45 years later, people still make the difference

Wednesday, 11 June 2014 08:00

Written by AMPM

When AMPM, Inc. formed in 1969, Richard Nixon was president, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon and the Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York.

It was a pivotal time for AMPM, which was then known as Church and Guisewite. That year, agency owners John Church and Bill Guisewite decided to pursue other opportunities and left the door open for new leadership and a new name.

Bill Trethaway, then the agency’s art director, admitted that naming the new agency in 1969 did not take long.

“Employees participated in the naming process, but the final decision to call it AMPM came from new owners Martin Eichinger, Jim Ritter and Carl Zotter,” said Trethaway.

The name AMPM would stand for Advertising, Marketing, Publicity and Merchandising and invigorate a small, but agile team.

Going the extra mile for clients and learning about their businesses was a common practice for Trethaway, who also became an owner in the early 1970’s. As a result, he helped set the tone for how AMPM nurtures relationships with clients. He also instilled a drive within the agency to be different and better.

Forty-five years later, at age 81, he still faithfully visits the agency and provides trusted counsel to the team.

“People make the difference,” he noted. “Other creative people help you be more creative. I’ve grown over the years by having different people to work with. You have to have that in order to grow.”

Things look a little different around the office and the name AMPM now stands for Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations and Multimedia, but the words of Bill Trethaway will always guide us.