Close to a century ago, an advertising pioneer called Albert Lasker vaulted his ad agency, Lord & Thomas to the front ranks amongst American communications companies. Till one day it became into Foote Cone & Belding. Here is the story behind its (almost overnight) transition to FCB.

As a consultant par excellence, Lasker was invariably "invited to the captain's table". For example, it was rumoured that George Washington Hill (then head honcho of American Tobacco) rarely made a move without consulting him. Over the decades it was said, that Lasker became richer than many of his clients.

As time went by, business grew, Lasker's clients' grew and teams of younger people began to replace the heads with whom he had worked all along. His one-on-one meetings with head honchos gradually reduced. Until one day, Lasker realized that his one-to-one relationships were increasingly being replaced by complex relationships between organizations. Soon there was not enough action for a man "whose driving passion was impatience". *

Exit L&T, Enter FCB
The truth was that Lasker wanted to devote his time to new interests. Unhappy and adrift for many years after he lost his first wife, he had met an extraordinary woman in Mary Reinhardt, subsequently, Mary Lasker who introduced her husband to a new, absorbing world of science and art.

Lasker's initial proposal was to carve out Lord & Thomas' business into 3 territories - New York to be controlled by Foote, Chicago under Cone and California with Don Belding donning the mantle. But he later changed this to propose that Foote, Cone & Belding form a partnership to take over & continue to operate the business of Lord & Thomas - just as it had operated in the past. Most importantly, he volunteered to recommend the new agency to each of his clients, believing that "most of the existing clients will go along with the new entity."

Thus was born Foote Cone & Belding, to be better known as FCB. Incidentally, all but 2 small clients agreed to transfer their business from L&T to FCB to the new agency. And FCB began its journey to take up big blue chip clients. And add billion of dollars to its billings.

Name Dropping
Lasker however insisted on one point : the new agency FCB could not use the name of Lord & Thomas in any manner. Not even a reference. "When I retire, the name Lord & Thomas which is synonymous with my own, must retire too." The agency changed hands. A new generation stepped in. With a great team to help it fly higher.

The Indian context
Surely, Bal Mundkar the founder of Ulka Advertising India must surely have taken some inspiration from Albert Lasker. First, he handed over the reins to his (then) young team. And second, he chose FCB to partner its growth in the new millennium !

Today's ad agencies have burdened themselves by making advertising a serious business. But you don't need to kill that rare dynamism that was the hallmark of advertising greats. D'you?

* Extracted from "With All Its Faults" by Fairfax Cone.