Ten minutes later with Ed Tettemer in the offices of the institute he founded with his colleague, Steve Red, he begins to understand the love of the organization by doing well. After an hour with Ed, he begins to understand the intensity of his personal love. He’s beginning to understand you but I feel that, even after days and days of exposure to him, you probably wouldn’t get the whole picture.
“Enthusiasm,” may seem to imply a complex set of emotions and ideas. Sadly, considering Ed Tettemer's love for his agency and its clients, it seems easy. You just want everything to be the best: the best clients, the best coworkers, the best marketing solutions, the best creative execution, all the best.
“Where did you go to college, Ed?” (A question most people ask without expecting a surprising answer.) “I never went to college. He dropped out of high school and never looked back. I received my college degree from Elkman and my degree from Earle Palmer Brown. ”
Maybe it's better to start at the beginning. Ed was born and raised and “feared the city,” living in an unusual place. His father was a sheriff in Bucks County and his mother worked as a secretary in the small township office where they lived. Their life was simple, comfortable life in a small town. He and his Father were fishermen and ate what they caught. The vegetables on their table came from their garden except for the mushrooms they harvested after heavy rains. It seemed to be a trouble-free life away from the pressures and tensions of the traditional business, especially the advertising business.
My father was very busy with his work and community politics. My mother had a profound influence on the lives of Ed and his older brother. No parent has ever given a strong suggestion on what Ed and his brother are doing to prepare them for work. They were good people and my mother, in particular, had an influence on the way Ed had been. He loved music and books. Ed too. He preached, "Keep your eyes open and your ears open." Ed tries to do that. All she wanted for her children was to be happy and she did not try to control all their movements. Today, Ed appreciates that.
His childhood was sweet. He loved fishing. He played a lot of baseball. She was an ordinary American child. Then, when he was in high school, a big change took place. It was called the Viet Nam War. In line with what many people were feeling at the time, his older brother was on his way to Canada to face the war. That has had a devastating, negative impact on the peaceful life of Bucks County. Suddenly, the Tettemer family became a couple. Friends abandoned them. The public changed their attitude toward them. The church changed. Bad stuff!
Evidently, that situation had a profound effect on Ed. He dropped out of high school and spent more than three years walking around the country. He found ways to make enough money to do many extravagant and extraordinary things. He was a confused young man who was traveling around the world in confusing times.
But he never lost contact with his Mom and Dad so, eventually, he went home to Bucks County and got a job working as a glorified gopher for Doylestown Intelligencer. He played commercials back and forth from the paper to its small, commercial advertisers. He says, "I think I was a small accounting officer and I didn't know it." He brought in proof of ad, started helping small stores with their copy of the ad and quickly learned how those small retailers do their newspaper advertising.
During the year in the paper, he got to know and be friendly with many of his clients. He noticed that many of them did not trust the help they received on paper. He believed he could help them make the best, most effective and non-tracking advertising. He does not know why he believes that but he did believe it.
He remembered Pete's place in an unpleasant way. Pete's Place was a restaurant in Ottsville north of Doylestown. Their ad always played on the same page as other restaurants. All ads were the same size, laid out in a regular rectangle and had many similar messages: good food, low prices, family status, etc.
Pete's place was almost identical to most places in that part of the country.
Except for one thing. Their mark and symbol was the giant wheel of a chariot.
After Ed made them try to look different, their next ad was designed to be circular. It fits well into a page with all the rectangles. Someone once said that good advertising should jump off when the competition is over. Although Ed did not refer to that direct quotation during our conversation, much of what he said about Pete's Place and Red Tettemer's work seems to support that "Zig if they Zag" idea. Ed recalls, “I think I made six dollars for Pete.”
The result? He worked with many small retailers for four years and developed a deep understanding of what a retailer thinks and what is needed to encourage consumers to respond to advertising and promotion. In his words, "I think I did not really know what I was doing but I love my clients, I work hard and I make a good living."
The marriage followed as it happened to move to Center City where he, his wife Lyn and daughter Jessie were still alive. His first job in the city was with the old company Elkman Agency when he said he had started “Ignorance.” His manager, Director of Creation Jim Block, promised to make him a copywriter and also promised he would love to do it. Jim kept his promise, and Ed loved it. He had five productive years there but he was always a young writer. He needed more.
He moved to Becker / Kanter (now Panzano & Partners,) and quickly learned to focus on established businesses. He was a great creative director when he worked almost exclusively in advertising and in the mall. The "dry" vision was very cold
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