Fresh from the industry’s creative revolution in the 1960s, the art director George Lois helped make some of the greatest advertisements of the modern era.
Until the late 1950s, American advertising had been plagued by work that the writer Aldous Huxley referred to as possessing “a moderate excellence … not too good, but sufficiently striking.” In other words, these ads weren’t bad, just acceptable; they were mediocre despite the awards they won. But then in the 60s came the so-called “Creative Revolution,” helmed by a new breed of daring Jewish, Italian, and Greek American art directors. Armed with artistic intelligence, conceptual sophistication and theatrical flair, they were gung-ho about going head-to-head with the industry’s white, Anglo-Saxon old guard. And their work paid off.
The 1960s was a period informed by the Civil Rights movement, the burgeoning women’s liberation movement, the Vietnam War, and other shifts during the turbulent, roller-coaster decade that altered America forever. These changes also served as the underpinning for some of the best ad men of the time. But by the 1970s, the “big idea” creative agencies were winning their share of awards and accolades too, for commercials that won over print and TV audiences with their wit, not just their sales pitches.
But what set the 70s apart from the previous decade? After all, much of the ad work done in the 70s drew from the same cleverness and creativity that first sprang up in the 60s—a time when unconventional became memorable, and memorable meant capturing a substantial market share of hearts and minds.
It was true that by the 70s, “watching TV, you would see a damn good TV spot every night,” said George Lois, the legendary art director and a pioneer of the Big Idea, who helped emancipate advertising from the hard sell. But as ads grew more creative and alluring, said Lois, “the more the establishment agencies, including Ogilvy, tried to sell advertising as a science, not an art.” In other words, by the 70s, the industry was increasingly driven by psychological research and market testing, which contributed to large-scale shifts in product loyalty.
