Paul E. Derrick - Brodhead Local, Global Ad Man
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| Paul Derrick's 1898 advertisement for Quaker Oats |
Ad Man
Paul Derrick was a successful businessman, having launched a global ad agency whose portfolio included Quaker Oats as a dedicated client.
Paul expanded to London for the Quaker Oats account as they sought success in the European market.
Paul and wife Adelaide, both natives of Brodhead, lived in London for three decades prior to building Panda Lodge and retiring in the their hometown.
Paul is also considered a pioneer in European advertising. AdAge states:
"...the ad industry was becoming more international in scope. Paul E. Derrick, who opened an agency in London in 1894 to service Quaker Oats Co. when that company decided to enter the British market, is credited with introducing innovative American methods into British advertising."
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| Paul E. Derrick |
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| Paul Derrick Agency for Quaker Oats |
Death Notice
Derrick Rites to Be Held Sunday BRODHEAD Funeral services for Paul E. Derrick. 75, retired advertising and publicity executive, former head of an advertising agency with offices in New York and London, who died Wednesday night at his Panda Lodge home here, will be held here Sunday at 2:30 p. m. Derrick won world-wide recognition as a leading business authority and also was a poet and author. He was a member of the Pilgrims of London and New York, honorary member of the American Society of London, honorary member and past vice-president and director of the American chamber of commerce in London, honorary member of the American club in London and head of the publicity department of the national service department In England during the World war. Mr. Derrick was a prolific writer and published "How to Reduce Selling Costs" and other authoritative articles and books on advertising. His best known work was his British report. In addition he wrote, and had published, numerous poems and essays. He established the first American advertising agency in London, which he carried on until his retirement In 1930, when he moved here. Mr. Derrick was born in Green county, the son of Franklin and Harriet Boslaw Derrick. He married Adelaide Bowen at Brodhead in 1885. Surviving are the widow, a sister, Mrs. J. T. Lamson, Fairfield, Idaho, and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2:30 p. m. at the home here, with the Rev. J. C. Robinson. Congregational church pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Greenwood cemetery.
Excerpt from Paul Derrick's Funeral Appreciation
FUNERAL RITES were held for Paul Erwin Derrick at Panda Lodge, his home in Brodhead, Wisconsin, on Sunday, April 18. Neighbors and friends of recent years were gathered there to honor the family. Among them were older friends who had known Mr. Derrick as a boy and young man, who attended school with him and had an active part in his young life and thus was brought together in thought the past and the present.
The service was conducted by the Rev. J. C. Robertson of the Congregational Church who, following his prayer, read a short sketch of Mr. Derrick's life and based his remarks on the words in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision the people perish." He stressed the purpose and ambition that must have been Mr. Derrick's in order to have brought the success in life that had been his. The older friends gathered at this service realized where had been formed the habits of thought and life that had led to his large vision. They knew the intimate things with which his boyhood had been surrounded, the farm home where he had been born. This farm is west from the bridge over Sugar River on the present highways 11 and 81. In those years it was described as west of the bridge from the land plotted for the village of Clarence, a name given to it by Mr. Derrick's grandfather, Rodolphus Derrick, in honor of his home in New York.
His grandfather bought land in Green County in 1836 and brought his family here in 1841. Mr. Derrick's father was a young lad at that time but the farm home where the family lived and where Paul was born was part of the land originally purchased. The covered bridge over Sugar River which was torn down to be replaced by the cement bridge now there was built during the years that Mr. Derrick spent there and through this bridge he went with his brothers and sisters to the Clarence school, just a short distance east of the river. There were four boys and two daughters in the family, only one of whom is now living, Mrs. J. T. Lamson, of Fairfield, Idaho, whose given name is Harriet. Their childhood was spent around Pine Bluff, where Indian arrow heads were to be found and where Sugar River at the base flows southward.
Here as a boy Mr. Derrick learned to love nature and he learned also to study, for with the coming of the family to a new country came also his grandfather's library. It was one of Mr. Derrick's regrets that the books in this library were lost track of in the years that followed. One, however, had been preserved and though badly worn has been rebound and is now complete. It is called "Historical Collections of all Nations" by John Frost, L.L.D. and was published in 1854. This book is illustrated and was the joy of Paul's young life.
The service was conducted by the Rev. J. C. Robertson of the Congregational Church who, following his prayer, read a short sketch of Mr. Derrick's life and based his remarks on the words in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision the people perish." He stressed the purpose and ambition that must have been Mr. Derrick's in order to have brought the success in life that had been his. The older friends gathered at this service realized where had been formed the habits of thought and life that had led to his large vision. They knew the intimate things with which his boyhood had been surrounded, the farm home where he had been born. This farm is west from the bridge over Sugar River on the present highways 11 and 81. In those years it was described as west of the bridge from the land plotted for the village of Clarence, a name given to it by Mr. Derrick's grandfather, Rodolphus Derrick, in honor of his home in New York.
His grandfather bought land in Green County in 1836 and brought his family here in 1841. Mr. Derrick's father was a young lad at that time but the farm home where the family lived and where Paul was born was part of the land originally purchased. The covered bridge over Sugar River which was torn down to be replaced by the cement bridge now there was built during the years that Mr. Derrick spent there and through this bridge he went with his brothers and sisters to the Clarence school, just a short distance east of the river. There were four boys and two daughters in the family, only one of whom is now living, Mrs. J. T. Lamson, of Fairfield, Idaho, whose given name is Harriet. Their childhood was spent around Pine Bluff, where Indian arrow heads were to be found and where Sugar River at the base flows southward.
Here as a boy Mr. Derrick learned to love nature and he learned also to study, for with the coming of the family to a new country came also his grandfather's library. It was one of Mr. Derrick's regrets that the books in this library were lost track of in the years that followed. One, however, had been preserved and though badly worn has been rebound and is now complete. It is called "Historical Collections of all Nations" by John Frost, L.L.D. and was published in 1854. This book is illustrated and was the joy of Paul's young life.
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| Historical Collections of All Nations John Frost | 1852 |
Mr. Derrick studied in the Clarence school the well known McGuffey Readers and when on a trip, examining the many things preserved by Henry Ford, he tried unsuccessfully to buy a set. Some months later he was delighted to receive as a gift from Mr. Ford a complete set. They were read and reread by him and his sister, Mrs. J. T. Lamson who spent the summer of 1936 with him and Mrs. Derrick at his home here. This home, Panda Lodge, was built the year after the return from London, June 1, 1934, and he and Mrs. Derrick moved into it June 1, 1935.
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| 1863 McGuffey's Reader |
The later friends in Mr. Derrick's life were those whom he met when business took him from Chicago to New York City and later to London, England. He married in 1885 Miss Adelaide M Bowen of a family that early settled near Brod head and who has always been intensely interested in all his work. He entered the advertising field in Chicago and was connected with the Evening Journal and the Farmer's Review. In New York he was with the advertising staff of Review of Reviews, edited by Dr. Albert Shaw, and later with Harper Brothers. He then established his own advertising agency with the Quaker Oats company as his first customer. When he decided to go to London he represented his firm and other American companies in the foreign field. His business grew until rep had nearly 100 people in his establishment and when, after 30 years, he decided to retire it was sold to Sir William Crawford and is still known as "Derrick's." The "History and Development of advertising" by Frank Presbrey published in May, 1929, says of Mr. Derrick: "In illustrated periodical advertising in England a pioneer was Paul E. Derrick, an American advertising man who opened an Agency in London in 1894 and became a leader in advertising development there."
