A True pioneer
Pat Martin on advertising, movie classics and the AAF

Patricia Martin's trailblazing career began fresh out of school when she answered an ad for a copywriter/editorial assistant at Warner Hudnut (later Warner Lambert). At the time, she didn't know anything about advertising and was convinced she wanted to be a writer. But in typical Patricia Martin fashion, she made her own opportunities and caught a big break when she recommended herself for a position her boss wanted a man to fill. Three decades of countless12-hour days later, Patricia found herself a 2000 inductee of the Advertising Hall of Fame and a role model for so many young people looking to get into advertising. Though she keeps an eye on the business, consulting when asked, Patricia's now come full circle and turned her energies back to her original passion -- writing.

You are widely known and respected as a bright light, a pioneer in the world of advertising. Tell me, how did you get into this business - what attracted you to advertising?

Nothing. I didn't know anything about advertising - I went to an all girls' college. I came out and I knew I wanted to be a writer. There was an ad for a copywriter/editor assistant at Warner Hudnut. I got the job when an officer of the company asked 'Where's that nice girl we had working for us from New Rochelle - we're going to hire that girl.'
I studied English and the classics - I never studied advertising and I don't believe, truthfully, in specialized schools. I believe that when you go to college you should go to college just for a broad education because you never know what's going to come up that could be important. I know that people believe more in it now, but I don't believe in a secular education going towards something - post-graduate, yes - but not undergraduate.

You began your career at Warner Hudnut as a copywriter/editor, one of the first women to break into the advertising industry - what was it like to work in the industry at that time?

A. I was also a proofreader and general dogs-body. When I first went to work there, you won't believe this, but the women who worked in the cosmetic part of Hudnut, they all wore hats in the office so you could tell them apart from the secretaries and clerks. There were more women in that division. I worked in the Warner part, all pharmaceuticals - which is interesting as I never studied science. Most of the women at the time were secretaries or assistants of some kind.

My first big promotion came when somebody left, or was fired, and my boss asked me - 'You know everybody better than I do - which guy do you think would be best?'

I walked out and came back in and said 'I think I would.' He said, 'Do you think the men will report to you?' I said, 'Isn't that their problem?' This was in the 70s and I got that job. But they didn't think in those terms those days and in truth I don't think the women did either.

What was your first project/first client?

I remember it was a cold product. The big thing was, if a certain product was in a product, the name had to end in an 'E' - denoting the ingredient. At 19, that was my big heroic moment when I was left alone and caught an error in the spelling. It had to be shown to the Medical Library for correction. They said, 'You've changed the spelling,' referring to the addition of the 'E'. I told them, 'Well, you have to.'

Who were your mentors, your inspiration, as your career developed?

It was the secretary to the president (who hired me) of the division. She took me under her wing. She knew everything that was going on in the place and was very good in helping me along. And I vowed then that I would always do that for other people. Her name was Jean Travis. I always say, have more than one mentor - they may leave or fall into disgrace and you've got to have a backup.

I do recommend working for companies. Students look to the agencies because it sounds so glamorous, but I have to tell you, there's a lot to be said for working for a company. They'll pay for education, a company car and relocation to other parts of the country - you may not be thrilled about - but it's still good for you. And when new jobs come up that you might be interested in, you get to hear about them before the public does because they have internal postings.

I ran the in-house agency. We had a lot of products, but at the time, the agencies didn't want them because we didn't advertise to the public - just to doctors. So we did it all in-house. By the time, I left I had a very large book, because on top of having to write well and have interesting visuals, you had to be accurate.

For a period of six years, there I was -- the only woman traveling on the sales force.

It could be pretty funny as they would try to be gentlemanly and carry your bags - one guy says to the other 'Don't ever take her bags - her bags are so heavy.'
We had a very good time. I loved it. And if someone says, how could you stay in the one company over 30 years - it wasn't 30 years. We were Warner Hudnut, Warner Chilcot, Warner Lambert and now Pfizer - they were constantly buying and changing. Never boring.

You have met some great artists of our time, e.g. Salvador Dali - tell me about that.

That's right. Well, when Warner Lambert moved to Jersey I left for a year and I went to work for the international silk association. We were having an international conference in NY.

And somebody in the group, one of the Spanish people, had met Dali and had persuaded him, he thought... But in fact you had to deal with his wife, Dala, not with him. She was his business manager and she was a tough woman to deal with. I mean you had to dot your I's and cross your T's. But he did do a poster for us. It was like a cocoon but it was all silk. It was a woman and a cocoon - representing the stages of silk. One of the Japanese people (who were paying for all of this) thought he could make it into a scarf and he did. Everyone that came to the International Silk Association Conference (early 60s) got a scarf. I only stayed a year because after the conference was over it was boring. I went back to Warner Hudnut - well it was easier to live in Jersey than it was to be bored in this place.

It was a fun year. I had an allowance for clothes. I never spent that much money on clothes in my life till then. I had to wear a lot of silk.

On work...

I can't fire anybody. I will go out of my way to cover up for it. I'm afraid that's an instinct that women have that's a little difficult. I don't think women today have it as much as they used to. It's a basic thing. My education didn't disavow me of that. The nuns are always surprised at what I did.

I liked going to an all girls' school. I recommend it to everybody. They don't tell you someone else can do it. If you don't do it, nobody's going to do it. So it works out pretty well -- best education in the world.

Women have to work harder. I used to be in the office by 7.30 and I didn't leave before 7 PM. Really and truly - everybody comes in to you with their problems and expects you to take care of them, not knowing you're not taking care of your own while they're taking your time. But it's worth it. There are things that you do that you're not sure you should have done, but you spend a lot of time in work.

