Ove Pihl

Ove Pihl

Ove Pihl (born 2 May 1938) is a Swedish art director, book publisher and graphic designer. He is mostly known as founder of the advertising agency Falk & Pihl and the publishing companies Atlantis and Page One Publishing.^[1]

Early years in advertising

Ove Pihl received his degree from Beckman’s School of Design, Stockholm, in 1959 and from School of Visual Arts, New York, in 1963. Among his teachers at SVA were the legendary graphic artists Milton Glaser, Tony Palladino and Ivan Chermayeff. In 1962, Ove Pihl submitted pupils’ work to the exhibition ’Graphic Design USA’ in Moscow. He received his first award from the Type Directors Club in New York the same year. During his time in New York Pihl worked as graphic designer for Lippincott & Margulies and as art director for McCann Erickson.

After returning to Stockholm, Ove Pihl was employed by the advertising agency Ervaco Annonsbyrå, where he created the campaign for the shift to right hand traffic in Sweden, in collaboration with Björn Bunge. In 1968 he was employed by Arbmans Annonsbyrå, where he became partner in 1969. There he created numerous successful campaigns for, among others, Gulf, Semper AB, and the newspaper Expressen.

Falk & Pihl

In 1971 Ove Pihl founded a new advertising agency in collaboration with Lars Falk, Lars Hansson, Ulf Rådegård, and Magnus Åkerlind. In 1974 Ove Pihl and Lars Falk reorganized the company into Falk & Pihl. It quickly became one of the leading advertising agencies in Sweden, with clients such as SAAB, Ericsson, Semper, Frionor, Uplandsbanken, Pommac, SSAB, PK-Banken, Cederroths, Fiat, Mazda, the Swedish Parliament, Tor Line, A Smoke-free Generation, and Vegete. Falk & Pihl won several awards for their innovative advertising. In 1983 Falk & Pihl was purchased by the legendary American advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.

Atlantis

In 1974 Ove Pihl, with Kjell Peterson, founded the book publishing company Atlantis, which became renowned for exquisitely designed non-fiction books and ambitious issues of classical literature.^[2][3]

Page One Publishing

In 1990 Ove Pihl, together with Robert Malmkvist, founded the book publishing company Page One Publishing. It specialized in the creation and production of high-quality non-fiction books, approaching clients through sales channels outside of the established book market. In 1998 Page One Publishing mastered the largest Swedish book production ever in one single printing – one million bounded copies - for the telecom company Telia. The book was aimed at the entire Swedish population and dealt with the new information technology. For twenty years Page One Publishing has created and produced more than 4 million non-fiction books distributed over large parts of Europe. Among notable clients are Åhléns, IKEA, H&M, the Swedish armed forces, Indiska, Stockholm Energi, Gant, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Swedish Royal Court, Swedish Mail, COOP, Hemköp, Atlas Copco, Carrefour, Scania.

Education

Enskede Läroverk, Stockholm

Beckman School of Design, Stockholm

School of Visual Arts, New York

Advertising agencies

Svenska Telegrambyrån Advertising, Stockholm

Lippincott & Margulies, New York

McCann Erickson, New York

Ervaco Advertising, Stockholm

Arbman Advertising, Stockholm (partner)

Falk & Pihl Advertising, Stockholm (founder, partner, president)

Falk & Pihl /Doyle Dane Bernbach, Stockholm (creative director)

Publishing companies

Atlantis Publishing, Stockholm (founder, partner)

Page One Publishing, Stockholm (founder, partner, president)

Awards

Type Directors Club, New York 1962

Graphic Design USA, Moscow 1962

Swedish Art Directors Club, numerous Golden Egg awards

and numerous awards in international competitions 1970 - 1980

Elected to the "Advertising Hall of Fame" Platinum Academy 1986

"Pour le Merite Gastronomique" M. Sandahl Foundation 1992

Diploma Award - The Academy of Gastronomy 1998

Jury work

Jury on numerous occasions in the Swedish "Golden Egg" competitions 1965 - 1985

Chairman of the jury of the "Golden Egg" awards 1994

Jury "Excellent Swedish Design" 1984

National jury Clio - awards 1983

Jury International Posters, Berlin 1988

Clio Executive Jury, San Francisco 1996

Teaching

Head teacher and founder of "A & O" Advertising Concept Art / Copy

Berghs School of Advertising, Stockholm 1988 - 1992

Board of directors

Beckmans School of Design 1975 - 1980

Berghs School of Advertising 1988 - 1992

Royal Swedish College of Art 1994 - 1996

Sandell Sandberg Advertising Agency 1998 - 2000

Silk & Clean AB 2006 - 2009

Advertising exhibitions

Doyle Dane Bernbach "Falk & Pihl Advertising" New York 1986

Landskrona Museum "Ove Pihl, retrospective" 2007

Biography

• "Det är aldrig berättat. Ove Pihl 30 år i reklamvärlden" (It Is Never Told, Ove Pihl 30 Years in Advertising) by Bengt Danielsson Wahlström & Widstrand Publishing, Sweden

References

^{[1] [2]}

1. ↑ Pihl, Ove. "Boken om Ove Pihl" (in Swedish). 
2. ↑ Pihl, Ove. "Ove Pihl Målningar" (in Swedish).