tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60724201814765849612024-03-18T18:50:50.325-04:00Ad AgedGeorge Tannenbaum on the future of advertising,
the decline of the English Language and other frivolities. 100% jargon free.
A Business Insider "Most Influential" blog. george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.comBlogger6276125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-65105853029201183192024-03-18T07:18:00.000-04:002024-03-18T07:18:17.636-04:00Help Me, I Think I’ve Fallen.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XOEE-kR-Txg" width="320" youtube-src-id="XOEE-kR-Txg"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For whatever reason, clumsiness, old-age, lack of sleep or an un-diagnosed inner-ear problem, I took an unannounced tumble down a steep flight of steps on Sunday morning. The great comedian Fred Allen once said the ad agency, Batton Barton Durstein and Osborn sounded like a valise falling down the stairs. I never worked at BBDO, not even freelance, but I did a fairly creditable imitation of the o<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f4855; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">nomatopoeia</span>.</span></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3oesSyvh76g" width="320" youtube-src-id="3oesSyvh76g"></iframe></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If you want to picture me falling ass over tea kettle down a flight of steps--and who wouldn't--this scene from "Kiss of Death" starring Richard Widmark should do the trick. I'm sure there's some Adobe program that will let you put this on continuous loop. That's yet another way to enjoy my pain.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Since my head over heels-ness, I've been self-monitoring my dissolution. Can I read aloud? Am I slurring my words? And I backing my 1966 Simca into the hydrangeas? Am I taking a long walk up to Coogan's Bluff to watch the New York Giants play a twin bill against the Boston Braves in the Polo Grounds where bleacher seats will cost me two-bits and I can get a tall cuppa Rheingold for just four more of the aforementioned bits.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Naw. But somehow, in a flurry of mental slurry, I had a flashback to one of the stupider things I did habitually when I played baseball for Hector Quetzacoatl Padilla and the Seraperos de Saltillo (AA) in the Mexican Baseball League way back in 1975. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="377" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5abB64ISJo8" width="453" youtube-src-id="5abB64ISJo8"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> At :40, look how Mr. Mays dekes the outfielder and smarts his way around the bases.</span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYK47D9bbefG-Uk9pB7wI9GGLZY_PqypMWRQzUN4oWs1P7pbBYu02sgD0oylH6ovr_iGrPeDjD6Th82ombT2e16MTA1rw_6t_28juuhPxa__0PGH-MgzhKkfowNW-a6sAXukncQdNP6qghxYJhf-MXE_Ie4dbzyx52r9YpiepVLa_RRciFQ7njMUrgnZ_/s1422/Screenshot%202024-03-17%20at%202.16.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="1422" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYK47D9bbefG-Uk9pB7wI9GGLZY_PqypMWRQzUN4oWs1P7pbBYu02sgD0oylH6ovr_iGrPeDjD6Th82ombT2e16MTA1rw_6t_28juuhPxa__0PGH-MgzhKkfowNW-a6sAXukncQdNP6qghxYJhf-MXE_Ie4dbzyx52r9YpiepVLa_RRciFQ7njMUrgnZ_/w662-h168/Screenshot%202024-03-17%20at%202.16.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="662" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Whenever I hit a ball hard, in the gap, over an outfielder's head or straight down a line, I routinely imitated the amazing Enos Slaughter or the now-disgraced Pete Rose or the immortal Willie Mays.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Like Mays, I'd stutter-step into second to draw a throw from the outfield into second-base, and the accelerate around the second sack and chug with avid vehemence into third. By those means, probably a dozen times or seven or twenty, I stretched a double into a three-bagger, a triple.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Hector would chide me for my aggressiveness. Why, he'd ask. There's little difference between a double and a triple, really. With either one, a single brings you in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"I dunno," I'd answer. 'I'd see the outfielder anticipate. I'd see him not thinking. I'd see the outfielder exhibiting a certain fielder's lassitude and expecting the same lassitude from me running the bases and, Hector, I'd say to myself, 'why not? I made it this far already.'"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"I made it this far, already." Hector would laugh. "No one's ever said that having hit a double."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I would laugh back. "Maybe it's my way of just being a bastard by doing more than I have to do and getting away with it.'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Stretching a double into a triple.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It was a work thing too. <br /><br />Selling six spots when the client wanted three. Or presenting sixes, spreads, long-form and more. Or finishing the work and more early before the brief was even done, with full-copy, none of the lorem-ipsum shite. Taking the extra base even when everyone from your supervisor, to your partner, to the people running the business would tell you to hold at second, wipe off your flannels and take the breeze.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe that stretching doubles into triples is why I’m stretch out now with 6 feet 2 inches of black and blue. And blues.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I dunno what age or falls or my impending diminishment will do to me in the future--like this afternoon, tomorrow, or even next week. I dunno how much longer I can take the extra base because I've made it this far already.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi234jPm9iOGsIXgooHXZtbGPMkGfQqMVx7Byh1liGBa0me7rBF2x0IVkaWpviW23_JiSSi36YM7Cj-tTJTBvTaAQv2rBBM8kgjAOYaqKoHHBLJXFDsDXnwMFymV5jF9r2ge6Wq9VAY65IgaRv49ml6RYxx7UfhmyxsFzepLL_Ko60S7RH1VTW2axfJh5jq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="1438" height="565" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi234jPm9iOGsIXgooHXZtbGPMkGfQqMVx7Byh1liGBa0me7rBF2x0IVkaWpviW23_JiSSi36YM7Cj-tTJTBvTaAQv2rBBM8kgjAOYaqKoHHBLJXFDsDXnwMFymV5jF9r2ge6Wq9VAY65IgaRv49ml6RYxx7UfhmyxsFzepLL_Ko60S7RH1VTW2axfJh5jq=w640-h565" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />For the first time ever I fell down a steep flight of stairs. I could have a Thomas Wolfe (the real writer, not the white suit guy) cerebral hemorrhage and be laying in a pool of crusted blood before I even awake to post this.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Or not.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've made it this far already.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></div>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-18769343564290111532024-03-15T07:18:00.000-04:002024-03-15T07:18:32.419-04:00Part I: Scar-Tissue Copy. Part II: Len.