Our new agency, Cohen, Pasqualina, Timberman, was in its first year of business and we were going nowhere fast.   All the accounts that we thought would come flocking to our door were not flocking. Feeling desperate, I pored through the Redbook of advertisers looking for a prospect – a live one – anyone who [...]

On Monday, March 15th, 1965, I began my advertising career at Doyle Dane Bernbach, the most creative agency on the planet.  At the ripe old age of 22, a memo introduced me as their youngest copy trainee – ever!  I wasn’t just young chronologically.  I looked, acted and felt young.  A little boy with peach [...]

George Lois was one of the creative greats who inspired me and my generation.  I was interested to see his recent comment about the TV show, Mad Men. “When I hear Mad Men”, he said, “It’s the most irritating thing in the world to me.  The creative revolution was the name of the game.  This [...]

For 8 years, Jack in the Box had been a big and important client of our agency, Cohen/Johnson. Our “Serious Food” campaign helped position them as a quality brand, made their cash registers ring and helped them outperform the category, quarter after quarter.  The relationship was strong, it was solid, it was…safe?  Not so fast, [...]

Why do we work so hard in this business?  Why do we burn the midnight oil and sometimes give up weekends and holidays? Because creative people must create. And because there can be tremendous rewards, both emotional and financial.  After my first year at Doyle Dane Bernbach, they raised my salary to a whopping $7,200. [...]

Mary Wells was the driving force behind Wells, Rich, Greene, the legendary creative agency that blazed new trails from the late ’60s through the ’80s. Read her book,  A Big Life in Advertising. Blond, beautiful and brilliant, she was the mentor that taught me, inspired me, and at times, scared the hell out of me.  [...]