Profiles Of The Most Influential Advertising Executives Grasse, Steve

You get a sense of Ed Tettemer's enthusiasm for excellence after only 10 minutes with him at the offices of the business he co-founded with Steve Red. After an hour with Ed, you can sense the depth of his personal commitment. You start to get it, but I have a feeling you wouldn't get the complete image even after days and days of exposure to him.

The word "passion" may appear to include a wide range of emotions and viewpoints. Surprisingly, Ed Tettemer's love for his firm and its clients appears to be rather straightforward. It's just that he expects nothing but the best from everyone: fantastic clients, excellent coworkers, excellent marketing solutions, excellent creative executions, and good everything else.

"Ed, where did you go to college?" (This is a question that most interviewers ask without anticipating a surprising answer.) "I never attended college. I dropped out of high school and didn't return. At the Elkman agency, I earned my bachelor's degree, and at Earle Palmer Brown, I earned my master's degree."

It might be preferable to start at the beginning. Ed was born and reared in a small town, where he was "afraid of the city" and grew up. His father worked as a sheriff in Bucks County, and his mother was a secretary at the little township office where they lived. Theirs was a simple, happy life in a small town setting. He and his father fished frequently and ate the fish they caught. Except for the mushrooms they picked after heavy rains, all of the veggies on their dinner came from their garden. It appeared to be a simple living free of the stresses and expectations of regular industry, particularly advertising.

Dad was preoccupied with his career and the politics of his neighbourhood. Ed and his older brother benefited more from Mom's influence. Neither of Ed's parents offered any clear recommendations about how Ed and his brother should prepare for a job. They were excellent people, and Mom, in particular, had an impact on Ed's development. She was a music and literature aficionado. Ed is as well. "Keep your eyes and ears alert," she said. Ed makes an attempt to do so. She didn't attempt to regulate her children's every move because all she wanted for them was for them to be happy. Ed recognises this now.

His was a joyful childhood. He like fishing. He was an avid baseball player. He was a normal American adolescent. Then, while he was in high school, he had a significant transformation. The Viet Nam War was the name of the conflict. His older brother fled to Canada to fight the war, echoing the sentiments of many others at the time. This had a significant detrimental influence on living in Bucks County. The Tettemer family became outcasts overnight. Friends had abandoned them. The community's opinion of them shifted. The church has evolved. That's not good!

Clearly, that scenario had a significant impact on Ed's mental state. He dropped out of high school and hitchhiked across the country for nearly three years. He figured out how to generate enough money to perform a variety of activities, both savoury and nasty. He was a perplexed young man who wandered the country amid perplexing times.

But he never lost touch with his Mother and Father, and he eventually returned to Bucks County to work for the Doylestown Intelligencer as a glorified gopher. He circulated advertising from the publication to the paper's small, retail advertisers. "I think I was a junior account executive and didn't realise it," he adds. He began delivering ad proofs and assisting small businesses with their advertising.

He got to know and be acquainted with many of his clients throughout his year at the publication. He saw that the majority of them were sceptical of the assistance they were receiving from the newspaper. He felt he could assist them in creating better advertising that was both effective and trackable. He has no idea why he believes it, but he does.

Pete's Place brought back fond memories for him. Pete's Place was a restaurant located near Ottsville, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles north of Doylestown. Their advertisement was constantly on the same page as other restaurants. The advertising were all the same size, laid out in a traditional rectangle, and conveyed many of the same messages: wonderful meals, affordable costs, a family environment, and so on.

Pete's Place looked like a lot of other locations in that section of the nation.

With the exception of one item. A large waggon wheel served as their emblem and sign.

Their next commercial was created to be spherical after Ed persuaded them to attempt something new. With all the rectangles on the page, it stood out beautifully. Good advertising, it was once stated, should zig when the rival zags. While Ed didn't specifically mention the remark during our conversation, much of what he mentioned regarding Pete's Place and Red Tettemer's work seems to fit the "Zig if they Zag" theory. "I guess I made six bucks on the work I did for Pete's," Ed muses.

What's the end result? He spent four years working with largely small businesses, gaining a thorough grasp of how merchants operate and what it takes to get customers to respond to advertising and promotions. "I think I didn't know what I was doing," he admits, "but I enjoyed my clientele, worked hard, and earned a fair life."

He married and moved to Center City, where he, his wife Lyn, and their daughter Jessie currently reside. His first work in the city was at the old Elkman Agency, where he began "Knowing nothing." His supervisor, Creative Director Jim Block, promised that he would train him as a copywriter and that he would like it. Jim delivered on his word, and Ed was pleased. He worked there for five years and was always the junior writer. He was in desperate need of more.

He went to Becker/Kanter (now Panzano & Partners) and quickly discovered the value of concentrating on vertical companies. He worked almost completely on shopping centre advertising and marketing as a senior creative director there. In the early days of Red Tettemer, when they were primarily focused on cable TV and entertainment accounts, the "vertical" concept had a big effect on him.

Three variables shaped his thinking and conduct after he was hired by Earle Palmer Brown. First, Brian Meridith, then-head of creative at EPB, demonstrated the importance of having a strong concept at the start of the creative process. "What is the plan?" "What's the plan?" was repeatedly drilled into his mind. Second, he developed a fresh viewpoint on the term "vertical." While focusing on specialised sectors is useful and required at times, having a broader foundation is equally valuable and invigorating. Today's Red Tettemer is, and probably always will be, a broad-based publication.

Perhaps the most essential component was the third. Ed didn't know what to do with his profession and his developing, favourable reputation in early 1992. "I had become disillusioned."

I simply didn't trust the individuals I worked with."

He was able to do some freelancing work, and he regularly teamed with Steve Red, with whom he had a fantastic working connection. Steve contacted him about collaborating on numerous huge projects. "I had the time of my life working with Steve," he said, referring to his writing, Steve's design talents, and their ability to work together so well.

He married and moved to Center City, where he, his wife Lyn, and their daughter Jessie currently reside. His first work in the city was at the old Elkman Agency, where he began "Knowing nothing." His supervisor, Creative Director Jim Block, promised that he would train him as a copywriter and that he would like it. Jim delivered on his word, and Ed was pleased. He worked there for five years and was always the junior writer. He was in desperate need of more.

Ed persuaded Steve to join him in forming Red Tettemer in 1996 after three years of convincing.

"Energize our clients and their companies," is their mission statement. When Ed says that they work hard to make his clients' competition envy, he means it. They've stuck to their beliefs as they've progressed from "vertical" customer groups to more generic accounts. SEPTA, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Hatfield Meats are just a few of its recent purchases.

The usual strategy adopted by many agencies does not sit well with Ed or Steve. As a result, they've succeeded in creating a joyful workplace. Their office is decorated in a unique fashion.