Sells Ltd, an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

, was opened in 1869 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. By 1900, it was the largest agency in the world with offices in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. In the 1950s, it made advertising history when it appointed the first woman to be a managing director in the business. Olive Hirst had joined Sells in 1931 as a typist and then worked across a number of departments. In January 1950, she was the first women to be appointed to the Board and in 1954 she took over the managing directors role. The agency won the Layton Trophy in 1959. The agency was merged with another in the 1960s.

References

Companies established in 1869 Defunct marketing companies of the United Kingdom 1869 establishments in England {{advertising-stub