Business & Personal Finance

(image courtesy of wikipedia)

Albert Davis Lasker was born in 1880 in Freiburg, Germany. His family moved to the United States when he was a child and at the age of twelve he published "The Galveston Free Press", a four-page weekly, he wrote himself. He sold advertising space to local dentists and grocers netting him a profit of $15 per week, more than many adults were making at that time. While in high school Lasker got a job on the local daily, "The Galveston Morning News", covering various news stories and by the time he graduated from high school Lasker was earning $40 per week. After graduation he moved to Chicago where he began work as an office boy for Lord & Thomas Advertising. Through hard work he became indispensable to his boss, Daniel Lord, and before long began taking on a variety of other tasks such as writing advertisements and finding new clients.

Lasker was aware of the enormous power advertising could have on consumer spending. So he spent much of his time trying to understand how this worked and how he could use it to increase sales for his clients. With the help of former Canadian Mounted Police  turned-ad -man John E. Kennedy, Lasker created an ad campaign for the 1900 Washer Co. (now Whirlpool) that made Lord & Thomas one of the top advertising firms in the country.

After Daniel M. Lord retired, Lasker became a partner in the firm. He was 23. Nine years later he owned the company. Over the course of his career at Lord & Taylor he created well-known ads for Palmolive, Lucky Strikes cigarettes, Pepsodent and Kotex. He is also credited with being the creator of the "soap opera" genre, using radio and television to promote products. Lasker died in 1952 at the age of 73.

You can find out more about Albert Lasker and other great advertisers by taking a look at these books and ebooks: