Fred Wittner founded (1939) a New York advertising firm which early earned a reputation for comprehensive marketing and public relations efforts for its business and industrial clients. Though a relatively small firm, it grew steadily over the years and even expanded operations into foreign countries.
Fred Wittner was born August 26, 1909 in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 (B.A., Journalism). Wittner's early aspirations were not toward advertising and public relations; he was much more interested in journalism, especially sports writing. Before attending the University of Wisconsin he had already spent some time on the staff of the Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle; and while at Wisconsin helped establish the Badger News Bureau. Upon graduation, he joined the New York Herald-Tribune as a sports writer.
Throughout the 1930s Wittner made repeated attempts, usually unsuccessful, to have articles accepted by magazines such as Esquire, The New Yorker, Quill, and Readers Digest. He also collaborated with other aspiring writers and tried to publish his own book on sports writing.
In 1935 Wittner joined the staff of the New York public relations firm of Benjamin Sonnenberg. While there, he handled the publicity for the Seagram Distillers Corporation and a number of other clients. In the following year he became associated with George Palmer Putnam, the publisher, and Amelia Earhart, the aviatrix, as a ghost writer and publicity man. At the same time he served as associate editor for Sports Illustrated and American Golfer magazine and worked on the Knox Gelatin account for the public relations firm of F. Darius Benham. After the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937, Wittner did some freelance writing for Literary Digest and Today magazines and continued as a public relations consultant. In 1939, however, he set off on his own by establishing an advertising agency in New York City with the help of his wife Miriam.
Wittner's firm, which changed its name from Fred Wittner Advertising to Fred Wittner Company in 1959, concerned itself for the most part with industrial clients (notable exceptions being the U.S. government savings bond program, 1962, and a visit to New York by Premier Ross Thatcher of Saskatchewan, Canada, 1965). The Wittner firm considered itself a pioneer in industrial advertising by virtue of its comprehensive service to clients. This included the production of sales and technical literature, public relations and publicity, and sales development techniques, providing an “integrated service,” touching all aspects of a client's activity.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fred Wittner Company began to expand its efforts to Europe and South America, and had divided into two separate firms. The latter development, prompted by Wittner's desire to return to a smaller operation which might afford him more personal contact with clients, was completed in May, 1971. Fred Wittner died in July 1972.
