From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

He has been called "an iconoclastic genius," "a Superman of Madison Avenue," "a legendary advertising guru." George Lois modestly demurs: he prefers to think of himself as "a semi-legendary advertising guru." Naturally that made him the perfect choice for us. Beginning this month, Lois, the creative director of the New York advertising agency Lois/GGK, has taken charge of communicating TIME's editorial benefits to readers and advertisers across America.

Master of the commanding tag line, Lois has distilled his message into four simple words: "Make Time for TIME." "The tag line addresses a real problem," says Lois. "People understand the value of TIME. But they live in a rat-race world where the challenge is finding time to read. So we're inviting people to carve out some quality time and get into this magazine." By January "Make Time for TIME" will have found its way to magazines, television, radio, newspapers, billboards and, given Lois' penchant for invention, perhaps some as-yet-undreamed-of place as well.

Producing our ads is something of a high-wire act. Television ads featuring the current issue begin appearing Sunday morning, as the magazine goes to press. So they must be produced as editorial pages are being completed. The solution: a manic production schedule coupling satellite links, chartered trucks, postmidnight meetings -- in short, the general hubbub and commotion on which Lois thrives.

This Bronx-reared Barnum has magazines in his blood. In the 1960s and '70s, working as a cover designer with the late editor Harold Hayes, Lois turned Esquire's cover into a gallery that registered every shock of those seismic years. As an adman, he taught America's children the insistent demand "I want my Maypo." In the early 1980s he recycled the line to meet their grownup tastes: "I want my MTV." And he's the man who told people, "When you got it, flaunt it" (for Braniff airlines, remember?), a pretty good description of his advertising ethos.

Enthusiastic as he is about the new campaign -- and he owns a good share of the market on enthusiasm -- Lois offers one complaint: the production schedule interrupts his Saturday-morning basketball game. His new associates at TIME show no mercy. "George," they insist, "You have to make time for TIME."