Five minutes with our new CCO.

Ad Aged:         So you’re a CCO. In my day, that meant Chief Creative Officer. Tell me,

                         what do those letters stand for today?

CCO:               I’m what’s known as a Chief Coroner Officer. You know, the words

                         ‘coroner’ and ‘coronation’ have the same Latin root.

Ad Aged:         So what is it that you do as Chief Coroner Officer.

CCO:              Well, the job’s been around a long time—it’s only the title that’s new. I pronounce      things dead.

                        I came up with, for instance, “television is dead.” I was in the room when they came up with “the agency model is dead,” “interruption is dead,” “intrusion is dead,” “commercials are dead.” “God is dead.” “Capitalism is dead.” “Conversations are dead.” “The workplace is dead.”

Ad Aged:         It seems someone’s always proclaiming something is dead.

CCO:               That’s what I do.

                         See if this doesn’t raise your blood pressure: “Lunch is dead.”

Ad Aged:         Lunch is dead?

CCO:              Not really, but it’s exactly what I’d say if I were in the business of selling breakfast burritos. See how this works?

Ad Aged:        Anything else we can look for?

CCO:              Yes, saying things are dead? That’s alive and well.