Hasta La Creative!

On my office wall in New York, along with pictures of family and other people and occasions important to me down through the ages (including a photo of me and my hero Ernie Banks), there’s a framed picture of an ad N.W. Ayer & Son ran in commemoration of Ad Age’s 50th anniversary in 1980, headlined “Advice to a Friend on Reaching 50.” The ad features me and Louis T. Hagopian, former chairman and CEO of Ayer.

Lou died Jan. 9 after a short illness at the age of 90. N.W. Ayer, founded in 1869, is no longer with us either, and neither is its most important invention: the commission system.

Ayer, at the time of our 50th, had a slogan, “Ayer makes human contact,” and in those days, agencies had their own distinct personalities.

Continue reading at AdAge.com