Although little mention of Stuart's Advertising Agency can be found in books on pre-war 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...

, Stuarts was, during the 1920s and 30s, one of the leading London advertising agencies. Located at Kingsway House, Kingsway W.C.2, the firm was founded in 1922 by H. Stuart Menzies

H. Stuart Menzies

Hugh Stuart Menzies was a British advertising executive. Born in London, in 1922 he set up the Stuart Advertising Agency that worked with contemporary artists of the time such as Edward Bawden, Edward McKnight Kauffer, Ben Nicholson, and Barbara Hepworth...

. It had accounts with Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden

Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...

, Keiller’s Marmalade, Shell-Mex, Speedwriting

Speedwriting

Speedwriting is a shorthand writing system developed in 1924 by Emma Dearborn, an instructor at the University of Chicago. It uses alphabetic characters and was originally designed so that it could be written by pen, or on a typewriter....

, Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell is a food production brand which has been in existence since 1706.Originally trading under the Jackson brand and then West and Wyatt, the company was purchased in 1830 by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell...

, Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar

Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...

, Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...

, Indian Trans-Continental Airways, Lewis Berger Paints, Toblerone

Toblerone

Toblerone is a chocolate bar brand owned by Kraft Foods, who acquired the product from former owner Jacobs Suchard in 1990. It is well-known for its distinctive packaging, its prism shape and its ubiquity in duty-free shops.The triangular shape of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps is commonly...

 and Qantas Airways. Menzies retired in 1938-9 and moved first to Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 and later to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 with his wife Elizabeth. Marcus Brumwell joined the firm in the early 20s and became Managing Director when Menzies retired. Another important figure in the organisation in the late 1930s was D Lewis. While Menzies was an exceptional copywriter, Brumwell played a key role in liaising with leading contemporary artists of the time: Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden, CBE, RA was a British painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He was also famous for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture...

, Ben Nicholson

Ben Nicholson

Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...

, Edward McKnight Kauffer

Edward McKnight Kauffer

Edward McKnight Kauffer was an influential American-born artist noted for his avant garde graphic design and poster art, especially in England....

 and Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth

Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...

.

Stuart Advertising Agency is the main subject in a book "Bright Ties Bold Ideas - Marcus Brumwell, Pioneer of C20 Advertising, Champion of the Artists" by Joe Brumwell published in 2010. It also features Design Research Unit, the Advertising Service Guild and Mass-Observation, all involving Marcus Brumwell. Profusely illustrated, 120 pages, 93 colour plates, 118 monochrome, the book is softback, size 252 x 225mm. Artists include Ben Nicholson, Moholy Nagy, Mc Knight Kauffer, John Piper, John and Paul Nash, Edward Bawden and Rex Whistler.
Price £25 post paid from The Tie Press, PO Box 704, Truro TR1 9FJ, UK