Pioneers

These are copywriters who had a major influence on the modern advertising industry, particularly during its formative years. *

Earnest Elmo Calkins Earnest Elmo Calkins (March 15, 1868 – October 4, 1964) was a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising, of fictional characters, the soft sell, and the idea of " consumer engineering". He co-founded the in ...

(1868–1964), a pioneer of the soft sell * Robert Collier (1885-1950), a pioneer of direct mail and self-help * Stan Freberg (1926–2015), a pioneer of satire in advertisements * Claude C. Hopkins (1866–1932), a pioneer of direct marketing *

Albert Lasker Albert Davis Lasker (May 1, 1880 – May 30, 1952) was an American businessman who played a major role in shaping modern advertising. He was raised in Galveston, Texas, where his father was the president of several banks. Moving to Chicago, he be ...

(1880 - 1952), a pioneer of radio advertising and political campaigns *

John Emory Powers John E. Powers (1837–1919) was a highly influential American copywriting, copywriter. The world's first Full-time job, full-time copywriter, he worked for the department stores Lord & Taylor and Wanamaker's before becoming a freelancer in 1886. R ...

(1837–1919), the world's first full-time copywriter *

Rosser Reeves Rosser Reeves (10 September 1910 – 24 January 1984) was an American advertising executive and pioneer of television advertising; Reeves generated millions for his clients. The Ted Bates agency, where he rose to chairman, exists today as Bates ...

(1910-1984), developed the idea of the

unique selling proposition In marketing, the unique selling proposition (USP), also called the unique selling point, or the unique value proposition (UVP) in the business model canvas, is the marketing strategy of informing customers about how one's own brand or product is ...

* John Salmon (1931-2017), a British advertising executive.

Founders

These are copywriters who went on to found major multinational advertising agencies. * David Abbott, founder of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO *

William Bernbach William Bernbach (August 13, 1911 – October 2, 1982) was an American advertising creative director. He was one of the three founders in 1949 of the international advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). He directed many of the firm's breakth ...

, founder of

DDB Worldwide DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks ...

Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet (21 August 1906 – 11 April 1996) was a French entrepreneur and advertising magnate best known as the founder of Publicis Groupe. He is also credited with inventing radio advertising in France, helped create the first ...

founder of

Publicis Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris ...

Leo Burnett Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th cent ...

, founder of

Leo Burnett Worldwide Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc., also known as Leo Burnett Company, Inc., is an American advertising company, founded on August 5, 1935, in Chicago by Leo Burnett. In September 2002, the company was acquired by Publicis Groupe, the world's third ...

Jay Chiat Jay Chiat (October 25, 1931 – April 23, 2002) started his career as an American advertising copywriter. Biography Chiat was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx in New York City and grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers Colle ...

, founder of Chiat/Day * Fairfax M. Cone, founder of Foote Cone & Belding *

Harry McCann Harrison King McCann (November 4, 1880 – December 20, 1962), was the founder of the H. K. McCann Company. H. K. McCann Company was an advertising agency that, as McCann Erickson, grew to become the world's largest with a global network of offices ...

, co-founder of

McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...

David Ogilvy David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, founder of

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based advertising agency, agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging wit ...

* Alex Osborn, co-founder of

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

, and inventor of

brainstorming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a grou ...

Raymond Rubicam Raymond Rubicam (June 16, 1892 – May 8, 1978) was an American advertising pioneer who co-established the Young & Rubicam (Y&R) advertising agency with John Orr Young John Orr Young (June 25, 1886 – May 1, 1976) was an American advertiser w ...

, co-founder of

Young & Rubicam VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Young & Rubica ...

* Charles Saatchi, co-founder of

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...

* Dan Wieden, co-founder of

Wieden+Kennedy Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike, Inc., Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy (advertising), David Kennedy, and headquartered ...

Award winners

. These are copywriters or former copywriters who have been inducted into a hall of fame or received a lifetime achievement award, sometimes posthumously. * Ted Bates, 1982 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee * Charles H. Brower, 1982 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Phil Dusenberry Philip Bernard Dusenberry (April 28, 1936 – December 29, 2007) was an American advertising executive for the BBDO advertising agency. Dusenberry was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1936, and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and th ...

