Article June 19, 1978 Issue

An interview: with an advertising executive

by ROBERT L. GATES

The adjoining column from the business pages of the San Francisco Chronicle goes on to explain how an advertising agency in California lost a $1.5 million account, 55 percent of its business, virtually overnight. Under such circumstances one might expect the agency to fold or at best to drastically reduce its staff to minimize losses. The Wyman Company did neither. It bounced back and turned what looked like a crippling blow into an impetus for significant and continuing growth. Before examining how this was worked out in Christian Science, let's see why Jack Wyman got into the advertising business in the first place.

In college I felt I wanted a career in advertising or broadcasting. One Sunday a substitute Sunday School teacher who was an agency account executive offered me an after-school job at no salary, and that was my start. Later, after serving on an aircraft carrier during World War II, I came home and landed my first real advertising agency job.

But it wasn't long before I realized I needed to look elsewhere. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I didn't want to be involved in the promotion of alcoholic beverages, drugs, or tobacco. The only answer was to start my own agency. With so little experience and considerable immaturity this was a tremendous step. But I loved the advertising business and knew that my motives were right. So I launched forth.

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