Monday, April 27, 2009

Maybe It's Worth It. Maybe.


Sometimes I wonder if this blogging thing is really worth the effort. Mostly it appears to be a way to spew forth material that is meaningful to me -- but of little value to others. That being the case, it's simply a self-gratifying activity that is sometimes not so self-gratifying. Nevertheless, in the spirit of offering to the "winds of the Web" my some additional hot air, here goes another thought or two.

Let's Play Nice. A few years ago, while perusing the advertising column in CA's latest Illustration Annual, I was struck - with particular force - by the final sentence of Luke Sullivan’s epistle. It read, “Being great on paper is never as important as actually being a good person.”

His comment was in reference to some famous ad people he knew who were insufferable, arrogant egotists. Luke happens to be one of the most honored writers in the ad world. His opinion comes with some degree of clout. And it was a refreshing opinion.

One of the more eye-opening advertising experiences I've had was the opportunity to enjoy a meal with Tom McElligott (co-founder of Fallon McElligott, now simply called Fallon), one of my heroes in the business. It wasn’t so much what he said that was impressive, it was the fact that he brought along his teenaged son and obviously enjoyed being with him. He was quite deferential to his son while also being polite and cordial to those of us Utah AAF officers in attendance. He also appeared happy to answer my endless string of questions. Pretty decent, I thought, for someone who was king of the hill.

It’s nice of have heroes in the business. It’s even nicer when those heroes are worthy of emulation. Granted, McElligott had just completed alcohol rehab. (Hey, at least he enrolled.) Luke Sullivan talks about an art director with whom he worked named Bob Barrie. Bob may be the most decorated A.D. of all time. He had every reason to be a high-falutin’ jerk, but instead, Luke says, he would quietly keep cranking out great ideas even though clients
frequently killed them. And, according to Sullivan, he never whined. Ever. Instead, he combined unlimited resiliency with class (and a whole lot of talent).

I worked for Bob Love (co-founder of Harris & Love, Salt Lake City) once upon a time. He had that same kind of decency and class. He was kind and gentle even when he was red-lining my copy to smithereens. Maybe that’s one reason why his agency survived and prospered so long. He was a talented writer, and that helped, too. Even when he played the role of "chief judge,” he was a pleasure to work with.

There’s a moral in all of this somewhere. I assume you can figure it out. Whatever it is, it probably has something to do with gracio
usness, humility and gentility.


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Yuck, Yuck


Due to readership demand (that's the one person that occasionally visits my blog -- typically by mistake), I have included a few more of my favorite ad world cartoons. My collection is sufficient to include many more, but I won't inundate you at the moment.

By the way, these cartoons have proven to be a hit Richter7 PowerPoint presentation about advertising -- for students and professionals alike. Frankly, they're a much more interesting way to introduce key topics that the usual deck of charts, graphs and boring verbiage.

Enjoy. (As usual, you should be able to click on them for enlarged viewing.)