, 2003 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, 2007 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee *

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon Bernice Bowles "Fitz" Fitz-Gibbon (September 6, 1894 – February 22, 1982) was an American advertising executive and a pioneer in retail advertising, working at Marshall Field's, Macy's, Gimbels and Wanamaker's. She was inducted into the Adver ...

, 1982 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, 1967 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Jo Foxworth, 1997 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, 1950 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Mary Frances Gerety Mary Frances Gerety (1916-1999) was the Copywriting, copywriter responsible for the "A Diamond is Forever" slogan created for De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. This famous slogan is still used today in advertising pertaining to Diamond (gemstone) ...

, created A Diamond is Forever, the 'slogan of the century' according to ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in m ...

'' *

Howard Gossage Howard Luck Gossage (1917–1969), frequently referred to as "The Socrates of San Francisco," was an advertising innovator and iconoclast during the "Mad Men" era. He is known for having said that, "The object of your advertising should not be to ...

, 1970 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * O. Milton Gossett, 1999 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Paula Green Paula Green (September 18, 1927 – December 4, 2015) was an American advertising executive, best known for writing the lyrics to the "Look for the Union Label" song for ILGWU and the Avis motto "We Try Harder". Green was one of the pione ...

, 2012 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Steve Hayden, 2013 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee *

Julian Koenig Julian Norman Koenig (; April 22, 1921 – June 12, 2014) was an American copywriter. He was inducted into The One Club Creative Hall of Fame in 1966. Early life and education Koenig was born to a Jewish familyAlex Kroll, 1998 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Mary Wells Lawrence Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg on May 25, 1928) is an American retired advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells, Rich, Greene, an advertising agency known for its creative work. Lawrence was the first female ...

, 2000 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, 1969 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee *

Ed McCabe Ed McCabe was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1938. He is a founder of Scali, McCabe, Sloves, an American advertising agency of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1974, he was elected to the One Club Hall of Fame at the age of 34. He remains the youngest pers ...

, 1974 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee *

Shirley Polykoff Shirley Polykoff (January 18, 1908 – June 4, 1998) was a pioneering woman in American advertising, rising from an entry-level copywriter to a senior executive. Her "Does She... Or Doesn't She?" branding slogan accompanied by "Hair Color So ...

, 1981 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, 1974 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Erma Perham Proetz, 1952 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

, 1994 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, 1965 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Helen Lansdowne Resor, 1967 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee * Jean Wade Rindlaub, 1990 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee * Jim Riswold, 2013 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Phyllis Robinson, 1968 One Club Creative Hall of Fame inductee * Dave Trott, 2004 Design and Art Direction lifetime achievement award *

Artemas Ward Artemas Ward (November 26, 1727 – October 28, 1800) was an American major general in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts. He was considered an effective political leader, President John Adams describing him as ...

, 1975 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee *

Lester Wunderman Lester Wunderman (June 22, 1920 – January 9, 2019) was an American advertising executive widely considered the creator of modern-day direct marketing. His innovations included the magazine subscription card, the toll-free 1-800 number, loyalty ...

, 1999 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee

Former copywriters

Many creative artists spent time early in their careers working as copywriters. This is a list of such people – specifically, people who worked as copywriters before achieving notability in a creative field outside advertising. The names are followed by the careers in which they are notable. *

Phillip Adams Phillip Adams, Philip Adams, or Phil Adams may refer to: Sports * Phillip Adams (American football) (1988–2021), American football cornerback * Phillip Adams (sport shooter) (born 1945), Australian pistol shooter * Phil Adams (cricketer) (born 1 ...

, broadcaster and columnist *

Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for book ...

, author *

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

, author *

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...

, author *

Helen Gurley Brown Helen Gurley Brown ( Helen Marie Gurley; February 18, 1922 – August 13, 2012) was an American author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was the editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine for 32 years. Garner 2009. Early life Helen Mar ...

