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| Introduction
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Fairfax Cone
inherited a great advertising agency from Albert Lasker.
Together with his associates, Emerson Foote, and Don
Belding and their successors, Cone led that agency
through more than thirty years of growth and change,
preserving the agency's greatness while giving it
a new type of stature and keeping the headquarters
in Chicago. Cone's leadership
began during a period when the advertising industry
was subject to intense public criticism. Along with
Leo Burnett, Bruce Barton and a small group of others,
Cone led the industry's efforts to achieve social
responsible self-regulation. |
| A. Search
for a Meaningful Career |
| Fairfax Cone
was raised in a prosperous middle class California
university community. His interests in high school
were in art, and he intended to become an illustrator.
Cone entered the University
of California at Berkeley in 1921. His love for
drawing, caused him to not spend enough time focused
on his studies. He failed to pass the required courses
and was sent home. When he returned, Fairfax Cone
discovered literature. He concentrated on his studies
and decided to become an English professor. |
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Upon graduation, he
was invited to become a teaching fellow in the English
department, only to discover he had not completed
a require physical education course. A disagreement
over the course persisted until 1947. By this time,
he had accepted a position with the San Francisco Examiner
as an advertising clerk. After eight months
his supervisor suggested that Cone apply for a position
in the Promotions Department where he could use his
artistic talent. Fairfax Cone got the job and under
the direction of Truman Bailey, he began to learn
same basic principles. |
| In 1928, Cone left the
Examiner and went to work for the L.
H. Waldron advertising agency in San Francisco. A
year later he joined the San Francisco office of Lord
and Thomas, one of the largest advertising agencies
in the nation. Lord and Thomas wanted to employ Cone
as an artist, but Cone insisted on being given a chance
at copy writing and he was granted the opportunity.
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| B. Early Years at Lord
and Thomas |
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Cone was a natural and gifted writer.
He quickly learned that advertising "is the language
of business that is used to tell someone something of
importance." From Truman Bailey he learned advertising
"is a matter of being as direct and as simple as you
can, of honest promises explained sensibly." During
his early years at Lord and Thomas, Cone met and worked
with Fred Ludekens, an artist. Together they developed
five principles that guided Fairfax Cone for the rest
of his career. |
The ad must make clear the basic business proposition.
The basic proposition must express a well defined
value.
The value of the offering must be expressed
in personal terms.
The ad must express the personality of the advertiser.
The ad must demand action.
Cone's work at Lord and Thomas caught
the attention of many advertising agencies in the country.
One of these was J. Stirling Getchell, Inc., Cone accepted
an offer to join them in New York. Unfortunately, while
enroute to New York he became ill and for the most part
of the next ten years he was plagued by a mysterious
illness, later diagnosed as an overactive pancreas.
Soon he resigned from J. Stirling Getchell, Inc. for
health reasons and returned to Lord and Thomas in San
Francisco for a more hospitable climate. |
| C. Rise to
the Ranks of Management |
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In 1939,
Cone became the manager of the Lord and Thomas San
Francisco office. Despite losing a major coffee company
client, Cone managed to obtain the Sunmaid Raisin
account, part of Safeway Stores, and others which
brought him recognition from Albert
Lasker, the owner of Lord and Thomas. Although
Cone worked for Lord and Thomas, he did not meet Albert
Lasker until March 1941. Impressed with the potential
in Cone, Lasker began to attempt to persuade Cone
to move to the New York office. Cone moved to New
York in December 1941, where he was assigned to work
directly with George Hill, who was head of the American
Tobacco Company Lucky Strike
campaign, a very significant account for Lord and
Thomas. In 1942, Cone moved to the Chicago office
of Lord and Thomas, and was placed in charge of the
new Frigidaire account. Lasker appointed Cone as manager
of the Chicago office in October. |
| D. Beginning of Foote,
Cone and Belding |
| Lasker decided
to retire from Lord and Thomas in December 1941. He
planned to liquidate Lord and Thomas but hoped Fairfax
Cone of the Chicago office, Emerson Foote of the New
York office and Don Belding in California would continue
the business under the name "Foote, Cone and Belding".
