In the adventure books I devoured by the shedload when I was a kid that line that was always delivered by people like camel drivers in exotic lands … Anyhow, it’s my way of apologising for putting up a dodgy …
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Since a few of you asked … more David Ogilvy CORRECTION
I have very mixed feelings about this, to be honest. The reason is the man in the picture. More about him in a moment. A week or so ago I mentioned the day I walked into our office in Bombay …
Read MoreAs one gets bolder, priorities become rather different
A friend sent me this grand piece of advertising, possibly recalling how hard I found it to write some funeral insurance stuff last year, and hoping it might activate the good fairy of inspiration. Another thoughtful soul reminded me of …
Read MoreIs the grotesque Toad really a violent, unhinged bully who hits his staff?
It is about 15 years since I wrote a piece about The McFuhrer’s true character, as revealed to me when he was still in opposition by a BBC chauffeur. Now he has had to go on TV to deny that …
Read MoreHelp – or maybe not – for all those people who say, “I’ve always wanted to write”
It have been writing for a living for over 50 years now. Books, scripts, letters, websites, presentations, speeches, commercials, articles – you name it, I’ve done it, often badly, but usually well enough to get published. I find it is …
Read MoreSomeone really WAS late for their own funeral – and other titbits
Why should I be the only one to fill this space with instances of the fatuous, deluded and downright loopy? So thank you, Noel Hawkes for this picture of a hearse being taken off the streets by one of the …
Read MoreFatal mismatches that kill brands: an important lesson
The Spectator is one of the oldest, most respected journals of opinion in the world. I was a subscriber for many years, and even wrote a report on how to improve their marketing for the publisher some 20 years ago. …
Read MoreWhat can you possibly say about this?
There have been many comments and prognostications about the joys of social media. Like almost every new marketing idea I can recall it has been hailed as the answer to a maiden’s prayer. Legions of experts have sprung, full-grown, almost …
Read MoreWatch out, PREYER about – “The devil can quote scripture for his purposes”
Leo Burnett used to have a little notepad on which he wrote down phrases he heard that struck him. I am an avid collector of bits and pieces – I have God knows how many I mean to comment on …
Read MoreMore of all that jazz
I’m sitting in Montclair New Jersey where I come regularly to see my youngest – and naturally being a boringly boastful parent I’m smug because she just got straight As in her exams. This success is quite inexplicable as insofar …
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