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This story about Bill Bernbach is probably apocryphal, meaning it's plausible but probably never really happened. A bit like Yogi Berra's famous quotation or non-quotation, "I didn't really say all the things I said." </span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbExUcuLyB8Wgq13_of3CvbfwZIgj_wqzj0hEl-Cc5laRGPMiIQtfL8bAtPCPqctvZ7b1weNy8KK2aEy-NRPQnnaEHlykNcdsuKMd0F5jhcbUdPMvfjpLKFwWtxPC81nUNhF3dKOXNxpsISQNobFcGB9mpK5UZ-0CSDF_73sPrh9F0CvQ12GJ-iKID6Gbi/s1006/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%202.58.10%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="848" height="765" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbExUcuLyB8Wgq13_of3CvbfwZIgj_wqzj0hEl-Cc5laRGPMiIQtfL8bAtPCPqctvZ7b1weNy8KK2aEy-NRPQnnaEHlykNcdsuKMd0F5jhcbUdPMvfjpLKFwWtxPC81nUNhF3dKOXNxpsISQNobFcGB9mpK5UZ-0CSDF_73sPrh9F0CvQ12GJ-iKID6Gbi/w644-h765/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%202.58.10%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="644" /></span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The story I heard was a client asked Bernbach why his agency's copywriters spent so much time laboring over copy, "nobody reads it anyway." <br /><br />Bernbach, it's said, replied, "Ten-percent of people read copy. That's who we write it for."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">As I write this, I've been thinking as I do, about writing. Writing that moves people. That informs them. That makes them think. Words, as I posted not long ago, you could stub your toe on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I write ads for a living. But a lot of clients seem to call me--often out of the ether--because they're looking for words they're unlikely to get from anyone else. I regularly tell clients I work in epigrams. Short, memorable statements that capture the essence of something larger.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In a way, epigrams go beyond taglines. FedEx could have used "When it has to be there overnight." That would have been a perfectly good tagline. "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight," added swagger, meaning, with and dimension that brought it to another level.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TPHhGFvUGCk" width="461" youtube-src-id="TPHhGFvUGCk"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Good writing, good art-direction, good design can do that. It can take work beyond.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There's a line from Cole Porter's great song, "You're the Top," for instance. <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">"You're the purple light/ Of a summer night in Spain."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Since I heard that line at 1:20, maybe fifty years ago, I've spent many an evening looking for purple light--in Spain and elsewhere. They're words that stayed with me somehow. Maybe in all my years and all the words I've heard, I've never heard "purple light before."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This is our job. Our calling. Our value-add. To make what could be otherwise disposable, indelible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">To make what could be disposable, indelible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">One thing many of us along the way have lost is the time and attention it takes to do a close-reading. To enjoy the sound of words themselves. And how sounds create creases in our brain and embed in our memory. If Dizzy Gillespie or Claude Debussey or Rachel Joyce said the magic of jazz is the space between notes, we might find similar wells of meaning between words. Meaning, feeling, purple light is how we can own a piece of real estate in someone's brain.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">More simply, as friend Rob Schwartz has so often said, "Clients buy words." In any event, they're what I sell.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If you've ever wondered how people could memorize epics like the Iliad, the Odyssey and Gilgamesh (these are long books, not Archie comics) it's because they were created to be remembered. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">No matter their length, they were created as word-music. The sound, conjunction, shape of the words all help meaning embed. I know this is pretty "English Graduate Lecture" for an advertising blog. But advertising is about being noticed and recalled at the right time--just like art. Just like the purple light above.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I was a close reader even when I was a boy, I don't exactly know why. But at a Captain Kangaroo-age, I remember, examined and perseverated over:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.<br />Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.<br />Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy,<br />Was he?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That seemed 60 years ago, and today, about as good a piece of writing as you're going to find. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Can you get a little Fuzzy Wuzzy in your script? A memory device, repetition, a word-play, a laugh?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">More recently, my now-deceased-bestie Fred--I suppose in an act of self-elegizing--sent me a poem called "The Waiter," by David McCord:<br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">By and by,<br />God caught his eye.</span></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 4px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.35; margin: 0.83em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Have you ever seen a spot, read a headline or sat through a powerpoint with more trenchant entrenched-ness?</span> </h2></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Back in the late 1950s, in ghetto Newark, the great African-American poet<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka" target="_blank"> LeRoi Jones </a>(later Amiri Baraka) wrote the poem below. I realize copy about polyunsaturated corn-oil spread, Saran Wrap or motor-oil is unlikely to make you gasp like this loaded poem does. But still.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;">Can we strive?</span></p><div class="LyricsHeader__Container-ejidji-1 hbjTyd" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: end; align-items: center; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row-reverse wrap-reverse; gap: 0.75rem 1.313rem; grid-column: left-start / left-end; justify-content: flex-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="LyricsHeader__TitleContainer-ejidji-2 dzLEIC" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; gap: 0.375rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="TextLabel-sc-8kw9oj-0 LyricsHeader__Title-ejidji-0 dddWnX" font-weight="light" style="align-content: center; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; letter-spacing: 0.025rem; line-height: 1.33; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica;">Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note </span></span></h2></div></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4028093/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Lately-ive-become-accustomed-to-the-way-the-ground-opens-up-and-envelopes-me-each-time-i-go-out-to-walk-the-dog-or-the-broad-edged-silly-music-the-wind-makes-when-i-run-for-a-bus" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Lately, I've become accustomed to the way<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The ground opens up and envelopes me<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Each time I go out to walk the dog.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Or the broad edged silly music the wind<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Makes when I run for a bus . . .</span></span></a><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/9178082/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Things-have-come-to-that" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">Things have come to that.