The other day I read that people in what is laughingly misnamed public service get about 43% more in pay and pensions than ordinary people like you and me. Our reward for subsidising them is that they plan to make …
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Pollution alert! The Bliar is on his way to Auckland … Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
It’s 25 years since I first had the chance to visit New Zealand. Glorious food and wine, spectacular scenery, hospitable folk – I only wish I could go more often, but it’s so far from everywhere that I rarely do. …
Read MoreShould you trust a man who can’t tell you what day it is?
This is almost unforgivable-but a delegate from South Africa has just told me I put the wrong date for the copywriting seminar on my blog yesterday. This is academic because the thing is sold out. However, it is 20th June, …
Read MoreSo how SHOULD you choose an agency?
Having got that bit of spleen about pitching off my teeny little concave chest, you may wonder how you should choose an agency. This is what I think. Do your research. Look out for work you like that has got …
Read MoreHow NOT to choose an agency: a beginner’s guide
I have been fortunate over the years to have hired quite a few very able people whom I mention occasionally in these blatherings. This is mock modesty, actually. I am bloody good at hiring them, maybe because I decided long …
Read MoreWhat are you? Amateur, professional or semi-pro? Go the whole hog!
Two days ago I got a message from someone who described themselves as an auto-responder copywriter. I raised my eyebrows so far they almost reached where my hairline would be if I had any hair. This is specialisation gone mad. …
Read MoreWelcome to the land of Moronia: suggested new immigration policy
Brilliant! Some guy lists all the rip-off seminars running in the UK for people “who love attending seminars”. Look, I run seminars, but if you like spending all your time at them, then one thing you be retty sure of: …
Read MoreThings I will leave with relief when I die
Years ago an art director at O & M in Toronto, enraged beyond endurance by an asinine client who kept making pettifogging changes to his layout, asked coldly, “Where were you when I had the idea?” In days of yore …
Read MoreHere’s a splendid marketing lesson – especially for anyone young who wants a job
Joel Helfer is one of many people I correspond with, and he sent me a story that’s a pretty good marketing lesson for anyone selling anything. Joel’s eldest son Zach is a graduate Architecture Student at the University of Illinois. …
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