Lee Clow is a living legend, a creative hero, and a guide for many of today's working professionals. His work will continue to inspire me and many others, including future generations of advertising makers. Lee Clow retired from TBWA\Chiat\Day in 2018. Ten years before that auspicious moment, I wrote this in these pages: The man surfs and wears flip flops and a long beard to meetings with the world’s most …
Helen Lansdowne Resor, Ad Legend
The year was 1911. Her name was Helen Lansdowne. She was a true trailblazer and ad industry pioneer. Known as the best copywriter of her generation, she also became Vice President and ran J. Walter Thompson with her husband Stanley Resor for 40 years. She hired and mentored women writers. She introduced sex appeal to ads. This woman was a powerhouse. Helen Lansdowne Resor has several "firsts" next to her …
Mary Wells Lawrence, Ad Legend
Mary Wells Lawrence, 92, is about to be named the new "Lion of St. Mark" by Cannes International Festival of Creativity. She will be honored through the LIONS Live platform on Friday 26 June. Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, were honored with the Lion of St. Mark Award at the 2019 Festival. For what it's worth, the advertising lifetime award has nada to do with Mark …
Howard Luck Gossage, Ad Legend
Howard Luck Gossage is a cult figure. He is considered by some of today's practitioners, myself included, as one of the greatest creatives of all time. He converted an old firehouse in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco and began to “hold court” therein. Gossage was friends with Marshall McLuhan, Buckminster Fuller, and Tom Wolfe, among others, and he liked to entertain his heady friends at the …
Leo Burnett, Ad Legend
Leo Burnett studied journalism at the University of Michigan. His dream was to become the publisher of The New York Times. He graduated in 1914 and his first job was in Peoria, IL, where he worked as a newspaper reporter on the crime beat. Burnett soon thereafter moved to Detroit and went to work on the client-side at GM. Burnett edited a publication for Cadillac dealers called Cadillac Clearing House. His …
Hal Riney, Ad Legend
The year was 1956. The city, San Francisco. The agency, BBDO. The job, Mailroom clerk. The future advertising legend, Hal Riney. Riney was born in the depths of The Great Depression in Washington, a fact of his life that influenced his later work, including “It’s Morning Again in America” which helped re-elect Ronald Reagan in 1984. Riney majored in art and minored in journalism and advertising at Univ. Of …