</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746842/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/And-now-each-night-i-count-the-stars-and-each-night-i-get-the-same-number" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">And now, each night I count the stars,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And each night I get the same number</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746856/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/And-when-they-will-not-come-to-be-counted-i-count-the-holes-they-leave" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">And when they will not come to be counted,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I count the holes they leave</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746861/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Nobody-sings-anymore" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">Nobody sings anymore</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And then last night, I tiptoed up<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />To my daughter's room <a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/3099764/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/And-heard-her-talking-to-someone-and-when-i-opened-the-door-there-was-no-one-there" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">and heard her<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Talking to someone, and when I opened<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The door, there was no one there . . .</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4028207/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Only-she-on-her-knees" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">Only she on her knees</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>, <a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/3099774/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Peeking-into" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">peeking into</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746824/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/Her-own-clasped-hands" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">Her own clasped hands.</span></a></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.soulcaptainmusic.com/">Karl Westman, the Soul Captain,</a> my music guy of many years while we were together at Ogilvy taught me more about story-arc than anyone I ever worked with. Like Paganini or Bernstein, he conducted commercial music so it had an arc, so it had a resolution, so it had an uplift. He taught me to write copy the same way. It took you on a journey and made you better when you arrived.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="326" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oP3c1h8v2ZQ" width="392" youtube-src-id="oP3c1h8v2ZQ"></iframe></div></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Kurt Vonnegut got that. Understanding the algorithm of stories long before the first sentient computer ate our lunch.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The poem above hasn't a merry ending.<br />It's a poem about despair. <br />The terror of being a father in a world gone mad.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But it has what a good piece of copy has.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The question when we create shouldn't be, did you get all eleven mandatories and nine copy points in? Did you fix all the twelve colors-worth of comments in the track-changes? Did you abide the coterie of over-paid frustrated lawyers chomping at their retainers?</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The question should be did it stay in someone's brain after they flipped the page.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746842/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/And-now-each-night-i-count-the-stars-and-each-night-i-get-the-same-number" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">And now, each night I count the stars,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And each night I get the same number</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__ClickTarget-sc-110r0d9-0 cehZkS" href="https://genius.com/4746856/Amiri-baraka-preface-to-a-twenty-volume-suicide-note/And-when-they-will-not-come-to-be-counted-i-count-the-holes-they-leave" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7d8fe8; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.5625rem) 0px; position: relative; scroll-margin: calc(1.5em + 0px + 3rem + max(10vw, 0px)); text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="ReferentFragmentdesktop__Highlight-sc-110r0d9-1 jAzSMw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding: calc(0.75em - 0.75px - 0.625rem) 0px calc(0.75em - 0.25px - 0.625rem);">And when they will not come to be counted,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I count the holes they leave</span></a></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; width: 0px; z-index: -1;" tabindex="0"></span></span>.</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Act now!<br />Learn more!<br />Triple-play bundle!<br />Hurry!</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">--</span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;"><b>WORKING WITH LEN.</b></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Len Sirowitz, the legendary Doyle Dane art-director died the week before last at the age of 91. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/business/len-sirowitz-dead.html" target="_blank">You can read his New York Times obituary here.</a> <a href="https://davedye.com/2015/03/10/dear-lenny/" target="_blank">You can read Dave Dye's incredible portrait of Len here.</a></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">I worked for Len back almost 40 years ago when I was a young man. He and his Hall-of-Fame writer-partner, Ron Rosenfeld owned a mid-sized agency called Rosenfeld and Sirowitz. As time went by names were added and subtracted to the overall name of the agency. But it remained Ron and Len's place.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">For about a year of my twenty-month tenure at Rosenfeld and Sirowitz, I was Len's favorite writer. His daughter worked at the agency at the time, and though I was young in my career, Len had me working with Laura to help improve her writing. That Laura left the business completely after about a year with me is a testament to how good a job I did.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">A lot of big names used to like me because I've always been a student of advertising and I knew and studied their work. I might have had more Len Sirowitz ads stored in my memory than he himself. It wasn't ass-kissing on my part. His ads really were that good. And I've always, touch wood, been an avid-learner.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">One night, outside freezing rain was coming down and cabs were careening down lower Fifth Avenue like cabs careening on lower Fifth Avenue, most of the office was gone for the evening. I was at my primitive Flintstone's era Smith-Corona word-processor doing what I do best--noodling on something. I've always had a weakness for carbs.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Len, a big man who breathed through his mouth and could barely contain his enthusiasms, came into my office like a cold wind.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"George," he snorted. And he handed me a Life Magazine-sized hard-cover book. The cover had these words on it "The Better Vision Institute."</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Inside were about 75 full-page black and white ads Len and copywriter Leon Meadows had created, basically to get people to see their eye-doctors. My memory of this moment might be rose-tinted, but I don't think there was a "meh" in the entire book.