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George Lois
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George Lois
George Harry Lois (June 26, 1931 – November 18, 2022) was an American art director, designer, and author. Lois was perhaps best known for over 92 covers he designed for Esquire magazine from 1962 to 1973.
Lois was born in New York City on June 26, 1931, the son of working-class Greek immigrants from Kastanea, Aetolia-Acarnania. He grew up in Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. He attended The High School of Music & Art, and received a basketball scholarship to Syracuse University, although he chose to attend Pratt Institute. Lois attended only one year at Pratt, then left to work for Reba Sochis until he was drafted six months later by the Army to fight in the Korean War.
After the Korean War, Lois went to work for the advertising and promotions department at CBS where he designed print and media projects. In 1959 he was hired by the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach. After one year there, Lois was recruited by Fred Papert and Julian Koenig to form Papert Koenig Lois in 1960. PKL, as it was known, was also the first advertising agency to ever go public.
In 1967, he left to form Lois, Holland, Callaway. His last agency, Lois/USA, which had created campaigns for clients such as Minolta, Tourneau, and The Four Seasons, ended its run in 1999.
On December 1, 1968, Lois obtained the Braniff International Airways account. Advertiser Mary Wells Lawrence left the Braniff account for a new airline account with TWA. At Braniff, Lois formulated the "When You Got It, Flaunt It" campaign for the airline that resulted in an 80 percent increase in business as a result of the new advertising. Lois incorporated a series of memorable and unique television commercials that paired celebrities as Andy Warhol and Sonny Liston sitting on Braniff aircraft seats discussing many subjects.
Lois developed what he called "The Big Idea". He claimed to have created the "I Want My MTV" campaign, and was quoted in the book MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video:
I said, "Do you guys remember a campaign I did, where famous baseball players, like Mickey Mantle, say, 'I want my Maypo!?'" Maypo was kind of a baby cereal, and I told my client back then, "It's oatmeal. I don't know why it's just a baby cereal. Why can't I do a campaign that talks to older kids, so that you can do it from a baby cereal up to twelve or thirteen-year-olds?" So they're all looking at me and going, "Yeah, I loved that commercial." I said, "OK, now, all you sons of a bitches around the country are going to be saying, 'I want my MTV.' Here's what we'll do. We'll do a TV commercial. And what we do is we fly right by the cable operators, because they don't give a shit. They smoke cigars and think all young kids are f**kin' hoodlums. I'll do a commercial and get a real visceral feeling about the thing. And I'll get footage of famous rock stars. And at the end of the commercial, I'll say, "If you don't get MTV where you live, call your local cable operator and say"...I'll cut to somebody like Mick Jagger, who will pick up the phone, look into the phone, and say, "I want my MTV!"
Additionally, Lois helped create and introduce VH1; named Stouffer's Lean Cuisine frozen food line; and developed marketing and messaging for Jiffy Lube stations. He created the initial advertising campaign to raise awareness of designer Tommy Hilfiger. His other clients purportedly included; Xerox, Aunt Jemima, USA Today, Mug Root Beer for Pepsi-Cola, ESPN, and four U.S. Senators: Jacob Javits (R-NY), Warren Magnuson (D-WA), Hugh Scott (R-PA), and Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY). Lois and Larry Sloman directed the music video for Bob Dylan's song "Jokerman."
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George Lois
George Harry Lois (June 26, 1931 – November 18, 2022) was an American art director, designer, and author. Lois was perhaps best known for over 92 covers he designed for Esquire magazine from 1962 to 1973.
Lois was born in New York City on June 26, 1931, the son of working-class Greek immigrants from Kastanea, Aetolia-Acarnania. He grew up in Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. He attended The High School of Music & Art, and received a basketball scholarship to Syracuse University, although he chose to attend Pratt Institute. Lois attended only one year at Pratt, then left to work for Reba Sochis until he was drafted six months later by the Army to fight in the Korean War.
After the Korean War, Lois went to work for the advertising and promotions department at CBS where he designed print and media projects. In 1959 he was hired by the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach. After one year there, Lois was recruited by Fred Papert and Julian Koenig to form Papert Koenig Lois in 1960. PKL, as it was known, was also the first advertising agency to ever go public.
In 1967, he left to form Lois, Holland, Callaway. His last agency, Lois/USA, which had created campaigns for clients such as Minolta, Tourneau, and The Four Seasons, ended its run in 1999.
On December 1, 1968, Lois obtained the Braniff International Airways account. Advertiser Mary Wells Lawrence left the Braniff account for a new airline account with TWA. At Braniff, Lois formulated the "When You Got It, Flaunt It" campaign for the airline that resulted in an 80 percent increase in business as a result of the new advertising. Lois incorporated a series of memorable and unique television commercials that paired celebrities as Andy Warhol and Sonny Liston sitting on Braniff aircraft seats discussing many subjects.
Lois developed what he called "The Big Idea". He claimed to have created the "I Want My MTV" campaign, and was quoted in the book MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video:
I said, "Do you guys remember a campaign I did, where famous baseball players, like Mickey Mantle, say, 'I want my Maypo!?'" Maypo was kind of a baby cereal, and I told my client back then, "It's oatmeal. I don't know why it's just a baby cereal. Why can't I do a campaign that talks to older kids, so that you can do it from a baby cereal up to twelve or thirteen-year-olds?" So they're all looking at me and going, "Yeah, I loved that commercial." I said, "OK, now, all you sons of a bitches around the country are going to be saying, 'I want my MTV.' Here's what we'll do. We'll do a TV commercial. And what we do is we fly right by the cable operators, because they don't give a shit. They smoke cigars and think all young kids are f**kin' hoodlums. I'll do a commercial and get a real visceral feeling about the thing. And I'll get footage of famous rock stars. And at the end of the commercial, I'll say, "If you don't get MTV where you live, call your local cable operator and say"...I'll cut to somebody like Mick Jagger, who will pick up the phone, look into the phone, and say, "I want my MTV!"
Additionally, Lois helped create and introduce VH1; named Stouffer's Lean Cuisine frozen food line; and developed marketing and messaging for Jiffy Lube stations. He created the initial advertising campaign to raise awareness of designer Tommy Hilfiger. His other clients purportedly included; Xerox, Aunt Jemima, USA Today, Mug Root Beer for Pepsi-Cola, ESPN, and four U.S. Senators: Jacob Javits (R-NY), Warren Magnuson (D-WA), Hugh Scott (R-PA), and Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY). Lois and Larry Sloman directed the music video for Bob Dylan's song "Jokerman."
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