Lasker solicited Lord and Thomas clients to continue
with the new company, in which all but one did. Thus
on December 29, 1942 Foote, Cone and Belding was born.
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The three men were devoted
to running an ethical, professional and socially responsible
company, regardless of the consequences. For a decade,
Fairfax Cone, chairman of the Executive Committee,
Don Belding, Chairman of the Board, and Emerson Foote,
President, ran the agency as a team. In 1952 poor
health caused Foote to retire and Belding retired
in 1959 at the age of 60, to devote most of his time
to public affairs. Although new men replaced Foote
and Belding, Cone continued to be the "leader amoung
leaders" in the management of Foote, Cone and Belding,
where he served on the Board of Directors until 1975.
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| Cone's amazing
longevity in the business can be attributed to his
interest and concern with the "professionalization"
of advertising, the sheer pleasure
he derived from the act of product presentations and
the fact that shortly after the establishment of Foote,
Cone and Belding, Albert Lasker discovered a doctor
who had devised a simple, effective treatment for
Cone's illness. |
| E. Product Presentation
During the years of Cone's leadership,
Foote, Cone and Belding held its position as one
of the largest ten advertising firms in the country
for more than 30 years. Cone endowed the business
with a certain dignity and professionalism that
made it an excellent model of how a socially responsible
advertising agency should behave.
Fairfax Cone's favorite part of
the advertising business was product presentation
and throughout his decades of agency leadership
he kept himself actively engaged in developing new
advertising campaigns. |
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Some of the
accounts Cone was actively involved in were: Toni
home permanent kit, Armour, "Dial"
soap, Hallmark Cards, Kool-Aid, Good Seasons Salad
Dressings, Klear, Raid, Clairol hair coloring, Zenith
television, Dole Pineapple, Contac cold relief medicine,
Sunbeam shavers, the Edsel
and Sara
Lee baked goods. In each of these accounts Cone
was involved in heading the team that developed the
advertising campaign. |
| F. Making Advertising
Respectable |
| Shortly after Foote,
Cone and Belding was established in 1942 an event
occurred that jeopardized the advertising industry
and created the need for industry statesmanship that
was partially filled by Fairfax Cone. A sensational
novel " The Hucksters" was published that portrayed
advertising as a deceitful and degrading vocation.
The book was followed by a motion picture in 1946.
Most advertising agencies were angered as they considered
this an unjust attack on their business, but only
a few resolved to do anything about the image of the
advertising industry.
Fairfax Cone was one of those individuals and his
efforts to improve advertising's reputation during
the next quarter century became one of his greatest
contributions to the industry. Cone became a significant
participant in the Advertising Council.
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| Cone became the director
of the American Association of Advertising Agencies
in 1946. Through his leadership this group attempted
to make advertising more respected. During this
time Cone wrote a great deal on the subject of advertising
and it's respectability. He wrote about what was
right and wrong with advertising and how it should
be corrected or stressed; and he wrote about the
obligations of the industry leaders to strive for
increased professionalism.
Cone practiced his "Professionalism"
beliefs in his own business life. Through his example
he helped an important industry make itself socially
responsible and respectable. |
| Conclusion
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Fairfax Cone was a natural
and gifted artist and writer who was able to develop
unique advertising campaigns. His abilities were noticed
by Albert
Lasker, owner of Lord and Thomas, in 1941. Lord
and Thomas was dissolved in 1942 and "Foote, Cone
and Belding" was established The three new owners
were committed to running an ethical, professional
and socially responsible company, regardless of the
consequences. Cone's professionalism prevailed throughout
Foote, Cone and Belding. His favorite part of advertising
was product presentations and he was an active member
in the development of many campaigns. In addition,
his activities in the American Association of Advertising
Agencies contributed to the establishment of advertising
as a professional vocation and a respectable industry.
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