15/05/2024
Mary Wells Lawrence, who passed away on Saturday, was truly was a pioneer and we are incredibly inspired by her life’s work.
👩 First woman to own and run a major national advertising agency listed on the NYSE.
💰 In the 70s, she was the industry’s most highly paid executive.
🚌 She brought back tourism in NYC in the 1970s with the famous I❤️NY campaign (collaborating with graphic designer Milton Glaser).
✈️ She was hired by Braniff airlines and transformed it into the epitome of glamor. Painted planes, revamped interiors by Herman Miller, uniforms reimagined by Pucci, with clothing items unveiled throughout the flight, creating a fashion show experience (ok maybe more of an inappropriate strip tease but hey, it was the 60s…)
Her work went beyond TV spots and taglines; she orchestrated 360-degree brand activations and actively shaped perception across diverse mediums: fashion, experiential design, branding, and immersive experiences.
She should be celebrated of course for being a trailblazing woman in her field but really for doing something that no one else was doing at the time.
Her ability to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in advertising, graphic design, marketing—these areas should not be siloed and must work together in service of the brand.
We like to look to people like her for inspiration, and love this quote:
“You can’t just be you. You have to double yourself. You have to read books on subjects you know nothing about. You have to travel to places you never thought of traveling. You have to meet every kind of person and endlessly stretch what you know.”
