BILLINGSLEY, ALLEN LOREN (1890 - 6 October, 1954), was the president of Cleveland-based FULLER & SMITH & ROSS INC. advertising agency from 1928 to 1954. Billingsley led the agencies’ effort to create advertising campaigns for dozens of leading national accounts including WESTINGHOUSE and the SHERWIN WILLIAMS PAINT CO.
His advertising career covered a 40-year span. Following his graduation from DePauw University, he went to work for the Sidener and Van Riper Agency, joining Fuller & Smith & Ross Inc. in 1923. He became its president in 1928.
Billingsley was a pivotal leader in the field of advertising. He served as the director of the Advertising Federation of America and as president of the CLEVELAND ADVERTISING CLUB for more than two terms. He was the only chairman of the board of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) elected to serve for three terms.
Billingsley was on the first board of directors of the War Advertising Council, helping to shape the course of its activities. He later served as a director of its successor organization, the Ad Council. He was also the director of the Committee on Consumer Relations in Advertising.
The Advertising Hall of Fame tribute to Billingsley wrote about his philosophy: "We who have hitched our wagons to advertising want it to measure up to every proper public responsibility. We want it to be an efficient selling tool, but we want it to be a tool that commands respect and that reflects social responsibility."
Billingsley set an example for advertising leaders by devoting himself to many civic and community causes, as chairman of the CLEVELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau and in his many business directorships.
On October 6,1954, Billingsley, 64 years old, died suddenly of a heart attack and the chairman of the Fuller & Smith & Ross, Inc., Robert Allen, assumed the presidency and moved the agency’s headquarters to New York.
Jim Culley
Allen Loren Billingsley: Advertising Hall of Fame