Fifty-Four Years in Advertising: from the Mailroom to the Boardroom

By Ned C. Clausen

Ned C. Clausens launched his career in advertising at age twenty from the mailroom of the legendary Madison Avenue agency, J. Walter Thompson.

From those humble beginnings, he won a variety of roles at New York ad agencies and trade organizations, landing a front-row seat in an industry that has undergone a series of dynamicand sometimes dramatic changesover the last several decades.

In this memoir, he recalls his experiences, which were primarily in the business-to-business sector. Along the way, he shares insights on: discovering your passion in life; starting from the bottom and working your way up; and managing a clients marketing communications.

With the exception of serving three years in the U.S. Army during the 1960s, Clausen spent fifty-four years in the advertising industry, rubbing elbows with some of the most fascinating people in the world of business.

His story is one of good fortune and having the wits to survive and thrive from the creative revolution of the 1960s, through the agency mega-merger of the 1980s, to the digital revolution of today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532044342

Ned C. Clausen

Ned C. Clausen earned a degree in commercial art design and business administration from NYU. He began his career in advertising at J. Walter Thompson, New York, and worked for the company in Frankfurt, Germany. He also worked in account management at BBDO on the DuPont account and handled international advertising for American Standard. He has won numerous awards and is the longtime chairman of the Global B-to-B Creativity ACE Awards and a member of the Business Marketing Association of Greater New York.

Book preview

Fifty-Four Years in

Advertising:

From the Mailroomto the Boardroom

Ned C. Clausen

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Fifty-Four Years in Advertising:

From the Mailroom to the Boardroom

Copyright © 2018 Ned C. Clausen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Interior images taken by : Raymond Roberts & Doug Goodman

Edited by: Edmund Lawler

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4433-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4434-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018902540

iUniverse rev. date: 04/04/2018

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Step Forward

Chapter 2 Stepping into the 1960s

Chapter 3 Returning to the Homeland

Chapter 4 The Advertising Upheaval in the 1980’s

Chapter 5 A Personal Hail to the 1980s

Chapter 6 More Adventure from the 1980s

Chapter 7 My Changing Roles

Chapter 8 Curves in the Road

Chapter 9 End of the 1990s Revolution

Chapter 10 Moving On

Chapter 11 An Event That Changed Our World Forever

Chapter 12 Working to Rebuild the New York BMA

Chapter 13 The Twenty-first Century

Chapter 14 A Tribute to the World of Advertising

Chapter 15

About the Author

To my supportive wife, Elfriede, who put up with so much

To my children, Karina, Stefan, and David, and my grandchildren, Reece, Cade, and Madeline

FOREWORD

Ned Clausen’s brilliant 54-year career in advertising began humbly—as a 20-year-old in the mailroom of J. Walter Thompson, the legendary Madison Avenue advertising agency. But Ned did not go on to become a Mad Man. He became a B2B man, and certainly one of the best.

B2B may not have the cachet and glamour of consumer advertising, but it is just as important in building brand reputations and establishing markets for global industrial and technology enterprises.

Ned played a variety of roles at East Coast ad agencies and trade organizations, lending him a front-row seat as the advertising industry underwent a series of dynamic, sometimes dramatic changes over the course of half a century. Who better to share stories about this fascinating industry than someone as respected and knowledgeable as Ned.

Over the course of his career, Ned progressed from entry level to executive leadership at agencies such as Griffin Bacal/DDB and Earle Palmer Brown, where he directed the B2B practices. Later in his career, he gave back to the advertising industry by serving as the president and executive director of the New York chapter of the Business Marketing Association.

His long career earned its just desserts when the New York Business Marketing Association named the Global ACE Award’s Best of Show in B2B Creativity prize in his honor. Although Ned’s name is now synonymous with B2B creativity, ironically, he’s never been an agency creative, per se.

He focused his career on the account side, often counseling client company presidents and CEO’s in the technology and industrial sectors on marketing communications strategies. That, of course, requires no small measure of creativity. Directing integrated marketing communications campaigns on their behalf, Ned and his creative teams positioned clients to become the dominant players in their markets.

In the pages of this book, Ned describes the strategic management of a client’s marketing communications, providing a different perspective than most books on advertising. Ned commands the perspective of an insider who’s seen the industry evolve from the creative revolution of the 1960’s, though the agency mega-mergers of the 1980’s, to the digital revolution of today.

As the managing editor and later the Copy Chasers columnist for Business Marketing magazine, I had the opportunity to watch Ned’s career progress. His work made a difference in the advertising industry. But what’s best about Ned is that throughout his long journey, he remained as humble as the wide-eyed kid who worked his way out of a Madison Avenue mailroom.

Edmund Lawler

New Buffalo, Michigan

INTRODUCTION

Don Larson pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956. I was invited to the fortieth-anniversary celebration in 1996 at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City to celebrate with the Yankees and Dodgers.

At the event, I sat next to Moose Showron, the first baseman for the Yankees in that memorable game. I saw Enos Slaughter, the famous outfielder who had played for the St. Louis Cardinals before joining the Yankees, at the next table. I asked Moose if he would introduce me to Enos. He agreed and took me over to introduce me.

Enos looked at me and said, Oh no! Not you again! Enos was known for a funny sense of humor and he spent the next couple of minutes teasing me including my advertising background. He thought advertising was a novel profession leaving a lot to wonder about.

I laughed. Many such fun encounters filled my advertising career.

Not only is this my life during the past fifty-four years in advertising, it is the story of my life. A longtime friend, the iconic former publisher of Advertising Age and Crain’s New York Business, Rance Crain, whose father G. D. Crain Jr. founded the Industrial Advertising Association (now called the ANA Business Marketing Association) in 1922, encouraged me to write this book.

With the exception of serving three years in the US Army during the 1960s, I worked in the advertising industry for fifty-four years with some of the most fascinating people in the business world. My story is one of good fortune. I overcame an inferiority complex to go on to work with the best of the best in the advertising business.

It was intimidating at times. The decades of the 1960s through the 1980s was a particularly exciting time to be in the advertising business. The 1990s offered new challenges that resulted in major changes to the industry. Throughout those times, I was grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of the dynamic changes.

This book presents some of my life experiences, the people I have met, and those who influenced my career path, my learning, and my successes. I also want to share my views on the impact that advertising has made on our culture, economy, and society in general.

I want this book to provide encouragement to others striving to find their way to achieving success in their lives. And by success, I don’t mean just becoming rich like Bill Gates of