Theodore Lewis "Ted" Bates (September 11, 1901–May 30, 1972) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 executive who founded a worldwide advertising agency

Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...

 that bears his name: Ted Bates Inc...

Biography

Born in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, Bates attended Phillips-Andover Academy, then graduated from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1924. He founded Ted Bates & Co. in 1940, which evolved into the 21st century advertising agency Bates 141

Bates 141

Bates 141 is an Asia-devoted marketing communications network and part of WPP Group. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Bates 141 operates across 13 countries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam.Its...

. His empire launched in Asia in the early 1960s after acquiring a stake in Cathay Advertising from George Patterson

George Patterson (advertiser)

George Herbert Patterson was a pioneer Australian advertising executive who established an agency group that dominated the Australian advertising industry throughout much of the 20th century. His eponymous agency was the largest in the country from the 1930s until the 1980s...

, an Australian advertising executive. Cathay Advertising was used by Bates as a vehicle to drive expansion in the region so that by the late 1960s, Ted Bates Inc. was operating in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

.

Bates married Evelyn Turull of Havana, Cuba. They had twins, Patricia and Evelyn, who became models. Patricia married Howard B. Johnson of Howard Johnson's

Howard Johnson's

Howard Johnson's is a chain of hotels and restaurants, located primarily throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson's was the largest restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,000 restaurants...

 hotels and restaurants.

Bates died on May 30, 1972 of a heart attack while playing bridge with friends. He was a director and honorary chairman of the Ted Bates Company at death, which ranked fourth in the world among ad agencies with annual billings of USD 425 million.

Legacy

In 1982, the American Advertising Federation

American Advertising Federation

The American Advertising Federation , headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association, representing 50,000 professionals in the advertising industry. The AAF has a national network of 200 ad clubs located in ad communities across the United States...

 (AAF) inducted Bates with Charles H. Brower

Charles H. Brower

Charles Hendrickson Brower was an American advertising executive, copywriter, and author.-Biography:Charles H. Brower was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey and came from a long line of Dutch New Jersey farmers. His father, Charles Hendrick Brower, was an insurance agent and owner of two butcher shops...

 and Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Bernice Bowles "Fitz" Fitz-Gibbon was an American advertising executive and a pioneer in retail advertising, working at Marshall Field's, Macy's, Gimbels and Wanamaker's. She was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1982. She was named #62 on the 100 people of the 20th century by...

 to the Advertising Hall of Fame. His creative partner, advertising maverick Rosser Reeves

Rosser Reeves

Rosser Reeves was a hugely successful American advertising executive and pioneer of television advertising. He believed the purpose of advertising is to sell. He insisted that an advertisement or commercial should show off the value of a product, not the cleverness of a copywriter. His most...

, described the reasons for Bates' success at the induction:

There are two things not commonly known which I want to put on the record today. Very early on at one fell swoop, Ted Bates gave away 90 percent of his agency to his key people. When I asked him why, he said, 'Rosser, I would rather own 10 percent of a success than 100 percent of a failure.' And that leads to the other thing. By making us rich and therefore making us work like demons, Ted built an agency that for the first 26 consecutive years did not lose a client...