Huge Waterman Poster in Paris
A monster poster, 48 feet wide and 32 feet high, was erected by M. Jules Fagard in the late 1920’s on the Grande Boulevard in Paris. Fagard was the head of Waterman’s French subsidery.
Even though other pen companies such as Parker, Sheaffer and Wahl Eversharp modernized by switching to celluloid pens, Waterman stuck to hard rubber (having just invested a small fortune developing colored hard rubber — think Rose Ripple, Olive Ripple and Blue-Green Ripple).
Even though Waterman eventually switched to celluloid (their first celluloid pen was the wonderful Patrician), Waterman’s kept losing market share. It struggled to hang on and eventually, by the end of WWII, it lost it’s battle to survive. In 1954 Waterman’s French subsidiary, Waterman-JIF, headed by Jules-Isidore Fagard, absorbed what remained of both Waterman’s American and UK operations.
Do you have any photos of outdoor pen advertising? If so, please share them with us below. Thanks very much.
