|
Joseph Iozzi is the sole employee of Joseph Iozzi Inc. He is an award winning Art Director, Copywriter, Photographer, Cinematographer, Creative Director, Package Designer, and all around great guy.
At 12 years old in 1958 I decided to take a sabbatical from the 6th grade to explore my inner self, and the streets
of New York where I was born. My mother and I saw no real use in
continuing, what was up until that point, a lackluster education. I would
receive greater lessons in life on the sidewalks of New York. From 200th street all the way down
to Battery Park, nearly the entire 13.4 miles of Manhattan, I would
walk. East side, west side, all around the town. The streets
provided me with an education unavailable in any school or college
at the time. Unfortunately, my sabbatical came to an abrupt halt
We move forward to my pizza period. No, we'll
skip that for now. We'll jump ahead to my impresario period. Much
more fun. In 1969 I co-produced concerts for The Ike & Tina Turner
Review, The Beach Boys, Wilson Pickett, The Coasters, and 14 other
big musical acts. This was all in one week at the Kingsbridge Armory
in The Bronx. The world's longest running indoor rock concert. And
least attended.
I suppose at this point I should include my
Madison Avenue period. This ran concurrently with my impresario
period, and after my sabbatical period. Since the time I saw Gary
Cooper with Patricia
Neal on his arm in the movie, The Fountainhead, I always
wanted to be an architect. In high school my architectural art work
(scratchboards) were exhibited at the local museum in Binghamton NY
for two years in a row. I received a Golden Key Award from
Scholastic Magazine. I received a State Regents Diploma in Art, the
first ever from my high school. I was on my way! Move over Howard
Roark. Nothing could stop me now! Except perhaps, math. I couldn't
add two and two, and come up with four. For some odd reason these
architect people insisted upon the corners of buildings, and
windows, and doors always meeting up precisely at the corners.
You can quote me on that; "Contentment is the enemy of progress." Joseph Iozzi "A person who measures their life in terms of wealth will be poorer for it." Joseph Iozzi "I never met a business I didn't like." Joseph Iozzi "A good agency can anticipate human behavior. A great one can change it." Joseph Iozzi "One of the great mysteries of life is death". Joseph Iozzi |
when on one day during one of my walks, I found myself walking with
the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. When
visiting the Big Apple he always stayed at The Carlyle Hotel on East
76 Street. He would religiously take his "constitutional" each
morning at 7 AM. So one day I decided to tag along with Harry,
several reporters, photographers, and 2 secret service men. A
friendly, cozy group. 
and cotton candy. Every conceivable
vendor of every type of ware in New York City was there filling the
remaining 475,000 square feet. Everyone lost their ass. It was a
forewarning of things to come. The Kingsbridge Armory became a
homeless shelter for the City Of New York in 1996. We best move on
before I cry.
Having
no feel at all for these pesky measurements this was something I
could not mitigate in my favor. My dream was in ruin. My life was
finished. There was little doubt I would become a rudderless bum.
But wait. What about an alternate profession, something creative
like an architect. Without a single beat my mind quickly came up
with a solution. My mind is very fast like that when posed with an
insoluble problem. Advertising! What else. It's a natural. You don't
need a lick of math, and you don't even have to be very bright
(another of my short comings). After being turned down for entry at
Pratt Institute and Cooper Union, I started night school at the
School Of Visual Arts while I delivered packages in the day time.
First for Airline Delivery Service (not at the airport, but in the
basement of Grand Central Station), then for Arthur Litoff Studios.
Arthur Litoff provided "art" services for agencies and clients. I
could drop off my resume along with the package. What an opportunity
for me. However, it produced no job offers. I would then move on to
a job in the bullpen at L. W. Frohlich, a pharmaceutical agency. It
was just a short jump away to my dream job, Doyle Dane Bernbach, the hottest ad agency in the world. They were the agency
that produced advertising for VW, Avis Rent A Car, Polaroid, Sony,
Levy's Jewish Rye Bread, and Chivas Regal Scotch. Classic ads like,
"Think Small", and "We Try Harder", were pumped out like water from a
powerful spring after a monsoon. I would be lucky enough to soon
call it my home. DDB was named by Advertising Age, "The most
creative agency in the history of advertising". No argument from me.
It was Camelot. I went from DDB to Young & Rubicam, and then in
1969, I hung out my own shingle on 38th street just off 5th Ave.
Joseph Iozzi Inc. was born. I was lucky as hell to have a couple of
big names as my first clients. Arrow Shirts, Hertz, and Celanese. In
1979 Warner Bros. came calling and The Movie Channel & Nickelodeon
were born. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, I see this getting kind of long, so I'll leave you with these
two words. The End.