Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S10E18 - There’s Something About Mary: Mad Woman Mary Wells

Episode Date: May 6, 2021

This week, we profile the remarkable career of, arguably, the most successful women in advertising - Mary Wells. She was a woman of firsts - the first woman to found and run a major advertising agency, the first female CEO to take a company public and the first women to intimidate the boys club of Madison Avenue.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan. You just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. new year new me season is here and honestly we're already over it enter felix the health care company helping canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year weight loss is more than just diet and exercise it can be about tackling genetics hormones metabolism felix

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So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than noon, noon, noon You're not you when you're hungry You're a good hand with all things. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. Mary Esther Wells was born in Detroit in 1943. Raised by a single mother, Mary was a sickly child,

suffering from spinal meningitis and tuberculosis. She was bedridden for two years. At the age of 12, Mary would help her mother at her housecleaning job, singing as she mopped floors. She had a great voice and even wrote songs. In her teens, Mary sang at church, in a high school choir, and occasionally at area nightclubs. And it was at a club one night that she bumped into Barry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. Mary Wells told Gordy that she had a new song she wanted to pitch him. Gordy asked the

precocious young lady to sing it on the spot. So she did. Gordy not only liked the song, he signed Mary Wells to Motown in 1960, and the song hit number 8 on the Billboard R&B chart. She was just 17 years old. Her next single, I Don't Wanna Take a Chance, made Mary Wells the first female solo artist at Motown to hit the top 40. Then Berry Gordy paired her with songwriter Smokey Robinson, and their song, The One Who Really Loves You,

went to number 8 on the charts. The follow-up, You Beat Me to the Punch, went top 10 as well and nabbed Motown's first Grammy nomination. Her next song, Two Lovers,

went to number 7. Then, in 1964, Smokey wrote My Guy for Mary. The song went to number one. It would be Motown's first international hit. Mary Wells even pushed the Beatles off the charts. But they were big fans, and Mary opened for the Fab Four, making her Motown's first artist to tour the UK. Mary Wells was a woman of firsts.

At the tender age of 20, Mary was Motown's biggest star with 10 hits in just three and a half years. But she wanted more. She felt Motown was using her recording revenue to promote other acts. She felt her opinion wasn't being heard in a company full of ambitious young men. So at the age of 21, Mary Wells boldly quit Motown. It was a huge loss for the recording label. But Mary wanted her freedom, and she wanted to steer her own career.

She would experience ups and downs from that point on, but one thing could not be denied. Mary Wells. Like the singer, she was a woman of firsts. She was the first woman to found a major advertising agency. She was the first female CEO to take her company public. She took on the Boys Club on Madison Avenue. She was the first female CEO to take her company public. She took on the Boys Club on Madison Avenue,

and often, Mary Wells beat them to the punch. Mary Georgene Berg was born in 1928 in Youngstown, Ohio. As an only child, Mary suffered from extreme shyness, So her mother enrolled her in dancing, drama and theatrical elocution lessons. It was a gift that would one day guide her future. At the age of 17, she headed to New York and set her sights on show

business. Mary enrolled in theater school, where she met and would eventually marry fellow student Bert Wells. It would be an on-and-off-again marriage that wouldn't last. In 1951, she landed a job at a department store. In a moment of serendipity, she applied for a sales position, but was hired as an ad writer, mostly because she had a theater background and she could type.

Mary had a terrific boss who taught her how to be interesting and irresistible with an ad and how to put herself in the shoes of her customers. Above all, she taught Mary

how to create a powerful brand. In 1952, Mary Wells managed to land a big job at Macy's in New York. Not long after, she was promoted to fashion advertising manager. It was an exciting position, and she thought she would never leave Macy's. Then she got a job offer to join a big advertising agency

called McCann Erickson. She took the job because that advertising agency was beginning to create work for a new medium called television. And Mary Wells had an inkling her future might just be in television. But this was the early 1950s. TV was new and while ad agencies were trying to figure it out, they were also producing the worst advertising in decades. Advertisers were incredibly conservative and advertising agencies mirrored that safe, cautious mindset. But there was one advertising agency bucking that trend. It was turning the advertising industry upside down with the force of its creativity. That agency was Doyle Dane Burnback.

