Jun 24
This week’s episode of This American Life had a very interesting story on Julian Koenig, (Herschon Garfield, Helmut Krone, DDB) the copywriter/father of Volkswagen’s “Think Small” and “Lemon” (among many other famous ads) and his dispute with George Lois (Art Director) over who came up with what.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Here’s the complete episode (including the prologue, and acts I,II,III, and IV):
For more info on this episode, visit This American Life.
Interestingly enough, in the AEF/Yahoo series “Giants of Advertising” Lois said: “I’ve lied, cheated, stole”:
Here’s Koenig telling the story:
Related posts:
Ms. Koenig. I searched and searched for some clue as to your name and how I could communicate with you after hearing your piece on your superbly talented father on NPR. I am Elissa Dorfsman, first born of Louis Dorfsman. My Dad died last October at 90 — but it was nonetheless sudden and a horrible blow to me and my mother particularly — and we held a memorial for him at Cooper Union on March 16, 2009. I sent out almost 1,000 invites. I have no doubt that your father was on the mailing list, but no idea as to whether the invite ever reached him or whether he ever made it to the memorial. My father would have HOWLED at your piece on NPR and also would have nodded his head sagely, knowing all too well that what you report is true. GL was a speaker at the memorial, of course, and one of my biggest fears was that the speech would turn into the George Lois Show. He was actually subdued for George, but getting there was a little bit of a tug of war as you might imagine. I would like to communicate with you. I don’t know whether I have actually met your father, but I certainly knew his name as I grew up. Let’s talk. You have my email. We should meet. And I would love to meet your father. Send my best — and from my mother as well. Thank you for an EXCELLENT portrayal. Elissa D.
Dear Elissa,
You recently posted a comment on my blog addressing Ms. Sarah Koenig. Unfortunately, I’m not related to Ms. Koenig so I’m afraid she won’t get the message you posted but I was able to find her contact info on google:
http://www.youratepsu.com/content/looking-people-interview-central-pa
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-koenig/10/909/16b
I’m CCing her on this reply but you may want to contact her directly as well (sarah@thislife.org / 312-315-8598).
I know your comment was not addressed to me personally but I thank you for posting it as it made me want to post a few links about your dad and his wonderful work, for the readers who are not aware of who he was:
Lou Dorfsman, Design Chief at CBS, Dies at 90:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/26dorfsman.html
Lou Dorfsman – The Art Directors Club – 1978 Hall of Fame:
http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1978/?id=272
Louis Dorfsman – Archive of American Television Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TVLEGENDS#grid/user/6923E6774D5043B7
Best,
Assaf
I have to say that in the dispute between Koenig and Lois nobody mentions Helmut Krone’s role in the creation of the VW ads. Krone was the one who went on all the fact finding trips to the VW plant in Germany. He was the one who was friends with engineers as well of the president of VW, Nordof. Krone was the one who spoke german as his family was originally from Braunschweig near the VW plant – so Krone’s research was the basis to all the DDB ideas. He’s the one who came up with the “Lemon” ad and many of the motives of the campaign rollout. Koenig and Lois were his supporting cast.