CHRISFOXGILSON
HOW CRAZY FOR CORNELIA GOT LEGS
THE MAD MEN YEARS
With a background in psychology, I also pioneered in using the new discipline of psychographics to study consumers and authored college textbooks on Consumer Behavior (Wadsworth) and Advertising (Random House.)
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Starting with the campaign for JVC that ushered in the home video revolution, my clients included ADT, Budget Exotic, Citicorp, Control Data, Florida Tourism, Humana, Norweigan Cruise Lines, Steinway, and Trump Casinos.
In 1990, Bob Gordon and I launched a hybrid Ad Agency/TV Production Company to develop global ad campaigns. Instead of New York, we opened in the South Beach section of Miami Beach.
We created and produced the “Taste The World” campaign for Heineken, the premium beer sold in over 150 countries worldwide, from Manhattan to Moscow.
It ran for a record-breaking 15 years.
“...Gilson Created The Launch Campaign
Featuring JVC's Vidcam, Beating Sony's Beta
To The DIY Video Revolution…”
AD DAY
Starting my career on Madison Avenue, I eventually got lucky enough to play Don Draper in real life as a Creative Director and Ad Agency Partner.
A NEW AUTHOR
GETS LEGS
The Chocolate Leg prize.
The odds of a new author publishing a bestseller are offered at 10,000 to 1.
So with my first novel, Crazy for Cornelia, I tested the book-to-film market in Hollywood. My agents at UTA auctioned Cornelia to Warner Books and New Line,
But convincing readers to buy an unknown author?
For Cornelia, a romantic comedy, my ads in the N.Y. Times Book Review invited readers to its Amazon page to buy. And I partnered with Match.com to host events at bookstores with readings by actors,the group GLO and drawings for a shapely chocolate leg.
Cornelia became a #5 LA Times Bestseller, #10 on Amazon. Film rights went to New Line with Mark Johnson (Rain Man) producing and Robert Kamen (Karate Kid) adapting the screenplay.
Crazy For Cornelia from Warner Books, a Literary Guild Selection, film rights to New Line Cinema .
Pat Benatar's daughter Haley from GLO sings Crazy For You.
Hosting the Brentwood event in Los Angeles with an audience of over 200 for the book signing.
MARRIED WITH DOCS
Carolyn Travis Gilson, President of Travisty Productions, award-winning Producer/Director, former TV reporter and rock radio personality, works her magic in-studio .
My wife Carolyn Travis worked in Rock Radio and loved it, so we partnered in her pop culture "rock docs" distributed through TV syndication and event marketing. I got hooked.
Airplay. The Rise And Fall Of Rock Radio: Before iTunes and MTV, radio disk jockeys blasted Black R&B to White suburbs. After Congress held Payola Hearings to shut them up, a new wave of FM DJs lit up the airways with a burning hunk of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and protest. Airplay won 7“Best Doc” awards from New York to Beijing.
Wildwood Days. Wildwood, N.J., a quirky resort town buzzing with Mid-Century Modern neon-lit motels and a boardwalk with amusement parks, was the summer birthplace of Rock and Roll. "Wildwood rocks. Really," said The New York Times in a glowing review. Wildwood Days won 3 "Best" awards at Film Festivals.
