Michael Donahue Has Many Letters to His Name. DFS, S&S, L’eggs, 4A’s, and ANA. Hear Him Discuss The Birth, Life, And Death Of L’eggs Pantyhose.
Michael is going to tell us about how a brand can be born, grow to greatness, and die. This interview covers the birth, life, and death of one of America’s best-known brands – Sara Lee’s L’eggs. Michael ran this account. He also managed to corral ZZ Top and the Radio City Rocketts for the brand’s advertising – two names not usually associated with any brand at the same time. Nothing is forever in brand land.
Michael, an original Mad Men man, has been an Executive Vice President and Board member at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising; EVP at The Association Of American Advertisers and Senior Director Of The Association Of National Advertisers. He is also the tallest man in advertising. And, if that was not all, he did in fact urge the advertising industry in the 1990s to move into the world of digital marketing using his exalted position at the 4A’s.
We will also discuss what the Association Of National Advertisers is and does for mankind.
SHOW LINKS
Watch: Michael Donahue – from the LinkedIn Trust Series at Advertising Week New York 2017
Association of National Advertisers
John Ceneviva says
Peter and Mike,
I have sat on this for several weeks now so as not to express a purely emotional response. Mike, I found your portrayal of the South Carolina based management team who launched L’Eggs both condescending and insulting.
I started at L’Eggs in 1976 and worked on various brands including the successful launch of Sheer Elegance. I left Hanes in 1980 to work at Johnson & Johnson and returned in 1985 to work on the relaunch of Hanes Underwear and the evolution of the Hanes Underwear into a Mega brand extending into women’s panties and bras men’s and women’s Active wear casual wear and more.
I returned to the L’eggs division in 1993 to take on the challenge of turning around a brand that was beginning to decline in a category (Sheer Hosiery) which was declining far more perspicaciously. The reason for the category drop off was clear– women no longer had to wear dresses and skirts to work. Both of you guys are old enough to remember casual Fridays that eventually led to a fully casual workplace. With women wearing pants and jeans to work, the need for sheer hosiery declined rapidly and the sheer hosiery category began a rapid decline.
Paul Fulton , the first L’eggs CEO assembled a team of Management talent that came from fortune 50 companies in many industries. The original Marketing team was made up almost excursively of MBA talent from the finest schools in America many of whom had package goods experience at first class companies marketing companies like P&G, General Mills, Lever Brothers. He also assembled great marketing specialist firms to help guide our efforts in Advertising (DFS ) Package Design (Martin Marona, display design and production (Howard Display), Public Relations ( Fleishman-Hillard)and yarn innovators (DuPont and Unifi). Most importantly, Paul knew how to surround himself with great advisers,listen to their advise and follow it when it made solid strategic sense. That is what made L’eggs successful.
So let’s be clear, no one involved in the early stages of the L’eggs development was waiting around for you Advertising hot shots from NY to tell us what to do as you implied in this podcast.
A phenomenon like L’Eggs could not possibly have happened without the solid strategic focus on the entire Marketing Mix– not just advertising. The corporate decision to shift advertising away from sheer hosiery to other higher potential opportunities in the mid to late 90’s was a difficult but based on solid strategic logic. That decision that allowed the corporation to expand our position in categories with real growth potential.
That is corporate strategy straight out of the Jack Welsh /General Electric playbook.
Finally, one quick note on the Advertising we did on L’Eggs. The assertion that Rockets or the ZZ Top executions had anything to do with the establishment of the L’Eggs brand identity is ludicrous. Those executions ran nearly 2 decades after the the introductory campaign Mike referenced in the podcast. They followed some incredibly campaigns like a celebrity campaign that featured Juliet Prose ( As a dancer, my legs are my fortune), and the animated Sheer Energy problem-solution campaign that positioned Sheer Energy as “energizing hosiery” well differentiated from the stodgy support hosiery available at the time.
