George Patterson (advertiser)
| George Patterson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 August 1890 South Melbourne |
| Died | 19 December 1968 Woollahra, Sydney |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Advertising entrepreneur |
| Known for | Agency founder George Patterson Bates |
George Herbert Patterson (1890–1968) was a pioneering Australian advertising executive who established an agency group that dominated the Australian advertising industry throughout much of the 20th century. His eponymous agency was the largest in the country from the 1930s until the 1980s. Patterson was Chairman of the agency from 1934 until 1954.
One of four children born to John Alfred Patterson (d.1899) and Frances Julia Rogers, he was educated at Carlton College, Parkville, Victoria. His mother died when he was fifteen and George went out to work help support his sisters. He took a position at Thomas McPherson & Son as an office boy, but within three years had become advertising manager.
In 1912 he travelled to London to see how ad agencies operated there, but he was unimpressed with what he saw of English practices and headed for New York where he worked for a time
His initial attempt to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force at the start of World War I was unsuccessful on medical grounds. He joined the Australian Army Medical Corps serving in Egypt (1915–16) and later with the Australian Army Pay Corps on the Western Front (1916–17). He had the rank of sergeant when was discharged from the army on 3 January 1918 and returned to Melbourne.
In 1917 he moved to Sydney and set up his own agency. In 1920 he met Norman Catts who was a big name in the fledgling advertising industry in Sydney, being elected president of the Second Advertising Convention of Australia in 1920. The two merged their interests into the Catts-Patterson agency which was Australia's largest agency throughout the 1920s. Clients included Palmolive, Ford and later the Dunlop Rubber, Berlei, the Gillette Safety Razor Co. and Pepsodent Australia.
Catts and Patterson split in 1934. Patterson bought a small business named Griffin, Shave & Russell and formed the George Patterson agency. Patterson was known for an ability to get close to his clients' businesses being a director of clients the Gillette Company, Colgate-Palmolive and later Peek Frean and Hartford Fire Insurance. During the 1930s Patterson researched the latest international trends in radio advertising during his extensive travels.
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