An American friend once told me I was too modest. This would have astounded my parents – and all who knew and loathed me in the pub I was brought up in. I was seen as at best precocious and …
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Half a conversation: The difference between talking about it and doing it; why I nearly fell off my chair – and a few little freebies
A friend manages a business that turns over a few billion, and is the leader in its field. They do it by charging less, delivering better service and marketing a lot more than their competitors. The other day he had …
Read MoreWhat is the difference between public “service” and private enterprise? With a gloriously funny letter.
Once upon a time people used to write letters to each other, and some of the finest writing I have ever read resulted. The email has put a stop to a lot of that. But to stamp out any lingering …
Read MoreUnfair to Men! And can even one of the world’s best copywriters get better? This was a surprise for me
My correspondent Andrew Gadsden who flogs tea to the discerning regularly sends me droll stuff. For example today he emailed me saying that in his LinkedIn updates he found that: “Someone has joined a ladies’ group. This is how it’s …
Read MoreWatch out! Menaces about – especially Olympic fascists. Plus a little about my folly
Well I put that up because a friend sent it and it amused me. In marketing there are many equivalent follies – financially, if not physically as dangerous. Take the poster at the bottom, put up by the Olympic Nazis …
Read MoreIs baseball like business? A wonderfully irrelevant idea from a department that rarely has any; THE most important job – and why I’m thrilled to bits
My regular correspondent Andrew Gadsden – Saviour of Tea – sent me two things yesterday, both with a lesson. One (I think it was a joke: he is a bit of a wag) told me that at last I can …
Read MoreGood versus bad: the best way to learn – an all-new seminar and a little Oscar Wilde
I don’t know if I told you this before, but God knows how many years ago I got an interview at Young and Rubicam in London – then one of the two or three best agencies around. The creative director …
Read MoreLike to see one of the best demolitions of advertising stupidity ever? Also, how not to evaluate copy – and how not to write it. Plus an easy headline-writing technique
When you read this demolition, note the date it was put together: early ’60’s, when a lot of advertising was better (but some worse). The art director involved, Hal Riney, became one of the best advertising men of my time. …
Read MoreDoes talent run in families? And is cockney slang dying? Take a butcher’s at this tale from Portobello Road, featured in Creative Review.
Butcher’s is cockney back-slang for look. So butcher’s is short for butcher’s hook which leads to look. Savvy? Now go and take a butcher’s at http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2012/april/butchers-hook-say-hello. Make sure you read the comments, which are a perfect example of The Biter …
Read MoreEaster frolics: Schizophrenia on the bookstalls – and Nokialunacy on the streets
Strange as it may seem to intellectuals like you and me, most of the population give little thought to the weighty matters that command our attention. They don’t fret about the future of the Euro, the printing of money or …
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