{"id":30375,"date":"2014-10-21T09:37:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T14:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=30375"},"modified":"2014-10-21T09:37:20","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T14:37:20","slug":"marketing-lecture-will-revisit-memorable-era-in-canadian-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2014\/10\/marketing-lecture-will-revisit-memorable-era-in-canadian-advertising\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing lecture will revisit memorable era in Canadian advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Don<\/a>

Don Curtis <\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout his career, Canadian marketing veteran Don Curtis has shaped sales pitches worth more than $200 million in revenues for clients ranging from McDonalds, Heinz, Bank of Montreal and Labatt Brewing Company, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Curtis will visit Brock University to speak about a key chapter of his career in the Canadian marketing industry.<\/p>\n

His public presentation, which takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. in Academic South 215, is hosted by David Sharron, Brock’s Head of Special Collections and Archives and will also feature marketing materials from the Terry O’Malley\/Vickers & Benson Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, one of Curtis’ most impactful collaborations was with another well-known Canadian marketing icon, Terry O’Malley, who sponsors an annual marketing and advertising lecture series at Brock University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curtis spent 17 years at the Vickers & Benson agency in Toronto, where he and O’Malley collaborated on national advertising campaigns that became familiar to millions of Canadians. They also rose to become the firm’s senior partners – O’Malley was President & Creative Director and Curtis was Executive Vice President & Managing Partner.<\/p>\n

Curtis’ talk – “The Great Canadian Advertising Agency” – will be a lively review of Vickers & Benson in the 70s and 80s, when its creative reputation made it one of North America’s most sought-after agencies, with annual activity soaring from $35-million in 1972 to more than $185-million by 1989.<\/p>\n

“Many of those who were there for that era will tell you it was the greatest time of their lives,” says Curtis, “and the greatest agency of its day.”<\/p>\n