“A brilliant, charismatic and glamorous leader, she was the first to break through the 'glass ceiling.' "- Kenneth S. Olshan

Lawrence's career began in 1951 as an advertising writer for McKelvey's department store in Youngstown and then as a writer and copy group head at McCann-Erickson, where she was known as Bunny. In her book, Lawrence recalls working at McCann "for the money, for little black dance dresses that showed off my Norwegian legs, for my baby daughter's smocked dresses from Saks and for an apartment larger than I could afford--but then I met Bill Bernbach and he made a serious woman out of me." At Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), Lawrence worked on the French Tourist account and Betty Crocker casserole dinners.

In 1964, Lawrence left DDB to accept an offer at Jack Tinker & Partners (JT&P), a think tank that she transformed into a full-service advertising agency. "...to have refused that offer would have been, for me, a kind of suicide," Lawrence said (Lawrence 2002). Their first big account was Alka-Seltzer, a product with a bad image that was quickly turned around by the creative team of Wells, Richard Rich and Stan Greene. It was this team that invented the jingle- "Plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is."

Their second big client, Braniff Airways, approached them as a small airline, but became an overnight success. Harding Lawrence, who later became Lawrence's husband, said he needed "a very big idea for this airline, something so big it will make Braniff important news, overnight" (Lawrence 2002). It was then that Mary had the wild and brilliant idea to paint the planes seven different colors to differentiate them from the competition. The stewardesses would also be adorned in bright colored fashion designed by Emilio Pucci. In a world of beige and gray, this integrated approach had 300 reporters on their feet cheering at the first press conference (Lawrence 2002).

In 1966, even after hard work and great progress at JT&P, Marion Harper, chairman of Interpublic, choose to not name Lawrence as president of the agency. In her own words:

"He offered to pay me as if I was the president, to give me the authority of the president, but he said he could not give me the title of president because he was certain that would limit the exciting growth of Jack Tinker & Partners. 'It is not my fault, Mary, the world is not ready for women presidents. You have worked so hard to make Jack Tinker & Partners what it is, so many people are dependent on you for what the agency can become, you wouldn't want to limit the agency's future just for a title.' He was shocked at the blazing fury that came over me, the war he saw in my eyes. I resigned. I left him sitting in my office talking to himself" (Lawrence 2002).

So she "let loose the bear" and resigned to found her own agency, Wells Rich Greene (WRG) on April 4, 1966 along with Richard Rich and Stewart Greene. The Braniff account quickly followed her and Philip Morris signed on soon after.

WRG is responsible for the following television commercials : ``At Ford, Quality is Job 1''; ``I can't believe I ate the whole thing''; ``Try it, you'll like it''; "IkNY''; ``Flick my Bic''; ``Raise your hand if you're Sure''; ``I don't intend to grow old gracefully''; ``Plop, plop, fizz, fizz''; ``The Citi never sleeps''; ``Friends don't let friends drive drunk''; ``Not exactly''; ``Hefty, Hefty, wimpy, wimpy''; and ``Trust the Midas touch'' (Olshan 1998).

Olshan, chairman of Wells Rich Greene from 1982 to 1990, and chairman-CEO of Wells Rich Greene BDDP from 1990 to 1995, noted that relationship was key at Wells Rich Greene.

It was this relationship building ability that gave Lawrence such sweet success. In 1967 WRG received the American Motors and account. In 1969, Lawrence was earning $250,000 a year, making her the highest-paid executive in advertising and was also inducted into the Copywriters Hall of Fame. In 1971, WRG's billings had grown to $100 million, making it the fastest growth record in advertising history (Fox, 1984), and Lawrence was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the American Advertising Federation.

By 1980, Lawrence had made a motion picture with Jack Warner, worked with Bic pens and Ford Motors. And by 1990 she was ready to retire at the age of 62. WRG became Wells BDDP when the French agency BDDP bought it in 1990.

In 1998, Wells BDDP closed its doors. In her book, Lawrence said, "I kept thinking how frail creative businesses are, especially advertising agencies...Wells Rich Greene was once an agency filled with exciting, talented people who were passionately in love with advertising, that was the spirit of the place. It's gone; people have moved on and are forgetting. I am not haunted by the past, but I loved Wells Rich Green..."(Lawrence 2002).

But people aren't forgetting her or her passion. Lawrence became a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame in March of 2000. "What I really miss about Mary Wells Lawrence, even beyond her wonderful advertising, is the compassion she still shows for her beloved advertising business” (Crain 2000).