, publisher and editor * David "Lil Dicky" Burd, rapper, comedian *

Augusten Burroughs Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Richter Robison, October 23, 1965) is an American writer best known for his ''New York Times'' bestselling memoir '' Running with Scissors'' (2002). Early life Christopher Richter Robison was born in ...

, author *

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, author * Peter Carey, author *

Iordan Chimet Iordan Chimet (November 18, 1924 – May 23, 2006) was a Romanian poet, children's writer and essayist, whose work was inspired by Surrealism and Onirism. He is also known as a memoirist, theater, art and film critic, book publisher and translat ...

, poet, essayist and children's author * Bryce Courtenay, author *

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, perf ...

, author *

Nikos Dimou Nikos Dimou ( el, Νίκος Δήμου), born in 1935 in Athens, is a Greek writer and columnist. He started out as a copywriter and went on to become one of the best-known Greek intellectuals. Biography He graduated from Athens College an ...

, columnist, writer and talk show host *

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

, comedian and radio DJ * Jennie Fields, novelist *

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

, author * Kitty Flanagan, comedian *

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

, film director and animator * Alec Guinness, actor *

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

, author *

Sarah Hampson Sarah A. Hampson (born May 6, 1958) is a Canadian author, columnist, and journalist. Since 1999, she has been writing for ''The Globe and Mail'', a national Canadian newspaper, with her Interview column being nominated for a National Newspaper Aw ...

, columnist and author * Hugh Hefner, publisher *

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

, author *

Russell Hoban Russell Conwell Hoban (February 4, 1925 – December 13, 2011) was an American expatriate writer. His works span many genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magical realism, poetry, and children's books. He lived in ...

, author *

Laura Z. Hobson Laura Zametkin Hobson (June 19, 1900 – February 28, 1986) was an American writer, best known for her novels ''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947) and ''Consenting Adult'' (1975). Early life and career Laura Kean Zametkin was born on June 19, 1900So ...

, novelist. * John Hughes, film director, writer *

Shigesato Itoi is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and actor. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of his website and company '' Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun'' ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"). He is best known outside Japan for his work on Nintendo ...

, writer, video-game designer * Thom Jones, author *

Lawrence Kasdan Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the '' Star Wars'' films ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), and '' Solo: A Star Wars St ...

, film director, screenwriter * Tim Kazurinsky, comedian * Dan Kennedy (author), Dan Kennedy, author * Philip Kerr, author * Elmore Leonard, author * Amulya Malladi, author * Vladimir Mayakovsky, poet, playwright * Peter Mayle, author * Chan Mou, comic artist * Rick Moranis, actor * Ogden Nash, poet * Bob Newhart, comedian and actor * Alan Parker, film director * James Patterson, author * Frederik Pohl, science-fiction author * Steven Pressfield, author * Franc Roddam, film director * Salman Rushdie, author * John Safran, documentary maker and author * Dorothy L. Sayers, author * Indra Sinha, author * Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author), Elizabeth Smart, poet, author * Chrissie Swan, TV and radio presenter * Jaideep Varma, film director and screenwriter * Kurt Vonnegut, author * Murray Walker, commentator, journalist * Fay Weldon, author * Antonia White, author * Frank Zappa, musician

Other

These are notable people who have worked as copywriters but do not fit into the categories above. Some achieved notability in another field before becoming copywriters, while others have combined copywriting with another career. * Gabriella Ambrosio, a novelist and academic who continued to work in advertising. * Pinkie Barnes, a table tennis champion who later became a copywriter. * Gary Comer, founder of a mail-order clothing company. * Robert Duncan (writer), Robert Duncan, a music critic. * Carol Gran, a Canadian politician. * Adam Hanft, a comedy writer who later became a copywriter. * Arne Hjeltnes, a Norwegian politician, television host and writer. * Prasoon Joshi, a lyricist, poet and screenwriter. * Herschell Gordon Lewis, a film director who later became a copywriter. * John Singleton (Australian entrepreneur), John Singleton, a businessman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Copywriters Lists of writers, Copywriters Copywriters, List

Pioneers

Founders

Award winners

Former copywriters

Other

See also

References