Dear Julian Koenig, I'm glad you're not dead

But I wasn't to know that.

In case you don't know who Julian Koenig is, let me give you a quick summary. He's the copywriter behind Volkswagen's 1959 'Think Small' ad. He also penned the line "takes a licking and keeps on ticking" for Timex. And is apparently the man who invented thumb wrestling. He was a central figure in the advertising creative revolution in the 1950s. And he was a big influence on me as an advertising word-wrestler.

I was saddened that I'd never had the opportunity to speak to the man who'd been such an influence on me as a copywriter. After all, my podcast has given me the excuse to talk to so many of my heroes, including Julian's arch-nemesis George Lois. This was a vital sticker that I'd never be able to collect for my Panini Album of Advertising Legends.

I searched the advertising press to see if any of them had reported on Julian's death. None of them had. And that made me want to do something to commemorate his life.

I fired off an email to my colleagues at The Drum and told them that I wanted to run a piece that celebrated Julian Koenig's great work and amazing career. I attached some ideas of how we should do that. And we started to make plans.

I thought it would be a good idea to get Julian's family involved, so I emailed Sarah Koenig, Julian's daughter and the producer of This American Life (my favourite podcast).

This was all coming together and I felt like I was doing something worthwhile.

But that feeling didn't last long.

The following day I got an email from Sarah that read:

"Hello Mr. Birss,

"As far as I know, my father is alive and doing quite well. But I guess I'll call him right now to make sure.

"Sincerely, Sarah Koenig"

Oh. Ehm. Oops!

I felt like a complete twit. A very embarrassed complete twit. After all, I'd just written an obituary piece on my blog that had received a fair number of hits. Now lots of people were under the mistaken belief that we'd lost one of our greatest copywriters.

So I quickly updated my blog post and typed out a humble apology. Meanwhile Sarah went off to update the Wikipedia page.

However, if Julian was still alive, I wanted to know if he'd be interested in talking to me. So I asked.

Sarah thought it would be unlikely but gave me his phone number and told me to give it a go.

I did just that last Thursday evening and I can confirm that Julian Koenig is very much alive. And a lovely gentleman he is too.

I didn't get anything good enough to turn into a podcast. But there is enough for a little article in The Drum.

Just a little article.

Watch this space. And think small.

Subscribe to The Drum magazine now and make sure you don't miss Dave Birss's full interview with Julian Koenig.