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Len," I said--focused on his ads not his eyes--"can I keep this for a while?"</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Sure sure," he stacatto'd. "We did great work, dint we?" (He never lost his Bronx.)</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"These are amazing," was all I could say.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Some weeks later I walked from my office about a full-block to his. I knocked about 71-percent too timidly, went in and handed him back the book.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Good, huh?" He asked. Like most creatives he needed, still, validation.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Validation?</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Forty years later, I wish I had stolen that book.</span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfaacjB1cHU0sgLx9ceFhMWg-PbAL9TIik8jmSi5Rw8fLK_mJn8on4jZndC0259C7mmrnhUDe6BegesunjSMZJHMX0JV_AXumuB_86KDNycFITH9d7th7RxdutXviXeKBZJVXgykYWait2oD0kWRhyphenhyphenWG4694zezpYQqp5y3uYVX8fB-bfFKC3tTC5Z7iB/s1046/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%205.26.46%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="812" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfaacjB1cHU0sgLx9ceFhMWg-PbAL9TIik8jmSi5Rw8fLK_mJn8on4jZndC0259C7mmrnhUDe6BegesunjSMZJHMX0JV_AXumuB_86KDNycFITH9d7th7RxdutXviXeKBZJVXgykYWait2oD0kWRhyphenhyphenWG4694zezpYQqp5y3uYVX8fB-bfFKC3tTC5Z7iB/w496-h640/Screenshot%202024-03-14%20at%205.26.46%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="496" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="Lyrics__Container-sc-1ynbvzw-1 kUgSbL" data-lyrics-container="true" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; grid-column: left-start / left-end; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem 1.5rem 0px;"><br /></div><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 4px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.35; margin: 0.83em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> </h2></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 4px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.35; margin: 0.83em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> </h2></blockquote>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-72259828618664640532024-03-14T06:36:00.001-04:002024-03-14T06:36:11.568-04:00Quitting While You're a Headline.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Last week, my friend Rob Schwartz and I were texting. We text with, what is for me, a good amount of frequency. We're also in a group text together--but when we want to get right to the heart of matters, we text directly to each other.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'll admit, I've not really accepted texting as a regular form of communication. I think Martin Boase, founder of the great Boase Massimi Pollitt agency once said something about advertising being an uninvited guest in your living room. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In my world, texting--even calling someone on a cell phone--is a bridge too far. You're no longer invading the phone on their wall or in their hallway--you're all at once in their groin pocket. That's about 97-times more intimate than I'm willing to be with people.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And, really, I am not anti-groin.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For years I've buffeted Rob with my conviction that people in journalism are doing a better job reaching viewers than people in advertising. All that old-fashioned AIDA stuff that the ad-industry's forgotten, seems more alive in magazines and newspapers. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I even keep a 28-page (and growing) compendium of sites I like that take complicated information and make it simple--from both a design and a writing point-of-view. If there are 500 urls listed in my document, 490 of them come from journalism; ten from ad agencies. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">(Years ago, when I was head of copy on IBM, I'd growl at media people. 'On a complex brand,' I'd froth 'your job is to find a media space that allows us to simplify an involved story. Like we used to do in print. Just because print has all-but disappeared doesn't mean the need for print-like thinking has disappeared.' Invariably, media would come back with a plan that included little but 728x90 and 300x250 banners.)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I had sent Rob an article that I related back to advertising. And I wrote, how could anyone not respond to this headline:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjun8SlEBLrUY_FyOeNNreCEVWZVNolAvlG80XVeUC4hQhLz68BCBhDgpGe6XNEzt5NlmKH8Ld78kFHZvj10zDkXVK4kQVAjpr1mt2LRrZw-SyJkQgDEk7oSGi_iV2d701udA2vphQOgA-nk77VGALbAq9ATw7nrw0_iUv3sDLpnuHYxbavWbnOOVX0DZW1/s1638/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%2012.59.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="1638" height="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjun8SlEBLrUY_FyOeNNreCEVWZVNolAvlG80XVeUC4hQhLz68BCBhDgpGe6XNEzt5NlmKH8Ld78kFHZvj10zDkXVK4kQVAjpr1mt2LRrZw-SyJkQgDEk7oSGi_iV2d701udA2vphQOgA-nk77VGALbAq9ATw7nrw0_iUv3sDLpnuHYxbavWbnOOVX0DZW1/w640-h584/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%2012.59.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We quickly had this exchange:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWVP1rp6jGBJ010bkEetROCP5G_HYU41k1tUtxA9Kp5W033GgOhMOQoSprrAgFPGtTs-9nMeAmvzmMeh6XsEVsNlOVAnCBnDhlFO52lv8x1cIv6yv9ugTgg1qGFA0q3x2eIrkShgqjTBWYvSFoKYtLakf9ihpE-DizBnJvVleSv1-zDLgxnLZRPJhdzP7/s1352/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.01.12%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1352" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWVP1rp6jGBJ010bkEetROCP5G_HYU41k1tUtxA9Kp5W033GgOhMOQoSprrAgFPGtTs-9nMeAmvzmMeh6XsEVsNlOVAnCBnDhlFO52lv8x1cIv6yv9ugTgg1qGFA0q3x2eIrkShgqjTBWYvSFoKYtLakf9ihpE-DizBnJvVleSv1-zDLgxnLZRPJhdzP7/w640-h280/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.01.12%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsA3_RZs2MuWJfn3ziFcfGbYu558bjD1L8XHcAxcRFhGxBxpIYZZkjBZen29ctlVWSb7FPU9c0KiB6_4w7ZeqahrUmdPbew-bHMUUz9xWFh1AojFvWN6d1cWzUgqrCdHJba3VPYDW1mNdgo6cG4t633Rrv6AV0B_57HS-biexT1rRSmKZh8eBjjA6Eu0CV/s1358/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.01.02%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="1358" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsA3_RZs2MuWJfn3ziFcfGbYu558bjD1L8XHcAxcRFhGxBxpIYZZkjBZen29ctlVWSb7FPU9c0KiB6_4w7ZeqahrUmdPbew-bHMUUz9xWFh1AojFvWN6d1cWzUgqrCdHJba3VPYDW1mNdgo6cG4t633Rrv6AV0B_57HS-biexT1rRSmKZh8eBjjA6Eu0CV/w640-h180/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.01.02%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've taken to saying of late, that my stock in trade, the butter and jam on my bread, is my headlineification ability. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I can sling 'em like no one else. Or practically no one else. As I like to say, "worms matter."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Writing headlines is not about advertising alone, of course. Headlines go beyond that. They represent the speaker, writer, or editor's ability to coalesce and synthesize information in such a way as to get attention and heighten interest. That's about 97.94650-percent of effective communication: getting attention and being interesting while communicating.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I remember the late Chris Wall, Vice Chair of Ogilvy, all 6'10" of him, standing and berating a group of us. In one hand, he held a New York Times. In the other, The Wall Street Journal. "I don't want to hear about how much you have to do. They fill these papers every day and do a pretty good job." