Container Corporation of America
In 1926 Walter Paepcke founded the Container Corporation of America (CCA), a manufacturer of corrugated boxes, and in 1936 he hired Egbert Jacobson to establish a consistent design identity for its products and advertising, a development that had far-reaching consequences in the American graphic design and advertising worlds. Jacobson designed one of the first full corporate identity programs in the country. Paepcke also tasked Jacobson with remaking the company’s advertising program.
That ultimately led to the creation of the “Great Ideas of Western Man” series. The campaign was the company’s longest running, beginning in the early 1950s and spanning three decades. When John Massey became the director of design at CCA, after seven years as a designer at the company, the Great Ideas campaign’s operation fell under his purview. Massey continued the Great Ideas campaign for another two decades after Paepcke’s death.
Design historian, Philip Meggs declared, “While the first two decades of the CCA design legacy belong to Walter Paepcke and the corporate culture of excellence he created, the last two decades bear the imprint of John Massey.”
britannica.com; Alicja Zelazko, CDA.
2021
