Mo Drake

Maurice Drake (20 May 1928 – 22 August 2021) was a British advertising executive. He missed several years of education due to the Second World War and left school at the age of 14. Drake found work as a filing clerk at an advertising agency before carrying out national service with the Royal Air Force. Upon completion of his military service, he joined public relations firm Armstrong Warden.

Drake left the industry briefly in the 1950s to become a jokewriter, working closely with Bob Monkhouse. He returned to advertising in 1959 and enjoyed success at Young & Rubicam. Drake used his connections in the entertainment industry to convince celebrities, including Bruce Forsyth and Frank Muir, to front his advertisements. He was behind campaigns for Maxwell House, Cadbury, Flora and Wall's (for whom he developed the "Just One Cornetto" campaign). His most successful slogan was "Beanz Meanz Heinz" which he devised in 1967 and remained in use almost continually for 30 years. He retired in the mid-1980s but continued to lecture in advertising.

Early life and career Maurice Drake, known as Mo, was born in Bromley-by-Bow, London, on 20 May 1928 to Thomas and Sarah Jane Drake, a working-class family. When Drake was three years old, the family moved to Ilford. Drake passed his eleven-plus examination but was prevented from attending grammar school by the Second World War. He first attended a secondary school at the age of 14 but left after a few months. He left the company at the age of 17 to carry out his national service with the Royal Air Force. He also persuaded Frank Muir to sing "Everyone's a Fruit and Nut Case" on an advertisement for Cadbury's Fruit and Nut bar. Drake noted "I was just scribbling on my pad when it dawned on me that you could end Beans with a 'z', as 'Heinz' did". The figure used here by Drake was actually an understatement, the real figure being 1.75 million but Drake considered his line to be more suited to music. The slogan was dropped in 2008 as Heinz wanted their name to be linked with a wider range of products than just beans. In 2017, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the slogan, the company released 50 special edition tins (priced at £10 each) signed by Drake. They had met whilst Drake was visiting his friend, who was a patient in a tuberculosis hospital; Taylor was a friend of the patient's girlfriend. Drake and Taylor had three daughters and a son. In his private life Drake was a fan of jazz music and played the guitar. In later life he lived in a care home in Brighton. He died, a widower, on 22 August 2021.