Category: Uncategorized
Put on a happy face – or lose your brownie points
Yesterday I had a bit of a nightmare journey from Newark to Heathrow. The reason was that whoever sold me my usual cheapo flight told me I was on United when I wasn’t. When I arrived at the airport the …
Read MoreMarketers are interested in marketing trends. Customers aren’t
For years I have followed with mingled hilarity and irritation the way marketers, unable for the most part to think for themselves, latch on to each new trend in the hope that it will do their work for them. For …
Read More“Spot ate Cameron’s homework” and other useful stuff
I’m down here in Delray Beach, Florida – and don’t feel envious. The weather is crap – though somewhat better than the first time I came this way. That was quite a few years ago, and I had the terrifying …
Read MoreThe Stalker responds
The night before last I went to watch my youngest sing at a do for a local beauty queen (not the lady on the left) in East Orange, New Jersey. To me it was significant – and rather sad, to …
Read MoreHow thrilling! I have my very own Stalker. But it’s weird. She looks about 3,000 times better than me
Did I ever tell you I met David Bailey? I did, I really did. It was long before he hit the headlines, in a pub in St. Christopher’s Place, when I had my first job as a group head in …
Read MoreThe question is, which one is the comedian?
There were two interesting things about Marty Stein, my art director in the mid-60’s – or at any rate two I’m talking about here. First, he was the fastest guy ever at churning out grease-pencil roughs. This was useful because …
Read MoreSuper-strength ad horseshit in an email from an Aussie recruitment business
I don’t know why it is, but ever since I first went to Australia 39 years ago I’ve noticed two things: you see some of the best advertising in the world there – and some of the most appallingly pretentious …
Read MoreWhat you can learn from the Mafia, a toilet bowl, a successful madam – and other business lessons
What a desperate old sod I must be! I’ve been in marketing one way or another for over 50 years, but I still happily sit through EADIM talks hoping I’ll learn something – and I usually do. In the last …
Read MoreMore from the School of Advanced Corporate Bollocks: How does a man who writes like this come to run a great publisher?
Conde Montrose Nast was one of THE great publishers. He didn’t found Vogue, but he did make it successful, as he did Vanity Fair, Travel and other publications. You could say he originated the idea of the lifestyle magazine. So, …
Read More