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Yep.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Writing headlines is important not matter what your job. If you're an art director, you also need to find imagery and design that stops the viewer, that makes her think, that brings them deeper into the communication. If you're an account person, a planner, in media and you present in meetings, it's no good to present a flat-line powerpoint. It pays to get people's attention and keep deepening your connection with them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So much what I see in the advertising world forgets that it needs to get attention and that it needs to be interesting. Regardless of media, so much just assumes that because it's on the air or ostensibly published pixels, it's worthy of being looked at. In other words, </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">97.94650-percent of all work lays there like the detritus that collects in storm drains after a deluge. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are about twenty headlines below. Which ones stop you? And which ones are soporific? And why?</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Why can't we do better?<br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiR6xNzZz3TOQJwY146ni4Qb228nleoxzxiFU99mbtmcP_9K3C_rC0WI4D8ZpCaDNl7veA3rWi55pn8rTcC2UGwSEJhm1YK0dpWGN-H9h1KlCQQ-Wtt_esomK2JvhXlPJNHZNNPAT860UnLhT7s_AQxEqBzwn-xhG2Tqq32T8pC6_iHH_kz-rgOgZNiln/s988/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.43.22%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="988" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiR6xNzZz3TOQJwY146ni4Qb228nleoxzxiFU99mbtmcP_9K3C_rC0WI4D8ZpCaDNl7veA3rWi55pn8rTcC2UGwSEJhm1YK0dpWGN-H9h1KlCQQ-Wtt_esomK2JvhXlPJNHZNNPAT860UnLhT7s_AQxEqBzwn-xhG2Tqq32T8pC6_iHH_kz-rgOgZNiln/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.43.22%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq149yBDGL-kI7GpcVBO081v4mQ7NKa7sy1wxJeRR1NwZU3oIFmSf-63tB0zry3qCcHpX0RS542wgHqiQZLc-jwpQFhUJ7mdDBkwIokbGF_rj1cainFkOVGvwrBFqjTZDOvm5A0t4U5_6pQjzZ3wo-8J78gnZkYEf2q40WcD32zJzdxZ0Qc-vp6WCxqN0x/s690/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.43.06%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="690" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq149yBDGL-kI7GpcVBO081v4mQ7NKa7sy1wxJeRR1NwZU3oIFmSf-63tB0zry3qCcHpX0RS542wgHqiQZLc-jwpQFhUJ7mdDBkwIokbGF_rj1cainFkOVGvwrBFqjTZDOvm5A0t4U5_6pQjzZ3wo-8J78gnZkYEf2q40WcD32zJzdxZ0Qc-vp6WCxqN0x/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.43.06%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxiQ_lleYXjidqZppxCOsc56o1uWSfIgq0-DuPPVC-pbP5x7EN0nLXP9GPGlSLJE4pBheSiQu1A6iXxN6asxIGHx-kb-OItKhjCAxdzjnDWwSrf7cSJ6kLFYwU69vzjl3oqUj5gWc3hryx1I72qGDQe9BRfmRUxY3rsKlP1HNZDvBFLFWAJF2xO6ad48m/s1198/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.34%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1198" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxiQ_lleYXjidqZppxCOsc56o1uWSfIgq0-DuPPVC-pbP5x7EN0nLXP9GPGlSLJE4pBheSiQu1A6iXxN6asxIGHx-kb-OItKhjCAxdzjnDWwSrf7cSJ6kLFYwU69vzjl3oqUj5gWc3hryx1I72qGDQe9BRfmRUxY3rsKlP1HNZDvBFLFWAJF2xO6ad48m/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.34%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTj6EfXxzdlsLo2-P-xc8d8yLZg6wV23IGlHdhbmtJUq0iWHjyChnfixdn4CyiANOgfoKl736dqPRtwTcDFG9MlhPOhK2xdSczKTSyg_MvPvGIuqlLm5h465IRM-SZeMmgB5b3StHdG8YL5t2_8Bh46DMk6mzaYQ-hmPD4npsZbge2Es1LwNraKILWIlEb/s456/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.24%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="456" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTj6EfXxzdlsLo2-P-xc8d8yLZg6wV23IGlHdhbmtJUq0iWHjyChnfixdn4CyiANOgfoKl736dqPRtwTcDFG9MlhPOhK2xdSczKTSyg_MvPvGIuqlLm5h465IRM-SZeMmgB5b3StHdG8YL5t2_8Bh46DMk6mzaYQ-hmPD4npsZbge2Es1LwNraKILWIlEb/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.24%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCklY_7Lpr4AJkUi2w__sGvKOn3B7T2CwTIs_91RELransnI3680G6fteEdlatnIF7ejaMU_6pbRbcsmwrfqRyWItk7MuVJqkeNlpSSxy9imoMQxs2rtRjjgauWFZcwzwO7sXqOO2BIIqZ4Zp9cBC2S3mpJ-H3sUjJuuh1RLKLcWuiWcTn_PiKC1tb9kiR/s1116/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.11%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="1116" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCklY_7Lpr4AJkUi2w__sGvKOn3B7T2CwTIs_91RELransnI3680G6fteEdlatnIF7ejaMU_6pbRbcsmwrfqRyWItk7MuVJqkeNlpSSxy9imoMQxs2rtRjjgauWFZcwzwO7sXqOO2BIIqZ4Zp9cBC2S3mpJ-H3sUjJuuh1RLKLcWuiWcTn_PiKC1tb9kiR/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.42.11%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQ6L8hFUBGICgcVvuGqXmp7IA1Jtqq16YDdLoY7dXUNevN6li6zR0EDrZexoUhiKv4niQl3XUb8wz542rpQtCLRQLxOyqQUQ4Oh3n-sYim5PA3U1c7_S54fV0SC4FF7KIclNQcI7EUmkKwUvzMqBIIECCNyvVdPv0gep2pl198SD52aGBfVHq1FMKpaAS/s574/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.35%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="574" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQ6L8hFUBGICgcVvuGqXmp7IA1Jtqq16YDdLoY7dXUNevN6li6zR0EDrZexoUhiKv4niQl3XUb8wz542rpQtCLRQLxOyqQUQ4Oh3n-sYim5PA3U1c7_S54fV0SC4FF7KIclNQcI7EUmkKwUvzMqBIIECCNyvVdPv0gep2pl198SD52aGBfVHq1FMKpaAS/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.35%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFAJbG0-By_POSdqZDS4htvKKRdxHiVkq94DaeoQnvn9PLD3-wJDx4jRhO5wf10bOscntgbD2IAM73GcUtbUsxURjHkCKsp2YOaoAOsWipdJmqwagRiEPPszcjCAMengAQdyN8bjSIkfBUbX7hgGIgs0lcm0yCI1phkqXOLiux2o0yvAKSQ-mJaGW0pOr/s866/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="866" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFAJbG0-By_POSdqZDS4htvKKRdxHiVkq94DaeoQnvn9PLD3-wJDx4jRhO5wf10bOscntgbD2IAM73GcUtbUsxURjHkCKsp2YOaoAOsWipdJmqwagRiEPPszcjCAMengAQdyN8bjSIkfBUbX7hgGIgs0lcm0yCI1phkqXOLiux2o0yvAKSQ-mJaGW0pOr/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MrcFI9vIwt9_RTJ9k7g3yG03CELDvJbEVvrcBRNPahOxuamD6C3ekrp98z5CF20mwsZPFQfhan2HJP9vQ0jrc5_5KTcuRrcFGn5hmzkd_l2Lh8KLocuVbplu7v0Iuys2lJVRue8Vi3n3tdPvHc81q7q0w-RPGDDAHuw20oKZPfzoAM0LlQjuPfjSQuPY/s750/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="750" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MrcFI9vIwt9_RTJ9k7g3yG03CELDvJbEVvrcBRNPahOxuamD6C3ekrp98z5CF20mwsZPFQfhan2HJP9vQ0jrc5_5KTcuRrcFGn5hmzkd_l2Lh8KLocuVbplu7v0Iuys2lJVRue8Vi3n3tdPvHc81q7q0w-RPGDDAHuw20oKZPfzoAM0LlQjuPfjSQuPY/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%201.41.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cQXpGWHutDnHXBm6y05DUecr3su8xZoNA5_5izmBxwaowmrXE2e45tARnjlWeCp8ejoIBIKNFBoW9aMhIRZklzshGD1LcHWRAQ5oYvCk7ItQi0FfWQm9K4J0EmVp-Smm-3zSAx3pgM9bkxvm210jD8BmjshVoE5obC9P2-28Eyl2YoZryoV7wyfUhWW0/s650/Screenshot%202024-03-09%20at%201.11.13%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="468" height="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cQXpGWHutDnHXBm6y05DUecr3su8xZoNA5_5izmBxwaowmrXE2e45tARnjlWeCp8ejoIBIKNFBoW9aMhIRZklzshGD1LcHWRAQ5oYvCk7ItQi0FfWQm9K4J0EmVp-Smm-3zSAx3pgM9bkxvm210jD8BmjshVoE5obC9P2-28Eyl2YoZryoV7wyfUhWW0/w646-h900/Screenshot%202024-03-09%20at%201.11.13%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="646" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> </span><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-4073755282575485292024-03-13T07:30:00.000-04:002024-03-13T07:30:04.848-04:00Stubborn Stubbing.