Pregled posta

Marketing

Mardons No.15 Factory Bristol. 1941.

Memories of Mardons by a former worker.

They were real characters in those days, and in the Artists Department on the top floor of No.1 Factory, some sixty designers and chromo artists were employed under the strict regime of Mr. F.S. Ringham. I remember when the heavy tread of a visiting clerk from another department shook the floorboards and disturbed the artists doing delicate work. Mr. Ringham would beckon the offender into his office, saying, 'You are a very unsatisfactory boy. If you ever disturb my artists again I will ban you from the department'. And the culprit would slink away quite deflated. Mardon artists were engaged on all types of tobacco advertising and packaging - showcards, labels, cartons, pelmets, window centres, etc. A group apart were nicknamed 'ticket' artists, and they sat in rows at benches turning out series after series under the eagle eye of Frank Harvey (deputy to Mr. Ringham). Just off the artists' room was a well-stocked reference library with around ten thousand books on every conceivable subject.

When ever a new series of stiffeners was embarked upon, a selection of authoritative books would be purchased, so the library was always expanding. A loose reference system was also built up day by day, with pictures and articles torn out of newspapers and magazines. A small library staff drew up the lists of subjects for new series and was also engaged writing texts for the backs of the cards, or editing those supplied from outside sources. Informa- tion had to be an accurate precis otherwise smokers would write in to Wills or Players, contradicting statements and hoping for reward.

Errors were rare, because information was checked and re-checked. while a works fireman wearing a pill box hat with black tapes hanging down at the back mounted guard outside the door, axe at the ready! Unbelievably, the complaint had come to Wills from the Thermos manufacturers. It was always conceded that orders from customers would stand or fall as a result of design, and good design was where Mardon's excelled. Latterly, a separate Design Centre was set up to keep standards high. The flamboyant scrolls, twining foliage and gold medallions of the early cigarette cartons are in extreme contrast to the rather staid sophisticated designs of today.

The nursery is officially complete, and the nesting has officially begun with some mopping and floorboard scrubbing today. T-Minus 10 days (and then likely a few more).

Once again, I'm fascinated by my own reflection and how I can manipulate it.