 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
Bernice Preisser
Year of induction: 1997
Bio:
In February 1996, the Pittsburgh Ad Club paid tribute to Bernice Preisser by inducting her as a charter member of the Pittsburgh Ad Club Hall of Fame. Her brilliant marketing mind influenced the direction of hundreds of local and national brands over nearly half a century.
She started her career as a copywriter with small agencies in Pittsburgh and New York. Later, in Los Angeles, she was part of the team at Wade Advertising that gave birth to Speedy Alka Seltzer. There, she also served as TV director for May Company stores, the first position of its kind in the country.
In 1954, she returned to Pittsburgh and joined Ketchum MacLeod & Grove where she broke new barriers. She became the agency’s first female account executive, then vice president and director of consumer planning. In the 1960s she became a principal at Lando Inc., which later merged with national agency Marsteller, where she worked until her retirement in 1988.
Long before “consumerism” was a household word, she was a champion for the consumer’s right to intelligent and informative advertising. She gave selflessly of her time and skills to public service, including serving as board president of Job Advisory Services. She was the Pittsburgh Ad Club’s first woman president, and among the countless awards she received in her lifetime, won its “Advertising Woman of the Year” award in 1965.
During her long and inspiring career, she gave us “Fashions in Fiberglass” for PPG. She brought Betty White into our homes. She made cash registers ring for Foodland and Thrift Drug, and ATM machines whirr for Union National Bank. She sent us out for a revolutionary product called I.C. Light. People praised her pioneering spirit. But those who knew her lauded much more: her take-no-prisoners attitude when she sold a client a program in which she strongly believed; her innate ability to cut through the we-all-know-what when defining a creative strategy; her willingness to mentor, support and guide; the unique way in which she personified the “creative account person.”
Bernice died still young at 75 and still active as a partner in a “post graduate” consultancy with Jane Arkus, her business associate of 40 years. At her memorial service in 1994, Jane said:
“Bernice was not only one of the most loving but one of the smartest people I ever met. And more than smart, she was wise. Many of you who were lucky enough to work with her are successful graduates of the Bernice Preisser School of Advertising and Marketing. All of us, I would guess, are graduates of the Bernice Preisser School of Life.”
<- Back to Hall of Fame listing
|
|
|
