George Patterson

George Herbert Patterson (18901968) was a pioneering 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. Patterson was chairman of the agency from 1934 until 1954.

Early life One of four children born to John Alfred Patterson (d.1899) and Frances Julia Rogers, he was educated at Carlton College, Parkville, Victoria. His mother died when he was fifteen and George went out to work help support his sisters. He took a position at Thomas McPherson & Son as an office boy, but within three years had become advertising manager.

Travels and war service In 1912 he travelled to London to see how ad agencies operated there, but he was unimpressed with what he saw of English practices and headed for New York where he worked for a time

His initial attempt to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force at the start of World War I was unsuccessful on medical grounds. He joined the Australian Army Medical Corps serving in Egypt (1915–16) and later with the Australian Army Pay Corps on the Western Front (1916–17). He had the rank of sergeant when was discharged from the army on 3 January 1918 and returned to Melbourne.

Catts and Patterson split in 1934. Patterson bought a small business named Griffin, Shave & Russell and formed the George Patterson agency. Patterson was known for an ability to get close to his clients' businesses being a director of clients Gillette, Colgate-Palmolive and later Peek Frean and Hartford Fire Insurance.