Mike, the one thing you said that I agree with whole heartily was your acknowledgement of the contribution of Gary Susenjara to the development of the L’Eggs business. You took credit for introducing Gary to DFS management but let’s be real. DFS was the one Agency back in those “Mad Men”days that respected diversity. Gary was nothing like the lily white, prep school, country club Agency guys at the other big NY firms like BBDO and Y& R. He was hired I am sure because the senior team knew instinctively he could relate to the country bumpkins in South Carolina.But his ultimate value was his ability to immerse himself in all aspects of our business.In addition to being absolutely brilliant strategically,he took the time to get to know everybody at all levels and in every functional areas of the company.
As you can imagine after a 30 + year of marketing career, I have tons of memorabilia from my corporate days at Hanes and Johnson and Johnson. But the one thing that is most precious to me is a little hand written note I got from Gary when I was promoted from Brand Assistant to Assistant Product Manager on Sheer Energy. It said simply…”John, congratulation on your promotion. Welcome to where the action is”. Imagine, an APM getting a note from the Management Supervisor of his Agency.
What exactly do you think he would say if he saw this podcast and the condescending tone concerning client management it portrayed. To say he would be disappointed and embarrassed would be a major understatement.
Peter, since you have taken it upon yourself to educate the next generation of leaders in the Advertising world, tell them if they want to be effective at guiding their clients decision making, they must must first establish credibility. They better know their clients business inside- out. Learn to think strategically. Be confident but humble. And like Gary, someday they may rise to be president of a huge Agency like DFS.
I would be happy to disuses this with either of you further. You have my email address. I am happy to set up a phone discussion if you like. I’m pretty sure you won’t take me up on that offer.
John Ceneviva
Professor of Management
The Bryan School of Business
University of North Carolina -Greensboro
PS HanesBrands is in North Carolina not South Carolina.
Charles says
Hi John,
I appreciate your sticking up for the management abilities of the L’Eggs and Hanes teams in Winston-Salem, which was admittedly a small southern city at the time. Given its small size (around 4000 in 1880, 130000 in 1980) W-S has always been a business powerhouse. Major brand building companies in apparel and tobacco. At least two national banks. A major airline. A transportation company which developed the modern intermodal model of world trade. In the 70’s there were, I think, about 8-10 fortune 500 companies headquartered in a city of 130k people. Not bad for a bunch of hicks.
Kathleen M. Chafin says
Just a consumer here, but in mid 1960’s (1965-65-ish) my mother was doing private nursing for the Swanson family in Omaha, Nebraska. Swanson’s of Swanson Foods. Patsy Swanson (Patty?) was good friends with mom and gave her a test “box” with three pair hosiery from their labs. Mom gave them to me and they were my first “pantyhose” but more, they never ever ran like hosiery of old. In fact, I wore them well over 7 years through high school and college. eventually they got “holes” in them but no runs. When L’eggs came out, it appeared to be the same hosiery but not quite as well made as the “test” samples I was given. As a consumer, L’eggs became popular, not because of the egg packaging which was great but because of the lack of runs and the ability to not wear those hurtful garters!
While John, Mark and Peter can argue marketing and packaging, you could have sold that hosiery in an unmarked tin can by word of mouth, it was such a departure from the hassle and pain of gartered hosiery!
Peter says
John. I will pass this on the Michael. What is the best way for me to contact you?
Ryan E Self says
Lol touche great just great
Barbara Montana says
I worked as a representative for over fifteen years. It was an outstanding company to work for.
Elaine Brenner 286 Elm Street Kingston, Ma. 02364 says
But there are so many of we women still like to dress up for work. I am a flight Attendant and would not show up without my panty hose {legs}. Where if any place am I able to order or buy or still order my leggs pantyhose? Does any company sell hose as good as leggs? They are for me a necessity due to veins in legs that will look terrible without legs panty hose. And I cannot understand why women choose not to wear them even under slacks. They hold everything in place and materials slide well on them. Some women just do not care about looking GREAT but I do. Can you still manufacture leggs control panty hose in a smaller scale by order only? If not got a product you can suggest.? Through my years of buying leggs I could be a millionaire now. I supported you but you did not support us.
