Shirley Polykoff (January 18, 1908 – June 4, 1998) was a pioneering woman in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, rising from an entry-level copywriter to a senior executive. Her "Does She... Or Doesn't She?" branding slogan accompanied by "Hair Color So Natural Only Her Hairdresser Knows For Sure"

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

developed in 1956 for

Clairol Clairol is the American personal care-product division of company Wella, specializing in hair coloring and hair care. Clairol was founded in 1931 by Americans Joan Gelb and her husband Lawrence M. Gelb, with business partner and lifelong friend ...

dramatically increased sales, changed cultural norms, and earned her a place in the

Advertising Hall of Fame The Advertising Hall of Fame, operated by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), began in 1948 as a result of a proposal by the New York Ad Club and its president, Andrew Haire, to the Advertising Federation of America, the predecessor organiza ...

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, she started her career in retail ad sales and briefly worked as secretary at

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

before taking a position at

Foote, Cone & Belding Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), is one of the largest global advertising agency networks. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was merged in 2006 with Draft Worldwide, adopting the name Draftfcb. In 2014 the company rebranded itself as FCB. Parent ...

advertising agency. In 1955 she took over the Clairol account, and her advertising campaign, which became a classic, helped take hair color sales from $25 million to $200 million annually, with Clairol holding a 50%

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

. Even though her creative work encouraged women to take charge of their own lives, she did not want to be seen earning more than her lawyer husband, George P. Halperin and insisted that her advertising agency cap her salary at $25,000 a year. Upon the death of her spouse, her salary was doubled twice in less than ten years. She retired in 1973 from Foote, Cone & Belding after becoming FCB's executive vice president and creative director.Advertising Hall of Fame: Shirley Polykoff
/ref> She was #24 on the ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...

'' 100 people of the 20th century and is very likely the model for the character

Peggy Olson Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character and the female lead of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'', and is portrayed by Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director of the advertising agency ...

in the TV series

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

References

External links

Shirley Polykoff
via Advertising Hall of Fame

via ''Advertising Age''
The One Club for Creativity biography and portrait
1908 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American businesspeople Women in advertising {{US-business-bio-1900s-stub