I was going to write again about the appalling Berlusconi, because my last piece only gave a faint idea of what a shameless crook he is, but it’s hard work trying to explain the complexities of politics, mafioso style. However, …
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New marketing jargon to mystify your friends, a regret – and some laughs for Sunday
Yesterday someone wrote asking if I could recommend a book about “brand activation”. “WTF is that?” I asked myself, with my uncanny mastery of internet lingo. So I replied suggesting my friend James Hammond’s book – but asking “what is …
Read MoreGod, the tears were streaming down my face as I received this heart-rending message. Then I threw up
Well, I’m sitting here in the humid heat of Brooklyn banging out the odd syllable, but here’s something from someone I’ve never met, never spoken to, never bought off. I just read their stuff because I collect this kind of …
Read MoreBerlusconi: if he weren’t a criminal and a menace to democracy it would be funny
Groucho Marx’s most famous joke was “I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members”. Well, I don’t care to belong to a club that has someone like Silvio Berlusconi as part of the …
Read MoreSome simple reasons why the internet is still a land of opportunity – with a lesson in copywriting basics
A few months ago I was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in Florida. This gave me childish pleasure. I cannot say doing well in marketing is an astounding achievement, but managing to keep at it for so many years is, …
Read MoreCould I interest you in one of my “Ready, fire, aim” rejects?
My partner often accuses me of writing the copy then looking at the brief. She is right. It’s amazing that I ever produce anything that works. A good example has come up in the last week. A lady asked me …
Read MoreHow Sainsbury’s made us take a walk through the rain
Today we went to our local Sainsbury’s supermarket in Clifton Down to shop for dinner. They had some squid, lying there whole with their little eyes gazing up at us. “Can you clean them?” we asked. “Oh, they’re already cleaned,” …
Read MoreWisdom from beyond the grave, and a book I must get
You may have noticed that pretty regularly I comment on the crass language used by people who email me in the wasted hope of selling things I don’t need or are attempts to rip me off. Yesterday in facebook I …
Read MoreHow should a bank advertise? And a little corporate nonsense to end the week on a low note
If you follow these romps through the social underground, you may recall my piece a few days ago about a crass ad run by Barclays Bank. Ann Lewis Scarff, a realtor in Las Vegas described my suggestion that banks are …
Read MoreA line I felt like stealing, an ad that calls for the death sentence – and a mystery
Recently I started working for a client who has found an ingenious way for businesses to raise money. Since the banks have abdicated their responsibilities in that area to focus on paying their top people obscene amounts of money – …
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