Lorrie Alvarado says
I agree – I have used this product for years and there is nothing comparable- either too heavy or too light – companies should remember where they came from because things always come full circle on style – repeating itself through the years
Joan Lancaster says
Has Leggs pantyhose been discontinued?
Dani says
I was wondering the same thing. If that is the case then the best option is European brands sold online in the US. Since women in Europe still regularly wear pantyhose (sheer tights) they have a lot of selections and higher quality that are still relatively affordable. I like CRD’s and Falke for example. L’eggs are still my favorite so it would be shame to see them completely gone.
Dani says
I was wondering the same thing. If that is the case then the best option is European brands sold online in the US. Since women in Europe still regularly wear pantyhose (sheer tights) they have a lot of selections and higher quality that are still relatively affordable. I like CRD’s and Falke for example. L’eggs are still my favorite so it would be shame to see them completely gone.
Cc says
I think I just bought the last pair of my favorite Leggs. I am asking the same question as above. NOW WHAT! I dress everyday for work. Live in the NE where it tends to be cooler and hose are a welcome warmth for me. I also like to look well put together every day. Been wearing Leggs from the beginning of Leggs time.
Dani says
I was wondering the same thing. If that is the case then the best option is European brands sold online in the US. Since women in Europe still regularly wear pantyhose (sheer tights) they have a lot of selections and higher quality that are still relatively affordable. I like CRD’s and Falke for example. L’eggs are still my favorite so it would be shame to see them completely gone.
Mary K says
I am heartbroken. I wear L’eggs with my uniform. Of course, now pantyhose is optional and my more youthful colleagues don’t wear pantyhose.
Pantyhose is like primer for the legs. I have visible veins (very fair skin; I’m a joy for the phlebotomist with lab draws). Pantyhose just adds that little extra touch of polish. I wear patterned tights, too, for fun, but those can’t be worn with my uniform.
I love L’eggs. They are soft and smooth and I haven’t found a pantyhose brand that is comparable to them. I normally wear a size A suntan and have had to resort to wearing size B nude, because that is all I can find. Eventually, I will have to find another brand. This is such a sad occasion; I wish I would have known this earlier. I could have laid in a sufficient stock for 10 years. Well, maybe a few years. More than what I have now—maybe a few months.
Joe says
I think once this happens, and there are no more Leggs pantyhose to be found, (which ,
by the way are already getting scarce), there will be a Lot of angry customers who will pull together to boycott Haynes Brands and try to kill off the rest of the company. This is starting to grimly look like the beginning of the end for Haynes as a whole…
I personally am deeply saddened by this news as Leggs has been my “go to” brand for many years. I strongly believe this aspect of the company could be turned back around into a big prophet maker if they would only redesign and market them to men. Lets face it, more men than women wear pantyhose these days. The demand is Not gone, it has merely shifted in gender .
Thank you
Scott D Drumm says
I am blown away Leggs has been iconic, in all the fashion world, business world and all, what were they thinking, Walmart was a MAJOR carrier of the product,and they are a multi – billion dollar buyer,, stupid , way to go Hanes, I hope you collapse on your behinds.. fools
Cindy Hammonds says
I was absolutely crushed when I went to Wal-Mart for a pair of Soft Black Silken Mist pantyhose and could not find them or even a pair without a design. I realize that younger girls no longer wear pantyhose but the baby boomers are still around and are willing to pay a little more for a really good product, even if it is only sold by the manufacturer online. Size A is hard to find on ebay
Mary Katherine Knipp says
I couldn’t believe that I could not find my hose. I thought it was a Walmart thing to not sell the best hose ever, but I found out it was Hanes decision.
Like the comment above, I still wear hose, chuch on Sunday and in the winter.
I am so sad that the company has discontinued the best hose ever. WHY.
Billie says
The management team at Haynes is making a huge mistake . LEGGS Pantyhose have always been the most popular in the US for the average person. So many of us are hooked on the product, I can’t believe that the client base is not big enough to support the LEGGS brand. I truly believe that you as management should rethink your decision. There is certainly a market for your product. Suggestion: sell out the,LEGGS Division to another company and allow them to continue to operate under the LEGGS BRAND. Give that some consideration.