Founded in 1869 Philadelphia as an ad brokering business, NW Ayer & Sons later began designing the advertisements themselves, and claims the title of the nation’s the oldest advertising agency. Over the next hundred years they came up with such memorable slogans as:
“Reach out and touch someone”-AT&T
“A diamond is forever”- De Beers
“Be all you can be”- US Army
“When it rains it pours”- Morton Salt
They were also responsible for the Dole Pineapple advertising campaign that commissioned Georgia O’Keeffe to travel to Hawaii (Georgia O’Keeffe & Hawaii). She agreed, on the condition that she could paint whatever she pleased. She presented Dole with two paintings: a crab’s claw ginger and a papaya tree. No pineapples in sight. Hoping to get at least one pineapple picture, the agency had a pineapple plant shipped to O’Keeffe back in New York, where she reconsidered its spiky beauty and painted it. So Dole got a pineapple picture after all, and the agency used it and the ginger in the marketing campaign.
She painted additional paintings, four of which (including the original papaya) are on display at the Honolulu Art Museum.
The company began to decline in the 1960’s and finally closed for good in 2002, however their former national headquarters still stand in Philadelphia on Washington Square. The building has been converted to condos, but maintains its beautiful 1929 Art-deco design.
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