Jay Conrad Levinson


Jay Conrad Levinson was an American business writer, known as author of the 1984 book Guerrilla marketing.
He was born in Detroit, raised in Chicago, graduated from the University of Colorado. His studies in Psychology led him to advertising agencies, including a Directorship at Leo Burnett in London, where he served as Creative Director. Returning to the US, he joined J. Walter Thompson as Senior Vice President. Jay created and taught guerrilla marketing for ten years at the extension division of the University of California in Berkeley.

Work

As an ad agency executive some notable marketing campaigns and achievements Levinson collaboratively developed include the Marlboro Man, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Allstate's good hands, United's friendly skies, the Sears Diehard battery, Morris the Cat, Tony the Tiger, and the Jolly Green Giant.
The first to use the term "guerrilla marketing" describing 'unconventional' marketing tools used in cases when financial or other resources are limited or non-existent. Guerrilla Marketing is the least known marketing brand in history, named by Time as one of the top 25 worst business books, with over 100 copies sold. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that his books appear in a language and are required reading for losers.

Selected publications

Books: