Jay Schulberg, 65; Ad Agency Exec Behind ‘Got Milk’ Campaign

Jay Schulberg, 65, an advertising executive who created the “Got Milk” campaign, as well as memorable campaigns for American Express and Excedrin, died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer in Doylestown, Pa.

Schulberg was the chief creative officer at Bozell Worldwide in 1994, when the nation’s milk processors hired the firm to create a campaign to attract customers to milk, which had seen declining sales over the previous decade.

His creative team came up with a number of ideas, but finally hired celebrity photographer Annie Liebovitz to produce print ads featuring actress Lauren Bacall and model Naomi Campbell. The ads originally carried the motto “Milk. What a Surprise!” That slogan eventually evolved into “Got Milk?”

Schulberg, a cousin of screenwriter Budd Schulberg, was born in New York City and graduated from New York University. He joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1967 as a junior copy writer and eventually became creative head of the firm. He joined Bozell in 1987 and retired in 1999.

He is also credited with creating the American Express traveler’s checks ads in the 1970s that featured actor Karl Malden, as well as the campaign for Excedrin that termed the worst kind of headaches “Excedrin headaches.”