I worked at Campbell Ewald in Detroit on the Chevrolet account for a few years starting in 1956, first as head art director on Chevrolet sales promotion, then on the national magazine ads. After that I was working with Fenton Ludtke in a special group called PLUS ONE. We were in direct competition with the regular Chevrolet group and were encouraged to come up with wild ideas.That lasted about a year for me. Jim Hastings was moving up and offered me his job as creative director. I decided against it as I wanted to pursue an illustration career and I quit the agency. I was also weary of agency politics. Upon quiting, I was immediately rehired to work on a very secret project, the Corvair announcement ads. Hastings set me up in an office in the GM Building near Campbell Ewald, my first job as a freelancer. Because of my involvement with these Corvair announcement ads I was invited to come down to Jacksonville, Florida for the CORSA's 50th anniversary bash. I'll be meeting my old friend Fenton Ludtke as he was also invited. Should be fun.
Dave Newell, Chevrolet historian, asked me if I would design an anniversary medallion, which is shown above.
These are the announcement ads that I designed for the Corvair. I decided to use a strong decorative cartoon approach which Chevrolet approved.
1 comment:
Hey, Harry! I had the honor and pleasure of meeting you at the 2009 Corvair convention in Jacksonville when you signed my commemorative medallion. I have a question about your days at Campbell-Ewald. Now that the AMC series has made the term "Mad Men" a household phrase, I was wondering whether this term was in common usage at Campbell-Ewald when you were there or if it was particular to the Madison Avenue/NYC ad agencies.
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