Leo-Arthur Kelmenson (January 3, 1927 – August 30, 2011) was an American advertising executive. He was chief executive of

Kenyon & Eckhardt Kenyon & Eckhardt was an independent advertising agency that was acquired by Lorimar Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of ...

and the

Bozell Bozell is an American full-service public relations and advertising agency in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, North America. History Bozell traces its roots to the company founded in 1921 in Omaha, Nebraska by Leo Bozell and Morris Jacobs a ...

Group. A confidant and close associate of

Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive best known for the development of the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, an ...

, he was known for contributing the turnaround of

Chrysler Corporation Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

by creating the ad campaign that helped to revive the ailing company and reshape its image.

Biography

Kelmenson was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on January 3, 1927, the son of Ruth and Joseph Kelmenson, a manufacturing executive. He left high school at 17 left high school and lied about his age to serve in the

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

in the Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and suffered bullet wounds in his left leg that left him with a lifelong limp. He fought in the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

and received a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and two

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

s. Following the war, Kelmenson spent some time recuperating from war injuries in

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...

, and made his first Hollywood connections there through an uncle. He received his B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1951 and pursued graduate education in international affairs in Geneva. Kelmenson then changed course and joined the advertising industry, first as a mailroom clerk in the firm of Lennen & Newell, where he rose to senior vice president before joining Kenyon & Eckhardt in 1968. He was also a special projects officer for the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

during the 1960s. As chief executive of Kenyon & Eckhardt, Kelmenson walked away from an $80 million-a-year contract with Ford Motor Company to become the exclusive advertising agency of the Chrysler Corporation after Ford fired its president Lee Iacocca, a longtime friend of Kelmenson's who was then joined Chrysler as chief executive. By switching accounts to Chrysler, Kelmenson helped secure an estimated $120 million a year in business for Kenyon & Eckhardt, which was then the largest account shift in U.S. advertising history. Kelmenson's advertising campaign contributed to the turnaround of Chrysler's fortunes by securing a government bailout and saving the automaker and turned Iacocca into a folk hero who registered third on the Gallup Poll's list of the men Americans respected most in the 1980s. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, he became chief executive of Bozell, a marketing, advertising and public relations firm. His other clients included

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, s ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Daimler Chrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactur ...

and

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

. Kelmenson was also chairman of

Foote, Cone & Belding Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), is one of the largest global advertising agency networks. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was merged in 2006 with Draft Worldwide, adopting the name Draftfcb. In 2014 the company rebranded itself as FCB. Parent ...

, and executive advisor to David Bell, Chairman and CEO of

The Interpublic Group of Companies The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is an American publicly traded advertising company. The company consists of five major networks: FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group, and Marketing Specialists, as well as a n ...

. He was also a director of

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation was an entertainment company established in 1985 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios) ...

, Online Software, and True North Communications. He retired from the industry in 1999. Kelmenson died on August 30, 2011, in his

Remsenburg, New York Remsenburg is a hamlet located in the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, United States. There are no stoplights and very few commercial businesses. History As early as 1712, meadows in Speonk were leased to cattle- ...

home. He was inducted into the

Advertising Hall of Fame The Advertising Hall of Fame, operated by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), began in 1948 as a result of a proposal by the New York Ad Club and its president, Andrew Haire, to the Advertising Federation of America, the predecessor organiza ...

posthumously in 2012.

References

1927 births {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelmenson, Leo-Arthur American advertising executives Businesspeople from New York City Columbia University alumni American chief executives 2011 deaths American advertising people