Lois Wyse, at 80; advertising executive penned memorable catchphrase for Smucker's
NEW YORK -- Advertising executive, author, and columnist Lois Wyse, who coined the memorable catchphrase "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good," died yesterday after a long struggle with stomach cancer, her family said. She was 80.
During her lengthy career in advertising, Ms. Wyse raised the glass ceiling for other working women while counseling clients that included
She created the advertising slogan that propelled Smucker's from a small Orrville, Ohio, jam and jelly business into an international brand. Her suggestion that a small chain of stores try a new name -- Bed, Bath & Beyond -- helped expand that business into a retail heavyweight.
Ms. Wyse launched her career as a teenage reporter with The Cleveland News and The Cleveland Press, becoming a columnist at age 17. She worked with photographer Alfred Eisenstadt for a Life magazine piece when she was 18, and later wrote for Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
After co founding Cleveland-based Wyse Advertising with her first husband in 1951, she came up with the Smucker's campaign while working as her company's creative director.
Ms. Wyse, who later divorced Marc Wyse, opened her advertising company's New York office in 1966. As a writer, Ms. Wyse penned "The Way We Are", a column featured on the last page of Good Housekeeping magazine for 13 years, where she recounted tales of her life and family. She also wrote more than 60 books, including the 1989 best seller "Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother."
