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Lessing-Flynn History Our founder, Paul Lessing, was either a brilliant visonary, or he was a little crazy when he opened the doors to the Lessing Advertising Company in 1907. In an era before the invention of today’s media; no radio, no television, not even offset printing, Lessing opened his business in Des Moines, a city whose population was only about 70,000 at the time.Lessing was a storyteller. He understood that all great marketers have a story to tell that goes beyond the product or service they are selling. And, that by telling your story, you give someone one more reason to buy your product over a competitors'. Lessing built the company with a client base that sold everything from egg incubators and tractor-powered washing machines to lightning rods, imported canaries and manure-resistant farm boots. And he helped create the story behind every one of them. To be honest, he was pretty darn good at it. Lessing's hard-working, blue-collar work ethic and his tight-fisted approach to business meant he didn't hire a lot of extra people to handle his workload. He met directly with clients, wrote copy, and provided creative direction for their advertising, describing his approach as "copy-contact." In the early years, Lessing brought in several partners, the last being a short, temperamental man named Roy Flynn. What Flynn lacked in physical stature, he made up for in personality. While Lessing was the more creative of the two partners, Flynn's strength was "entertaining" clients in the days when cigars and double-martini lunches were the norm. The odd combination seemed to work well together and the agency grew, earning business from clients across Iowa and the Midwest. The agency continued to prosper by embracing new media technologies before competitors. Lessing-Flynn was among the first agencies in the state to advertise on radio and television, the first agency in Iowa to introduce computers and desktop publishing, and the first agency in the state to use a computer network to communicate via what is now called e-mail. Today, four generations later, the world of advertising is a little different, but the simple idea of telling a story that Paul Lessing championed 100 years ago is still how Lessing-Flynn begins developing a marketing plan for every client we work with. |
