Mary Wells Lawrence

Mary Wells Lawrence
1969 Wells Rich Greene Agency file photo of Mary Wells Lawrence at her desk
Born	Mary Georgene Berg (1928-05-25)May 25, 1928 Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
Died	May 11, 2024(2024-05-11) (aged 95) London, England
Alma mater	Carnegie Institute of Technology
Occupation	advertising executive
Known for	founder of Wells Rich Greene advertising agency
Spouse(s)	Bert Wells (m.1949) Harding Lawrence (m.1967)

Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg; May 25, 1928 – May 11, 2024) was an American advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells Rich Greene, an advertising agency. Lawrence was the first female CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.^[1]

Lawrence died on May 11, 2024 at a hospital in London, England at the age of 95.^[2]

References

1. Stuart Elliott (May 27, 2002). "An Advertising Legend". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2007. Retrieved November 13, 2017. During her heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, she and her agency, Wells Rich Greene, were the architects of an approach to advertising that blended entertainment production values with old-fashioned selling techniques as never before. The campaigns she helped develop in a time before giant agency companies resulted in jingles and tag lines - "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz" for Alka-Seltzer and Ford's "Quality Is Job One" - that burrowed their way into the American memory.
2. McFadden, Robert D. (May 11, 2024). "Mary Wells Lawrence, High-Profile Advertising Pioneer, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved May 11, 2024.

Other websites

• Braniff Flying Colors Historical Page
• Mary Wells Lawrence Archived 2008-03-13 at the Wayback Machine at wowOwow
• "Madison Avenue", BBC Adam Curtis blog discusses Wells' career and features a film about Braniff from 1967 in which Wells speaks.