Founder Bill Burnback was leading a creative revolution on Madison Avenue. He demanded that advertising be honest, with bolder language and smarter ideas, created with wit and stylish design. That philosophy generated big results for his clients. Mary Wells was fascinated by Burnback. She knew the ad she was forced to write at McCann Erickson would never get her hired at Doyle Dane, but she held her breath and applied anyway. One of the most fascinating aspects of Doyle Dane Burnback was that its creative director

was a woman. If you've ever watched Mad Men, you'll know how rare that was in the 1950s. But Bill Burnback wasn't swayed by gender. He was attracted to intelligence and creativity.

And creative director Phyllis Robinson was brimming with both. When Mary showed her work to Phyllis Robinson, Robinson only liked one single ad. But a week later, she hired Mary Wells. When Mary finally met the legendary Bill Burnback, he shook her hand and said, McCann Erickson is a terrible agency,

so you are a big gamble from my point of view, but Phyllis sees something in you. Mary says she never forgot those exact words because it took a few years to get over them. But she was now at the hottest ad agency on Madison Avenue. Doyle Dane Burnback created the famous Volkswagen advertising, calling the little car ugly but lovable. It created the famous advertising for Avis,

telling the world Avis was number two, but they try harder. That was Burnback's unique gift. He could see the advantage in the disadvantage. Mary Wells spent seven years at Doyle Dane Burnback she learned how to present bold ideas to nervous clients by 1964 she was 35 years old and making $40,000 a year at a time when the average salary for men was less than 10,000. Her ads were celebrated. She had it made. Then, she was offered an interesting job

at another ad agency. Mary Wells was offered the chance to lead a new wave ad agency that specialized in television. The agency was Jack Tinker and Partners, and it had major financial backing from a big ad conglomerate called Interpublic. Mary was offered a big salary and the promise she would be elevated to president of the agency within a year. It was too good to pass up. The first account that knocked on Mary's new door was Alka-Seltzer. For years,

it had a squeaky voice TV mascot named Speedy. When you're headachy and feverish with a cold, take Alka-Seltzer to help you feel better while you're getting better. Try it. But Alka-Seltzer's sales were down. Mary told them that Speedy had done a good job of communicating the speed of relief, but in the swinging 60s, it was corny and old-fashioned. So Alka-Seltzer hired Mary's ad agency. Her creative team of

Dick Rich and Stu Green came up with a big idea. It was a celebration of stomachs. Big ones, little ones, thin ones, and fat ones, all filmed at stomach level. The slogan was, Alka-Seltzer, no matter what shape your stomach is in. No matter what shape your stomach's in, when it gets out of shape, take Alka-Seltzer. Alka-Seltzer relieves the flutters.

Calms the nervous feeling, relieves heartburn, relieves the stuffy feeling, and relieves a headache. And Alka-Seltzer sales bounced up. One day, someone at Alka-Seltzer happened to mention that two tablets would work better than one. Mary Wells instantly saw an opportunity. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is. Ah, those lovely bubbles for aches and pains with upset stomach. Alka-Seltzer works fast.

Mary's plop-plop made Alka-Seltzer's sales double-double overnight. The follow-up commercial became even more famous. I can't believe I ate that whole thing. Take two Alka-Seltzer. Alka-Seltzer neutralizes all the acid your stomach has churned out. The Alka-Seltzer ad started attracting a lot of new clients to Mary's ad agency. One of those clients was Continental Airlines. The president of Continental was an impressive man named Harding Lawrence.

He said Continental wanted Creative Ideas to launch their new line of supersonic jets. But after a few meetings, Lawrence whispered to Mary that he was leaving Continental to run a much smaller airline called Braniff. He told her he needed a very big idea, so big it would make Braniff famous overnight. And he wanted Mary Wells to do it. So she began paying attention to airports and planes. The airline industry had developed out of the military, and the terminals looked like it.

Pilots looked like soldiers, and the flight attendants looked like nurses. The planes were drab and boring. So Mary and her creative team hired top designers to completely reimagine Braniff's terminals and ticket counters with bright colors. They redesigned the plane's interiors. Mary hired fashion designer Emilio Pucci

to design the flight attendant's outfits in smashing colors. She also wanted to paint the planes, so she had sketches done up to see which color worked best. There were seven options. Then Mary suddenly thought, instead of choosing one, why not paint Bran of Plains seven different colors? It had never been done before.

