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Vol. IUpdated November 20261,425 termsCambridge and Toronto

The Madison Avenue Field GuideA field guide to marketing & advertising, by Brandon Mina

LegendsGeorge Lois

Art director · 1931–2022

George Lois

The brash art director from the Bronx who put his name on an agency and the Big Idea on the page.

By Brandon MinaCEO, BrandPilot AIUpdated November 2026

Mid-century gouache-and-ink portrait illustration of George Lois, in the style of a 1960s magazine ad
George Lois. An illustration, not a photograph.

What George proved

  1. An art director could found and run an agency: Papert Koenig Lois put his name on the masthead in 1960.
  2. One outrageous, simple idea beats a page of claims. He called it the Big Idea and wrote the book on it, What's the Big Idea? (1991).
  3. A magazine cover can be an argument. His Esquire covers from the 1960s are now in the Museum of Modern Art.

It was a testy time to be a graphic designer like me who had the rage to communicate and, to create icon rather than con.

George Lois · Writing about the 1960s Creative Revolution, CNN, 2012 · Source

Key campaigns

  • Xerox, demonstrated by a chimpanzee
  • "I want my Maypo," then "I want my MTV"
  • Braniff: "When you got it, flaunt it"
  • Esquire covers, from 1962 into the early 1970s

The agency

Terms from the work

Each one opens its glossary entry.

Sources

The portrait is an illustration made for this guide, not a photograph.