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p></p><div></div><p></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: "arial narrow", sans-serif;"><div class="gmail-separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgof9AS9apZLFoWSDLP4xIuMgo1SRKaMXI_4EDbJlXtwpJHQZNOYvdLbldQcuEaiS9Rw0p9CsJA0K9dCZgsmv9bEjsro_HVkc9vLWtbKnekIKlkqgiqswacTkhpTNslaoQ_OW64MyS1tLaI8oaWfpsnHnPqxxSJ6yYPWudt9u-uOs2IbRHix4EBw121LVHB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgof9AS9apZLFoWSDLP4xIuMgo1SRKaMXI_4EDbJlXtwpJHQZNOYvdLbldQcuEaiS9Rw0p9CsJA0K9dCZgsmv9bEjsro_HVkc9vLWtbKnekIKlkqgiqswacTkhpTNslaoQ_OW64MyS1tLaI8oaWfpsnHnPqxxSJ6yYPWudt9u-uOs2IbRHix4EBw121LVHB=w640-h262" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p style="font-size: large;"></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6072420181476584961/407375528257548529#" target="_blank">David Brooks of The New York Times had an op-ed, or essay, in The New York Times last Thursday called</a> "Surviving the Ugliness of It All." </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe it's not healthy to bring nearly everything I see, think and do back to advertising, but bear with me for a moment. If you trade in "headlines" as I do, tell me how you can avert your eyes from Brooks' headline, how you can ignore it, how you can pass it by.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That aspect of being a communicator, in whatever form you communicate, to children, to teams, to consumers in whatever channel you work in seems to have been forgotten. I'm not sure why. However, it seems to me--and I see a lot--that about 97.73764-percent of all messages communicate no importance, have no stopping-power, show little concern for the time they're asking their audience to give.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In any event as I said, I look at the world and think about my world. My world which is advertising, and my business, which is GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company. I don't read business books to learn about business. I read books about the world and see how they apply to business. There's usually an extra-cognitive step involved in learning this way, but as William Carlos Williams might have written, so much depends upon that step, and as Robert Frost might have written, that step makes all the difference.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So, I read Brooks' piece about Churchill and Roosevelt. And I was able to reduce it to two sentences. </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Then, I realized that those two sentences could serve as a universal brief for any brand, any agency mission, any relationship and anything we do.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">First, the reductive two sentences.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>One:</b> Churchill saved the British Isles--and defeated Hitler--by reminding England WHO WE ARE. </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Two:</b> Roosevelt saved the West, the Allies, the English-speaking world--and defeated Hitler and Tojo--by showing America HOW TO GET IT DONE.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And there you have it.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For any advertising assignment.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Who we are.</b> What are your values? What do you make? What do you believe in? What do you do to help people? Why are you important?</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>How to get it done. </b>How to buy us. How to use us. How we operate. How we help you.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Who and How, if you want even more reductiveness.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It seems to my glaumy eyes, that nearly every person, every company, every social organization, and certainly every ad agency, including, sadly, Wieden & Kennedy is struggling now with these two question marks.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Who are we? <br />How do we do what we do?</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'd say as an industry we're pissing up a rope when it comes to these ABC basics.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We make the problem more severe when we answer the above with banalities like we practice "borderless creativity." <br /><br />About six months ago, I listened to a podcast from The Economist on how to write gooder. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: helvetica;"> In that podcast, L</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: helvetica;">ane Greene, a language correspondent for the magazine said: </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: large;">I start with words. We like to use the old, short words of the English language. Winston Churchill once said that short words are best and old words when short are best of all. That means the concrete, the simple. If you're interested in language history, the words that go back to the Anglo-Saxon period of the English language constitute the real bedrock of the language. Ideally, those words should be concrete things. <u>Things that you can stub your toe on....</u></span></span></blockquote><p style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"> <b style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;">In as short as I can make it, make your brief, your thinking, your work simple so they explain:</b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. Who are we? </span><br style="font-family: helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. How we do what we do.<br />3. In language you can stub your toe on.</span></span></b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrusFtSwmio9XWQcd_mz8ERBCRJ2qeV3XYpTK55Ju8Idu4EpwvxE2TkASiMR0a-TY9jR_s6TS4JlXiJM854W5_OIcxFtejQGL59qQuDPiPoEiWte2ST4NPP6KncNF1zFrJFBoYiPsn4g2RtTswyqEuf7Ljsm35HL5NSByRSNKvI0QTjKuHQz-Izm_SUk4z/s784/Screenshot%202024-03-12%20at%2010.18.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="626" height="714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrusFtSwmio9XWQcd_mz8ERBCRJ2qeV3XYpTK55Ju8Idu4EpwvxE2TkASiMR0a-TY9jR_s6TS4JlXiJM854W5_OIcxFtejQGL59qQuDPiPoEiWte2ST4NPP6KncNF1zFrJFBoYiPsn4g2RtTswyqEuf7Ljsm35HL5NSByRSNKvI0QTjKuHQz-Izm_SUk4z/w571-h714/Screenshot%202024-03-12%20at%2010.18.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="571" /></a></span></b></div><p></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Yeah.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">All that from one article in the Times. The kind of article we used to wrap fish in.<br /><br />No wonder I don't sleep at night.</span></p></div>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-83542849385001576862024-03-12T07:38:00.002-04:002024-03-12T07:51:50.508-04:00Eight Things I Learned from Someone You Should Learn From.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Early on in my career, I went to work for a mid-sized agency that was led by two advertising Hall-of-Famers, Ron Rosenfeld--who at one time was the youngest copywriter ever elected--and Len Sirowitz, an art director who did many of my favorite ads when he was a star at DDB.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For whatever reason, I left that agency for a better agency. Again, that agency was run by two advertising Hall-of-Famers. Mike Tesch--who was the ECD of the place (when that was the top creative title) and Amil Gargano, whose name was on the door and who was the conscience of the agency.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Eventually, I made my way to Ogilvy where I got to work with Steve Hayden, Chris Wall, Steve Simpson and, though she's not a 'creative,' Shelly Lazarus. While there, I also shot a good bit with Joe Pytka and Errol Morris.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When I started at Ogilvy I got tossed into a maelstrom named Brian Collins. In fact, when we first worked together, I very nearly got into a fracas--a genuine Pier Six Brawl</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">--with Brian's account partner. You know those veins at your temples? Mine almost exploded.