Jay Conrad Levinson (February 10, 1933 – October 10, 2013) was an American business writer, known as author of the 1984 book ''Guerrilla marketing''. He was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, graduated from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. His studies in Psychology led him to advertising agencies, including a Directorship at

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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he served as Creative Director. Returning to the US, he joined

J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merge ...

(now known as JWT) as Senior Vice President. Jay created and taught guerrilla marketing for ten years at the extension division of the

University of California in Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

Work

As an ad agency executive some notable marketing campaigns and achievements Levinson collaboratively developed include the

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. ...

, the

Pillsbury Doughboy Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (together with some for GEICO between 2009 and 2017) en ...

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...

's good hands, United Airlines “Fly the friendly skies” slogan, the Sears Diehard battery,

Morris the Cat Morris the Cat is the advertising mascot for 9Lives (cat food), 9Lives brand cat food, appearing on its packaging and in many of its television commercials since the 1970s. Description A large orange tabby cat, tabby cat#Nomenclature and etymo ...

Tony the Tiger Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon mascot for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (also known as Frosties) breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. Tony has also been the mascot for related cereals such as Tony's Cinnamon Krunc ...

, and the

Jolly Green Giant Green Giant and Le Sueur (spelled Le Sieur in Canada) are brands of frozen and canned vegetables owned by B&G Foods. The company's mascot is the Jolly Green Giant. Company and brand history The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded in ...

. He was the founder of the international Guerrilla Marketing Association, coach and specialist author of many books on the subject of guerilla marketing, which have appeared in many languages. The first to use the term "

guerrilla marketing Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service. It is a type of publicity. The term was popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson's 198 ...

" describing 'unconventional' marketing tools used in cases when financial or other resources are limited or non-existent. His first book ''Guerrilla Marketing'' was published in 1984 and has been named by Time as one of the top 25 best business books, with over 21 million sold. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that his books appear in 62 languages and are required reading in MBA programs worldwide.

Selected publications

Books: * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''Guerrilla Marketing Excellence: The 50 Golden Rules for Small-business Success''. Download iTunes eBook, 1993. * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''The guerrilla marketing handbook''. Download iTunes eBook, 1994. * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''Guerrilla marketing: Secrets for making big profits from your small business''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998.

References

External links

Jay Levinson's Official Guerrilla Marketing Site

Jay Levinson's Guerrilla Social Media Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levinson, Jay Conrad 1933 births 2013 deaths People from Detroit American business writers University of Colorado Boulder alumni