NW Ayer & Son 
The Oldest Advertising Company in the Nation

Nothing spreads a message like a catchy, clever slogan. But inventing that memorable slogan when planning a business is one of the most difficult tasks an entrepreneur faces. Just watch the TV show "Shark Tank" a couple times to see how many ways there are to fail. One or two entrepreneurs are just not enough brain power to think of all the requirements.

The advertising agency evolved precisely for this reason - to assist businesses in this specialized area. Around 1840 in Philadelphia, Volney B. Palmer set up the first ad agency in the United States. He actually just brokered space in various newspapers, buying at a discounted rate and reselling to advertisers to make a profit. The company wanting the advertisement prepared the layout and artwork themselves.

As industrialization expanded the supply of manufactured products to a larger market, advertising increased, progressing into mass marketing to influence consumer behavior on a large scale. Advertising also was used as a vehicle for cultural assimilation, encouraging a plethora of immigrants to trade their cultural habits and tastes for the American lifestyle.

In 1869 Francis Ayer founded his ad company also in Philadelphia, naming it after his father, NW Ayer, who loaned him the money for startup. By 1877 NW Ayer had become profitable enough to purchase the Volney Palmer Agency. NW Ayer & Son ad agency began creating and executing complete advertising campaigns for its customers, and in 1892 put artists and writers together into creative teams to develop comprehensive proposals for its clients.

At the turn of the 20th century Ayer recognized the insight that women could contribute to the creative process. After all, they made a majority of the purchases for their households. He began filling many of the positions in his company with women.

The 1920s was a time of unparalleled collaboration between business and government. Under Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, the American government actually promoted advertising. Delivering an address to the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World in 1925, Hoover said, "Advertising is a vital force in our national life." In 1929, the head of the US Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Julius Klein, felt that "Advertising is the key to world prosperity."

In 1938 De Beers recruited the New York based NW Ayer & Son to improve the image of diamonds in the United States. The price of diamonds was falling around the world, and the personnel at Ayer set out to persuade young men that only diamonds were synonymous with love, and the measure of a man's love was directly proportional to the size and quality of the diamond he purchased. Through an intricate and complex program of ads Ayer used movie idols and societal figures, the epitome of romance to mass audiences, to reinforce the link between diamonds and romance. Fashion designers talked on radio about the "trend toward diamonds." Ayer's strategy plan even outlined a series of lectures at high schools about the diamond engagement ring, reaching thousands of malleable minds.

In 1948 Ayer created its most long-lasting slogan. It was De Beers' "A diamond is forever." These four iconic words have appeared in every single De Beers advertisement since 1948. According to an article in The New York Times, "The woman behind the signature line, Mary Frances Gerety, who wrote all of De Beers' ads from 1943 to 1968 came up with the slogan right before bed one night." In the morning when she reviewed what she had scribbled down the night before, she thought it was "just OK," and after presenting it at her morning meeting, no one was particularly enthusiastic about the slogan.

Even so, the company decided to use that line, and it contributed greatly to De Beers' advertising success. Even today, the URL www.adiamondisforever.com redirects to De Beers' website. In addition in 1999 AdAge, the principal trade publication of the advertising industry, named the phrase the "#1 slogan of the century."

N.W. Ayer & Son created many memorable slogans over the years. In 1912 "When it rains, it pours." for Morton Salt; in 1921 "I'd walk a mile for a Camel." for R.J. Reynolds; in 1979 "Reach out and touch someone" for AT&T; in 1981 "Be All You Can Be." for the US Army. The latter of these was credited with completely remaking the Army.

In the late 1960s challenges to Ayer came from small ad companies that began creating ads appealing to targeted groups of consumers. The smaller agencies were nimble and could move more quickly than Ayer's agency. Ayer dropped to the 10th largest agency in the nation, and by 1982 it had declined to 14th.

Then in 1986 charges were filed by a young Manhattan US Attorney, Rudy Giuliani, against the Ayer employee responsible for collaboration with the Army. The charges were that Ayer had "engaged in time-card mischarging" on the Army advertising contract from 1979 and 1983 and conspired with subcontractors to submit "collusive, rigged, noncompetitive bids" on subcontracts. The Ayer Agency, responsible for the Army's most successful "Be All You Can Be" campaign, was suspended indefinitely from any further business with the government.

Loss of the lucrative contract and all later potential government contracts was devastating to Ayer, who tried to strengthen his business by obtaining Burger King Corporation as a client. But that only lasted 18 months. Ayer also desperately tried to keep AT&T as its client, but the two parted ways about the same time despite their long history. Ayer began to struggle, and its importance began to fade.

In 1996 NWAyer merged with D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, to form MacManus Group. After a few years and multiple successive mergers, NW Ayer, the name of the company that was for years touted as "the oldest advertising company in the nation" was retired and became history. After all, nothing lasts forever, unless it's a diamond, of course.