Harding Lawrence said he wanted a big news-making idea, but would he approve it? And we'll be right back. You're listening to Season 10 of Under the Influence. If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like Color Schemes, How Colors Make You Buy. Season 1, Episode 18. You'll find it in our archives wherever you download your pods. When Mary told Harding Lawrence she wanted to paint his fleet of planes in seven different colors, he studied the sketches and was quiet for a minute.

Mary held her breath. Then he laughed and said, that'll do it. Mary was off and running. When everything was ready, she launched Braniff's modern and sexy advertising with a theatrical flourish, announcing it was the end of the plane plane.

It would be the boldest airline rebranding ever done. Braniff International announces the end of the plane, plane. We won't get you where you're going any faster, but it'll seem that way. Braniff became a sensation. 300 reporters showed up for the unveiling. People kept booking flights just so they could say they had flown all seven colors.

Mary Wells became a Madison Avenue showstopper. She was smart, she was bold, she was impossibly glamorous, and she knew how to build exciting brands. And along the way, she knew something else, too. She was falling in love with brandiff president, Harding Lawrence. Mary Wells' success was attracting a lot of business, so it was time to call in the promise of becoming president of her ad agency. That was when Interpublic told her she would be paid as if she was president,

she would have the authority of a president, but she wouldn't be given the title. They told her that elevating her to the role of president would, in fact, limit the growth of the agency because, quote, the world wasn't ready for woman presidents. So Mary Wells resigned

on the spot. They offered her a million dollars to stay. She declined. Harding Lawrence said, Why not start your own ad agency? You can be president and chairman. Braniff can be your first client. So Mary Wells took Dick Rich and Stu Green with her

and opened Wells Rich Green Inc. They rented eight rooms in the Gotham Hotel. Mary's mother answered phones. It was April 1966. With a foundation in retail advertising, a schooling in creative at Doyle Dane, and management experience from Tinker, Mary Wells was ready to run her own shop. The success of the Braniff rebranding gave Wells Rich Green a huge profile, but it was Mary who drew the attention of the media. In just the first few months, there were glowing profiles of Mary in magazines like Cosmopolitan and Fortune. She was referred to as a Girl Wonder and the Madison Avenue Bombshell. In 1967, Mary Wells married Harding Lawrence. She was based in New York, he in Dallas. She would fly to Texas every weekend to be with him.

A year later, Mary decided to drop her husband's Braniff account to take on the much larger TWA Airlines business. You have to admire her chutzpah. Due to Mary's creative leadership and her spellbinding presentation skills, Wells Rich Green had landed $30 million worth of business in its first six months. One year later, it hit $59 million. American Motors called. The car company had been losing money for two years. Mary knew it was a huge opportunity,

but it was also a difficult one because AMC vehicles weren't exciting. The AMC Rebel was the hardest model to sell. It was boring. But research revealed that driving schools bought more Rebels than any other car. So Mary's team created award-winning commercials showing a beleaguered driving instructor and the punishment Rebels took at the hands of his students.

No matter how rough you treat a Rebel, it's awfully hard to hurt it. A survey of professional driving schools shows that they use more of our cars than any other kind. Look out for the truck! What truck? Behind the bus! What bus? The rebel has held its own against some of the worst

drivers in the world. At this point, it looks like the rebels are going to outlast the teachers. Next, Mary did comparison ads between AMC vehicles

and Fords. There was an unwritten rule in Detroit that car makers would never ever do comparison ads. Mary broke that rule. At first, networks were afraid

to air the ads because they didn't want to offend Ford, one of their biggest spenders. But Mary persisted and won. When Bick asked Wells Rich Green to create a campaign to launch their disposable lighters, Mary's troops had just the line for them.

Why just light up when you can flick your BIC? Flick your BIC became a national catchphrase. Under Mary's formidable leadership, no other advertising agency in history had grown as fast as Wells Rich Green did in the first five years. It transitioned from a hot agency into a major agency, billing close to $100 million. It boasted a blue-chip roster of clients that included General Mills, Bristol Myers, Philip Morris, and Procter & Gamble. And remember, this was the Mad Men era. Wells Rich Green was still the only advertising agency on Madison Avenue run by a woman.

