E. St. Elmo Lewis

Elias St. Elmo Lewis (March 23, 1872 – March 18, 1948) was an American advertising advocate—he wrote and spoke prolifically about the potential of advertising to educate the public. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame posthumously, in 1951.

Lewis was born in Philadelphia as son of Enos Rees and Mary Bartram Lewis. He descended on maternal side from John Bannister Gibson and John Bartram, on paternal side from the same family as Meriwether Lewis. His middle name, St. Elmo, was derived from the eponymous novel by Augusta Jane Evans published in 1866. Lewis was educated at North Broad Street Select School in Philadelphia, later renamed into "Eastburn Academy" after its founder, then at the University of Pennsylvania where he edited the "University Courier" in 1893 and 1894. In 1895, he was the editor of an arts publication called "Moods", and business manager of "Footlights, A Clean Paper for the Theatre Goer" while also acting as a junior partner and business manager for a printing company.

Lewis founded an advertising agency in 1896 called The Advertisers' Agency which was located in the old Penn Mutual Building in Philadelphia. Its business slogan - "Ask Lewis about it" - gained proverbial fame. He took charge of the diphtheria antitoxin advertising of the H. K. Mulford Company in 1896.The Advertisers' Agency established branch offices during the first half of 1897, first in Buffalo, then in Detroit. The Buffalo office was headed by Frank Fellows, formerly employed by The Charles H. Fuller Company. Charles J. Shearer, former advertising manager to Strawbridge & Clothier in Philadelphia, became President of The Advertisers' Agency in July 1897, while Lewis retained his old position as General Manager. In July 1901, Lewis was selected by the Peirce School in Philadelphia to conduct the Peirce School of Advertising. In that year, The Advertisers' Agency was succeeded by E. St. Elmo Lewis, Incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000. Lewis resigned from his company in November 1902 and sold all his stock holdings a year later.E. St. Elmo Lewis, Inc. was eventually dissolved in 1906.

Lewis worked at the National Cash Register Company from 1902 to 1903, then as advertising manager to the Burroughs Adding Machine Company from 1905 to 1914. In September 1903, he joined the staff of The Book-Keeper as assistant general manager and as general managing editor of the journal. In June 1910, Lewis was elected president of the newly founded National Association of Advertising Managers at their first regular meeting at Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit. He had conceived the idea of forming a select organization of advertisers as early as Summer 1908 and wrote a letter to Alfred Darlow, advertising manager of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, to ask for his cooperation. In September 1914, he became vice-president and general manager of the Art Metal Construction Company in Jamestown (NY). Lewis joined the Campbell Ewald Co. as advertising and sales counsel in December 1915. He was associated with that company until 1926.

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