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The thing about working with the names I dropped above is simple. You observe them like an ornithologist spotting a rare migratory yellow-bellied pupick. You work with them, sure. But if you're really on top of things, when you head back to your desk, you take notes about what you learned. Some of those things are techniques. More often, they're approaches, or behaviors or ways at getting to problems, or most often of all, gaining the confidence to believe in yourself so you can be yourself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When you write a blog with the <er> perspicacity that I write this blog, you're always on the look out for annuities. Not an annuity like a financial instrument that pays you monthly, but a creative annuity that you can keep coming back to. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've been lucky enough to work, still, with many of the names I listed above. I've been lucky enough to have Chinese food with them, or a beer, or kibbitz by phone or e. I'm lucky enough to count a lot of these people as my friends.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In the interest of annuity-izing some of these relationships, I thought I'd write down in this 83,000 readers/week-space some of what I learned from some of these people. Some of this is self-aggrandizement on my part. Swagger that comes from having worked with a veritable Pantheon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Like the time I wrote a commercial for Gorton's original-style fish sticks and I got Federico Fellini to shoot it (he was $11 million over budget and 22 weeks late.) Or when I was working on the El Pollo Cubano restaurant chain and I persuaded Fidel Castro to help us promote a sandwich I named after him, the Fidel O' Fish. Or more recently, shooting a 150-minute film on the origin story of Peeps marshmallow treats with "Peep" Davidson.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Working with these luminaries is like hanging out with the Bloomsbury Group or drinking 19 dry martinis at the Algonquin. But writing down my learnings is more than just ego gratification on my part.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's an attempt at a corrective to an industry gone awry. An industry that trains no more, that treats the past like it's as stinky as yesterday's </span><span color="var(--link-secondary)"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Bouillabaisse, and has forgotten the truths that made it a) a great way to make a living and b) the greatest driver of brand value and capital appreciation in the history of the world. Phew.</span></span></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">All that to say, here are eight things I learned from having worked with, for, alongside and at loggerheads with Brian Collins for more than a quarter of a century. [Working with Brian includes working with Katya, Lee, Nick Ace and his wonderful crew. All of whom are, always, relentlessly on brief.]</span></span></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)" style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMWB6zuHQskJcZWtDLabJ4JARbTicIl0c1p_HbNPeb7wmgLVXXL_z8ULk7UFIlQQg8NBsrmFKEu23Hf1fpAeEmVc1HUgM91h_8bzDZe_XRDneA-FJGEqwPUYQ8A3bOxAeFzQiKOtmPQczU1noueffcj6yLViruXI-ue1p_ptNbVaiGCGdbrZcLfJvEzZs/s1816/Screenshot%202024-03-08%20at%205.29.26%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1816" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMWB6zuHQskJcZWtDLabJ4JARbTicIl0c1p_HbNPeb7wmgLVXXL_z8ULk7UFIlQQg8NBsrmFKEu23Hf1fpAeEmVc1HUgM91h_8bzDZe_XRDneA-FJGEqwPUYQ8A3bOxAeFzQiKOtmPQczU1noueffcj6yLViruXI-ue1p_ptNbVaiGCGdbrZcLfJvEzZs/w675-h444/Screenshot%202024-03-08%20at%205.29.26%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="675" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I marked down just eight things I learned, though I just as easily could write 18 or even 81. But Collins has helped teach me economy, too.</span></span><p></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The things I've learned from Collins have helped GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company grow more, get bigger, do better work and have bigger, better clients than I ever imagined I'd have when I got tossed out on my keister at the Ancient Mariner age of 62.</span></span></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I happen to think the things I've learned from Collins could help any agency in the world that wants to do good work and treat people well. And make money. Any agency in the world that wants to help clients, respect itself and its people and be different. And make money.</span></span></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)" style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzscvzxtAc_zSQYP6F_QUImXsugU0kEsIBlBDz0d9c8id5eMEDV_v1B2PTMOIExwH0B0t6-InBczHmCcNddcloPMG_kibtK4HCnlCm8LmV7IyzkQEs8-3GOmlz8mDGLcaMDL5gsSRdaPTeHYFI7Y04wtL9nBrOiEQ4ZZp75oYUfQz3ZUDS7oxgw-rdcLG/s1162/Screenshot%202024-03-08%20at%205.43.51%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="896" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzscvzxtAc_zSQYP6F_QUImXsugU0kEsIBlBDz0d9c8id5eMEDV_v1B2PTMOIExwH0B0t6-InBczHmCcNddcloPMG_kibtK4HCnlCm8LmV7IyzkQEs8-3GOmlz8mDGLcaMDL5gsSRdaPTeHYFI7Y04wtL9nBrOiEQ4ZZp75oYUfQz3ZUDS7oxgw-rdcLG/w494-h640/Screenshot%202024-03-08%20at%205.43.51%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="494" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span color="var(--link-secondary)"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If I were a little smarter and had better art-direction skills, I'd put three black dots equidistant from top to bottom alongside the left hand margin of my eight things list. That would be my semiotic way of saying, "This shit is smart. You should save it."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I bet the people at Collins would like that "design" idea.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But I leave it to you to do what you want with it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><a class="svelte-133ynwl" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouillabaisse" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Inter, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.1px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_self"></a><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-89914839239439971812024-03-11T07:06:00.003-04:002024-03-11T10:18:48.211-04:00John Brown's Body (of Work.)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDGYu0jg7ofQVX3wn76LU0wUJ8DldEng9rYEcSVTX3v1Kmris2ydOMATq9iGROqpcwRhq_HzX65Q9WfDYSLXKmTD5_C_dl4FX8SHcUUWAGhKx9dG0zRHhDTzrJUXNlHxVo3GZbhnhWnRjckRf_qyzRvw8X3ZUu4dItbS7kMrI8qnrSI6qwuEf6HEw27PxP" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="492" height="824" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDGYu0jg7ofQVX3wn76LU0wUJ8DldEng9rYEcSVTX3v1Kmris2ydOMATq9iGROqpcwRhq_HzX65Q9WfDYSLXKmTD5_C_dl4FX8SHcUUWAGhKx9dG0zRHhDTzrJUXNlHxVo3GZbhnhWnRjckRf_qyzRvw8X3ZUu4dItbS7kMrI8qnrSI6qwuEf6HEw27PxP=w643-h824" width="643" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">On Sunday morning, I woke up and saw the ad above and the story below in my Linked In feed. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I thought I was connected to absolutely everyone in the industry, but I wasn't connected to the person who posted these items, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-r-1b59527/" target="_blank">Scott Reames.