Then, in 1971, Mary became the first woman chief executive officer to have a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. That move made Mary Wells the highest paid female executive in history. She was earning more money than most men, including her husband, who was the president of an airline. Bet MGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. Bet MGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to

the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a selly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connect ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge bet mgm operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The hits just kept on coming. Wells Rich Green landed the Ford corporate account. Clearly, even the carmaker had to forgive Mary because her creativity was so undeniable.

Ford was being eaten alive by Japanese imports. The public believed Japanese cars were better-made cars. So Mary's agency started Ford's turnaround with a campaign that said, At Ford, quality is job one. That campaign ran for years. Then in 1979, she was presented with the biggest challenge of her career.

The city of New York was broke. There was a billion-dollar deficit. There was a garbage strike. Businesses were leaving town. Tourism was non-existent. New York needed a big idea. When Wells Rich Green did research, they discovered that while tourists were turned off New York,

they were wild about Broadway. With that insight, Mary's team created this iconic advertising campaign. There's only one Broadway. It's in New York.

I love New York. I love New York. I love New York. I love New York. I love New York. The music was anthemic. The pitch was Broadway. The campaign moved people to believe in New York again. Optimism grew and businesses thought twice about leaving.

Tourism turned around. Five-year awareness goals were hit in just five weeks. Wells Rich Green was now a $650 million company. Mary and her husband vacationed with Henry Ford II and his wife. was now a $650 million company. Mary and her husband vacationed with Henry Ford II and his wife. Princess Grace of Monaco was a friend. They had a ranch in Arizona and homes in New York, Dallas, Mystique, and a villa in the south of France.

Mary was living a dream life. Then her doctor told her she had breast cancer. Not only was the news shocking and numbing, but she knew her health could affect the health of her company. Mary was such an overwhelming presence at her firm that if word got out that she had cancer, clients could get nervous. Some of those nervous clients might even decide to leave. So under a shroud of secrecy, she underwent surgery and treatment. But her illness made her jam on the brakes. It made her yearn for more

balance in her life. Over the years, many larger advertising agencies had approached Mary to buy her company. She had always resisted. But she had changed. Her passion for the ad business had started to wane. She felt she had lost some of her magic. The ad industry had changed too. It was the late 80s now. Companies were going global and wanted global advertising agencies.

That prompted big advertising networks to swallow smaller agencies in order to grow financially and geographically. A large advertising network based in France made an offer to Mary. This French agency, BDDP, had a good creative reputation, said all the right words about merging cultures, and they wanted a foothold

in the U.S. So, after much debate and reflection, Mary decided the time was right. On April 12, 1990, Wells BDDP was presented to the world. Fourteen months later, the legendary Mary Wells Lawrence retired from the agency she had built. It was now the 15th largest in the industry she had helped revolutionize.

She was 62, and it was time to go. The amazing Mary Wells was a woman of firsts. She was the first woman to found, own, and run a major advertising agency. She was the first female CEO to take a company public. She was the first woman to intimidate the old boys club on Madison Avenue by being smarter, brighter, more charismatic, and more determined. And she did it by breaking all the rules. A few years after Mary walked out of her fabled agency, $450 million worth of business walked out too.

Because when Mary left, so did the spirit of the place. And spirit cannot be purchased. After mounting losses, the French company that acquired her agency was sold to another network. And that company shut the doors of Wells Rich Green for good in 1998. Her company was gone, but Mary Wells Lawrence left a lasting mark on the advertising business. She was the youngest member to be inducted into the Copywriters Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the American Advertising Hall of Fame, and just last year, she was awarded the Lion of St.

Mark, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award given out by the Cannes International Advertising Festival. At 92 years of age, Mary achieved yet another first. She was the first woman to ever receive that award. It was long overdue, considering how long she had the advertising business under her influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the TerrorStream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly.

Sound Engineer, Keith Ullman. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. See you next week. Follow label instructions, always plop plop before you fizz fizz. Must be 18 years of age or older to flick your bick. Offer only valid in Haines Junction, Yukon.