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LINDA SOLOMON

Special to The Jewish News

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54

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1991

Linda Solomon is a local
freelance photojournalist and
broadcaster who has
interviewed many famous
personalities.

Photo by Linda Solomon

M

arilyn Barnett, one
of Michigan's most
dynamic women, is
the president and chief ex-
ecutive officer of Mars adver-
tising. Former Gov. James
Blanchard has honored
Marilyn as one of the top
women business owners.
Recently, she was invited by
First Lady Barbara Bush to
visit the White House for a
special reception honoring
women of great achievement.
Marilyn has been recognized
by her colleagues as recipient
of her industry's most coveted
awards including — Advertis-
ing Woman of the Year. She is
also a member of the Commit-
tee of 200, comprised of the
country's most outstanding
businesswomen. Ms. Barnett
serves as a role model not on-
ly for having the courage to
start her own business, but
for making a career transi-
tion. Before she founded Mars
in 1972, Marilyn was a suc-
cessful commercial actress,
appearing in 10,000 commer-
cials. When she opened her
agency, she had a small office
and four employees.
Now, Mars has offices in five
states with corporate head-
quarters in Southfield. The
agency employs over 100 peo-
ple and clients include
Gillette, Johnson and
Johnson and General Mills.
Mars has distinguished itself
by pioneering advancements
in retail advertising. Most
recently, Mars received na-
tional media attention for for-
ming an affiliation with in-
ternational advertising giant
Saatchi and Saatchi. Saatchi
and Saatchi will utilize Mars'
area of expertise to offer
retailers local advertising and
unique marketing programs.
Even though Marilyn has
achieved great success, she re-
mains modest. She accepts
compliments shyly and down-
plays her accomplishments.
In keeping with her de-
meanor, she turns down most
interview requests, but today

Marilyn Barnett is the founder of
Mars Advertising.

she openly discusses her
career.
LINDA SOLOMON: Was
it difficult to make the tran-
sition from appearing in
advertising to starting your
own agency?

MARILYN BARNETT:

When we started, we started
in the retail industry. In the
late '70s, the retail industry
did not advertise on the air;
they were a predominantly
print oriented group. Large
agencies were not interested
in the retail business. At that
point in my career, I
understood we could not com-
pete against the giant agen-
cies as a little-start-up com-
pany. So, we had to develop
what we then called niche-
advertising. Because I knew
retail and liked retail, I decid-
ed to learn as much as I could
and become expert in that
field. We began then to talk
with retailers about the use of
broadcast advertising in addi-
tion to print advertising. And
we know what has happened;
retailers are on the air
dominantly now And, now,
all agencies — large, medium
and small — are interested in
retail and retailers.

L.S.: Mars is recognized for
pioneering advancements in
retail advertising. Describe
your innovative methods.
M.B.: We developed a
system whereby we could pro-
duce good quality, low-cost
commercials for retailers. We
created a video library in
1974. We have every product

— grocery, meat, dairy, health
and beauty aid, etc., that you
can imagine and some that
you haven't, in a time-coded
video library. This allows
commercials to be produced
at a much lower cost for a
client than if you had to shoot
every one of those products
new each time. As we discuss-
ed earlier, a retailer was not
sure he wanted to be on the
air years ago because it was
costly to develop commercials.
We had to find a way to make
it economical. That was a way
to make it economical.
I can remember when I ap-
peared in A & P commercials
live on the 6 o'clock news.
They would drop a script off at
my house in the afternoon
and if the script called for
chicken, I would have to make
it in my kitchen at home and
bring the chicken to the TV
studio! And that's how we did
commercials.
L.S.: What have been the
biggest changes in
advertising?
M.B.: There have been two
major changes. We no longer
can advertise to the masses
the way we did 15 years ago.
At one time, the three net-
works were able to reach 95
percent of the population
with a message. Advertisers
could develop a commercial
and it reached everybody. To-
day, it takes a variety of forms
of advertising to reach and
sell products to the
consumers.
And, promotion and promo-
tional activity have become
equally as important as tradi-
tional advertising today.
L.S.: What does "success"
mean to you?
M.B.: I don't think it's just
business. It has to do with
whether you're a good human
being in all areas of your life.
It's important not to step on
others as you move up the lad-
der. So you can look back at
yourself and say "I did not
hurt anybody."
L.S.: Do you think women
help other women in
business?
M.B.: I think they do now,
more than they ever did
before, but not as much as
they should. As of the last five
years, women have been net-
working with women. Fifteen
years ago, it was very remote.
I think women now try to