Two things stop women... One, it's themselves. I don't think we have the killer instinct. I'm close to a couple of men that have big jobs and I know I couldn't do what they do. What would worry me is 'What effect am I having on this person's life?' I would have these terrible drag-on fights, but I never -- A, went to personnel or B, did anything about it. I thought it was my cross to bear, but I don't think a man would have ever done that. If someone asked me for a reference, I would never put it too strongly that they were terrible. I had some terrible people. I also had some great people. Strangely enough they were all women. Oh my whole department was women. My department was known as 'one more woman and you're out of here.'

There were five men and the rest were all women. We got along great. They called them 'Martins Marvels.' We were very close, very tight. One of the art directors still emails every day. Most are retired, but many others I got jobs for when Pfizer took over. Many of them went to Novartis. I was the director of creative services.

There were 30 years with Warner Lambert and then on to Martin & Lipton. During that time you devised many award-winning campaigns - can you tell me about that?

Coming up to 35 by the time I left… Joan Lipton worked in McCann, whom I knew through AdWomen, where I'd been president. Some of the people that left Warner Lambert would still call me up and ask me to do things for them. So, this one guy who was with American Home products said, 'Why don't you start a little agency and I'll give you all my quiet products.'

They have a lot of course. So I did. We did that for four years.
We had American Home, Wall Street Journal -- pharmaceuticals, Dow Jones (Classified Advertising). We never did television, we did radio. And then I decided that it was time to do the writing that I wanted to do.

Of your many awards, which one meant the most to you?

If you stay round long enough, people say, oh yeah, let's give it to her. I think maybe being the trustee of my church, I don't think there's been a woman before me in this particular Parish. That's the Parish of St. Margaret's in New Jersey. Let me put it this way 'it was very interesting' with priests wanting to marry and the like.

You were inaugurated into the Hall of Fame in 2001...How did that feel?

Everybody came to that - family, old classmates, D2, David Bell, priest and nuns. They took over a nightclub the night before - had a big party. My second vocation is a nightclub singer - well I think I am - after a few martinis, it sounds fine to me.

What do you think of the state of advertising today? What changes have you seen in the industry over time?

I think advertising is fine - some of it's good, some of it isn't. I'm sometimes happily surprised by how good some of it is. 'Course I'm also the kind that reads ads. I find that's what's gone down a little bit. We don't have as much copy - I mean I don't want to go back to David Ogilvy with a whole page of type.. But I think it's pretty good -- a lot of the shock value. Trouble is, the second or third time you see it, you're bored out of your mind.

Of the work you see around, are there any campaigns that you particularly like?

I love the Mastercard campaign. I don't watch much television. When I do see the work, I see the best at the judging. And I do think some of the ads that were done after 9/11 were brilliant. I think the DeVitoVerdi racetrack stuff was very good.

There's really good advertising going on - in fact I probably enjoy it more than I do programs. I have 600 old movies and keep increasing the collection. I Ioved Lord of the Rings - I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but I'm glad children are reading. Terribly written book.

What words of advice would you give to people starting out in advertising today?

Learn everything you can because you never know what's going to come up that people want to know. A client may be thrilled to find out that you know something about opera. And besides you'll have a better time, you'll really enjoy everything you do. I think it's a great business, I don't think there's a better business to go into, but I think you have to be aware of the fact that it's getting a little crowded. But you know if you're talented it doesn't make any difference. You need a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work.

Your involvement with the AAF is also legendary - can you tell me how you first got involved?

I was president of AWNY and one thing led to another. I went from my company. I'm also on the National Board. I was a chairman, so you sit on the board in perpetuity unless you do something terrible.

What is your favorite AAF event and why?

I think the AAF is very relevant, look at the number of people they're getting. People are aware that they need representation - this offers them the grassroots and they must never forget that the grassroots is where their strength is. I think of all the organizations I've gone to, it's the one that has the most affect.

Well I love the student competition. In the beginning we did it with a made-up sponsor - some vineyard. Looking at it I thought - 'I think we can do this.' Sinutab was the first national brand to roll out. Five years after that, I offered them ept - the Mormon school turned it down, same way they always turn down beer.

On a personal note... Do you have an inspirational quote or a guiding philosophy that you try to live your life by? If so, what is it?

I don't know who said this, but I've kept it for a long time, 'Dear Lord give bread to the hungry and hunger for thee to those who have bread.' Also, my animal charities - I drive people nuts with my cats. They're the smartest, most intelligent creatures God ever created. Anything that's animals and of course children.

If there was any other profession you could be part of what would it be and why?

I would have been an actress, oh absolutely. My mother absolutely forbade it, but I would have been. Nowadays people go to the movies all the time. We went to boarding school and only went at the weekends. We saw all these English movies because they were English nuns. They did a lot of costume movies and the nuns thought they were wonderful, so we had a lot of those. I got to know the guy who plays Hercule Poirot - and when I was in London, we had dinner with him and he said - 'You're a walking ad for the British film industry.' I had recognized an actor from an obscure English movie. I had a very happy life.

How do you spend your time outside of advertising? What are your hobbies and interests?

Busy writing - nobody's bought anything yet, but I think they will. Movie scripts. Completed quite a few. Looking for an agent - which I hope to get very soon.

You've accomplished so much - What are your personal goals and objectives today?

I want to write a play - it's easier to write a script than it is to write a play. But having seen several absolutely horrible plays - one of which won a prize, I'm convinced there's got to be something better than what they're doing.


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