Jerry Della Femina (b.1936) is an American advertising executive and restaurateur. He was once described as “the most colorful creative guy in an industry full of colorful creative guys.”
Born in New York City, Della Femina started from a poor Italian background in Brooklyn and eventually became chair of Della Femina Travisano & Partners, an agency that he founded with Ron Travisano in the 1960s. Over the next two decades, they grew the company into a major advertising house that was billing $250 million per year and had 300 employees and offices in both New York and Los Angeles.
Della Femina is known for his larger-than-life personality and colorful language, and was referred to as a “Madman of Madison Avenue.” His book about the advertising industry, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor (1970,) became a best-seller and inspired the television series Mad Men.
Della Femina opened a trendy restaurant, Della Femina Restaurant, in Long Island’s fashionable Hamptons and a second one in Manhattan in 1999. His autobiography is An Italian Grows in Brooklyn (1978.)
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Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
—Jerry Della Femina
Topics: Forgiveness, Advertising
Failure really isn’t terrible if you can say to yourself, hey, I know I’m gonna be successful at what I want to do some day. Failure doesn’t become a big hangup then because it’s only temporary. If failure is absolute, then it would be a disaster, but as long as it’s only temporary you can just go and achieve almost anything.
—Jerry Della Femina
Topics: Failures, Mistakes
There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster.
—Jerry Della Femina
Topics: Advertising
I’m hardnosed about luck. I think it sucks. Yeah, if you spend seven years looking for a job as a copywriter, and then one day somebody gives you a job, you can say, “Gee, I was lucky I happened to go up there today”. But dammit, I was going to go up there sooner or later in the next 70 years … If you’re persistent in trying and doing and working, you almost make your own fortune.
—Jerry Della Femina
Topics: Perseverance, Luck, Endurance, Resolve
Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
—Jerry Della Femina
Topics: Advertising
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