold storytelling and the power of captivating visuals.
Core Values at WRG
Mary’s leadership at WRG made her the first female CEO of a major American advertising agency. This achievement was groundbreaking in the late 1960s, a period marked by social upheaval but also significant progress in civil rights and women’s rights. Her rise to prominence sent a strong signal that creativity and leadership skills knew no gender boundaries. She became a role model for countless women in advertising and other industries who sought to break free from traditional corporate hierarchies.
Notable Milestone: WRG’s success soared quickly. By the early 1970s, it ranked among the top agencies on Madison Avenue, holding a roster of marquee clients that included airlines, automotive companies, and consumer packaged goods conglomerates. This rapid growth solidified Mary Wells Lawrence’s reputation as a visionary willing to rewrite the rulebook.
Mary Wells Lawrence’s genius truly shone in the campaigns she masterminded. Often weaving together sharp messaging with memorable imagery or slogans, she had a knack for distilling a brand’s essence into a phrase or concept that resonated deeply with the public. Many of these campaigns revolutionized modern advertising strategies, setting precedents that persist to this day.
One of Mary’s early successes at WRG was her collaboration with Braniff International Airways. The airline industry was fiercely competitive, yet most carriers looked identical, from branding to airplane design. Mary saw an opportunity to stand out and spearheaded the famous “End of the Plain Plane” campaign. Collaborating with artist Alexander Girard and fashion designer Emilio Pucci, she encouraged Braniff to paint its aircraft in vibrant colors and outfit flight attendants in stylish, contemporary uniforms.
This bold approach captured media attention worldwide. Flying Braniff felt like a trendsetting adventure rather than just transportation. Importantly, it showcased Mary’s belief that advertising was about more than catchy slogans; it could radically reshape a brand’s image—right down to product design.
Though not solely attributed to Wells Rich Greene (the campaign came from the New York State Department of Commerce), Mary Wells Lawrence’s influence on the broader team was widely acknowledged. The iconic “I Love New York” slogan and logo revitalized the city’s tourism industry at a time when New York struggled with a negative reputation for crime and urban decay. The simplicity and direct emotional appeal of the phrase “I Love New York” turned a marketing campaign into a cultural phenomenon, emblematic of Mary’s ability to harness broad public sentiment in a single, arresting message.
While Mary Wells Lawrence wasn’t the only creative behind this legendary slogan, her team at WRG refined and amplified it into a memorable campaign that still echoes in pop culture. Short, catchy, and visually engaging, “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz” demonstrated how Mary’s approach favored concise messages that lingered in the consumer’s mind. Through TV spots featuring animated tablets fizzing in a glass of water, Alka-Seltzer was transformed from a bland antacid product to a brand with a playful personality.
Mary recognized that consumer attention is a scarce resource. Early on, she advocated for shorter, punchier TV commercials that got to the point quickly. This philosophy foreshadowed today’s environment of short-form digital ads, where capturing the viewer’s focus in the first few seconds is crucial. Her approach married entertainment with persuasive sales messages, proving that people remember brands that make them feel something—be it excitement, happiness, or relief from a headache.
Additional Resource: The Advertising Age website regularly cites Mary Wells Lawrence in discussions of historic ad campaigns, providing insight into how her strategies continue to influence industry trends.
Mary Wells Lawrence played a pivotal role in redefining the creative process within agencies. While many creative directors in her era centralized power around a single “genius,” she fostered an environment that democratized innovation. Encouraging cross-disciplinary teams, she urged art directors, copywriters, and strategists to critique each other’s work, believing that robust creative tension led to brilliant results.
A hallmark of Mary’s campaigns was their emotional pull. She insisted that great advertising told a story rather than merely listed product attributes. In a time when many ads were still product-focused—often featuring stiff spokespersons or bullet-pointed benefits—Mary dared to elevate the conversation. By tapping into nostalgia, aspiration, and sometimes humor, she showed that emotional resonance was a powerful sales driver.
Under Mary’s leadership, Wells Rich Greene embraced TV commercials as mini theatrical productions. Bright colors, catchy jingles, and cinematic narratives set their spots apart from the standard black-and-white, talking-head advertisements of the 1950s and early 1960s. This philosophy anticipated the modern-day phenomenon where ads double as viral video content, something consumers actively share instead of skip.
As Mary blazed her trail, she inspired others—both male and female—to consider advertising as a creative playground rather than a corporate conveyor belt. Women in particular looked to Mary as a living symbol that they could ascend to top roles in agencies, shaping the cultural conversation. Over the decades, numerous now-famous creative directors and agency founders have cited Mary as a formative influence.
For a deeper look at modern creative standards influenced by pioneers like Mary Wells Lawrence, explore the American Advertising Federation (AAF) for discussions on best practices and historical milestones in the field.
Mary stepped down from Wells Rich Greene in the early 1980s, but her imprint on the advertising landscape remains both vivid and transformative. She showed that a woman in leadership could not only hold her own among ad giants but actually rewrite the rules with audacious ideas that appealed to the public’s sense of wonder.
Mary Wells Lawrence’s story is fundamentally one of courage: the courage to leave a successful position and risk everything on a new agency, the courage to encourage flamboyant creativity in a conservative industry, and the courage to assume a leadership role in a field dominated by men. This boldness redefined how agencies pitched and produced campaigns, turning them into engines of cultural influence rather than mere service providers.
Although technology and consumer behaviors have changed drastically since Mary’s heyday on Madison Avenue, her core principles remain astonishingly relevant:
Later in life, Mary wrote extensively about her experiences, providing future generations with a window into the golden era of Madison Avenue. She authored the book A Big Life (In Advertising), offering insights into her creative process, business strategies, and personal philosophies. Through interviews, speaking engagements, and philanthropic endeavors, she continued to champion creativity and entrepreneurship, particularly for women seeking broader influence in corporate spaces.
Further Reading: For an in-depth account of Mary’s personal reflections, take a look at A Big Life (In Advertising), where she candidly recounts her groundbreaking campaigns and leadership lessons.
Mary Wells Lawrence personifies the transformation of advertising from a staid, formulaic practice into a creative force capable of captivating the public imagination. By pioneering iconic campaigns—ranging from vibrant airplane designs to love letters for New York City—she demonstrated how artistry and brand strategy could become inseparable allies. Her impact on how agencies structure teams, cultivate talent, and pitch bold ideas rippled across decades, shaping the modern advertising playbook.