</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When you write a blog every day for almost seventeen years, you get a nose for a story. And you lose, along the way, any reticence you might once have had about talking to strangers. My nose and abeyance of reticence helps in blogging and in running my own business. I don't dally dilly or dilly dally. I go and get it.<br /><br />Within minutes, I had written to Scott and requested a post from him. Almost as quickly, Scott wrote back to me and said yes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I didn't want to burden Scott. So I made this fairly simple request. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYpHfGQCgKWCUKR2_79t2vvp4_F3kzSw5jQkbHzF4xey63C9XAn0J-PfgAmuD-nm7p2FRYN-UiWGarLJ2KIwIiebBfbGGfFfaDcDIGVZE6NXYXNXoH1cOzBlq4niY5_IbdQiBD6zG6gEPgp00ccm3yDXdNN61T6QV7lVpuDP0bE_gz8yj8ic4CNV355jiW/s744/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.48.58%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="744" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYpHfGQCgKWCUKR2_79t2vvp4_F3kzSw5jQkbHzF4xey63C9XAn0J-PfgAmuD-nm7p2FRYN-UiWGarLJ2KIwIiebBfbGGfFfaDcDIGVZE6NXYXNXoH1cOzBlq4niY5_IbdQiBD6zG6gEPgp00ccm3yDXdNN61T6QV7lVpuDP0bE_gz8yj8ic4CNV355jiW/w640-h354/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.48.58%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Again, Scott wrote back in two-shakes of a timesheet:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJZe6dlSswSem7vGxkW1VSYIac9o0y_5HeT0qR1ptW2N7sSsz8uvxOdBsN3uCX5ejp68gMiNhr-eALKPmfSg_dWoMoTplzvctYjIu_6Tp-J7jWYVNbrRmgE5m0Jn1yIT6z9bwdi7rqoyN7u2wy1zegHaL6LOMlb0skXeE_i8M_0HwgA4yQYMEby6tu9Pf/s940/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.49.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="940" height="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJZe6dlSswSem7vGxkW1VSYIac9o0y_5HeT0qR1ptW2N7sSsz8uvxOdBsN3uCX5ejp68gMiNhr-eALKPmfSg_dWoMoTplzvctYjIu_6Tp-J7jWYVNbrRmgE5m0Jn1yIT6z9bwdi7rqoyN7u2wy1zegHaL6LOMlb0skXeE_i8M_0HwgA4yQYMEby6tu9Pf/w675-h525/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.49.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="675" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPhQ-HOeI7o1nv6BWGmbf9fxlKrO6x8Drmw9YL0hUGqs8RhZ0UcfDRpdHXgmxnW-_pZFx8KQTm9N4wlXQHRFHtDlxggtXPluJdY_0QwZGruCvcdXgKIU7o2kre9uYEgyacRX-QGdkYwnpCYCmSEN3MH90KQM7EAvPIfO3jTykkKeMWoptGiwzo71GujRI/s766/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.56.37%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="766" height="501" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPhQ-HOeI7o1nv6BWGmbf9fxlKrO6x8Drmw9YL0hUGqs8RhZ0UcfDRpdHXgmxnW-_pZFx8KQTm9N4wlXQHRFHtDlxggtXPluJdY_0QwZGruCvcdXgKIU7o2kre9uYEgyacRX-QGdkYwnpCYCmSEN3MH90KQM7EAvPIfO3jTykkKeMWoptGiwzo71GujRI/w546-h501/Screenshot%202024-03-10%20at%205.56.37%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="546" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There are at least seven things to learn from Scott's response to me, at least as I see it. Most Holding Companies--and agencies, and agency people, and clients could learn from all this. Nike's great advertising didn't just happen. Somehow, the preconditions for great advertising (below) allowed that advertising to be created.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Make your own job.</b> Scott saw a need for an historian, wrote a proposal and found a calling he kept at for about half of his professional life.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Stories need consistency.</b> Scott noticed the inevitable drift in story retelling and recognized the importance of consistency and codification.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Likewise, companies and brands need consistency.</b> The "meaning" of a company--if it's true--can't blow with the wind and change with every trend, fad and caprice.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Stories win. </b>The history, heritage and culture they capture are a "HUGE" competitive advantage.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>The next generation is important</b>. Not just the next quarter. It takes commitment to--and money and people in for the long-haul for a brand to win over time.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Ethos trumps execution</b>. Executions come and go--but the foundations of a brand should endure.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Writing things down is good.</b> That's how they become consistent, codified and credible.</span></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And now, Scott's post. The thing that started all this:</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">THERE IS NO FINISH LINE</span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">
THE STORY OF JOHN BROWN AGENCY.</span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">I was sad to learn today of the
passing of John Brown. You may not know his name, but if you know anything
about Nike history you know of his work ... <u>a string of five words, just 19 letters,
that are at the very core of what defines Nike.</u><br />
<br />
In 1976, an ad campaign for a local Portland bank caught Phil Knight's
attention. He learned it had been created by an agency in Seattle called John
Brown & Partners. Knight reached out to one of the agency's clients - the
Seattle Super Sonics - who recommended Brown and encouraged Knight to hire him.
Phil did.<br />
<br />
[Note: I don't have access to the transcripts of the interviews I did so I'm
going from memory on all the quotes in this post.]<br />
<br />
John told me "in the beginning we wrote one new ad each month, focusing on
the introduction of a new model, and placed an ad in Runner's World." The
ads were tech-heavy, touting the benefits of the shoe.<br />
<br />
One month in 1977, however, there was no new model ready for release so Nike ad
manager Patsy Mest told Brown to <u>"write something that makes runners feel
good about themselves."</u><br />
<br />
Brown created an ad with the headline "We run a million miles a day"
that featured a lone runner on a country road. Creative director Denny
Strickland told me he wanted a "romantic" shot of a runner who was
not the center of the shot but part of the larger picture.<br />
<br />
Photographer Bob Peterson found a location in Redmond, Washington where he
captured a man enjoying a morning run along an urban road. The man was Howard
Miller, a friend of Peterson's, who ran to work every day at the University of
Washington. In the photograph there is no discernible Nike Swoosh...the runner
is so far away you can barely see him. Bob told me the goal was to "focus
on the environment and not the runner." [Mission accomplished.]<br />
<br />
Patsy Mest was ... let's say unenthused. So Brown presented the same image of
the runner but this time with a five-word tagline: "There is no finish
line."<br />
<br />
Brown told me that Mest said she was "okay with it but next month we can
get back to doing our shoe ads."<br />
<br />
But then a funny thing happened. "Runners sent letters to Nike thanking
them for supporting them," Brown told me. The ad was so popular that Nike
made a poster-sized version and soon learned that retailers were selling them
to customers. This ultimately led to the creation of Nike's own poster line
that would feature scores of iconic images (Ice Man, Supreme Court, etc.).<br />
<br />
Several versions of "There is no finish line" soon followed, both in
print ads and in posters. It was the first Nike advertising that focused on the
brand rather than a specific product, and would become the foundation for
decades of ads to follow. Many long-time Nike veterans, including yours truly,
consider "There is no finish line" to be closer to the core of Nike's
ethos than "Just Do It."<br />
<br />
Rest in peace, John. And thank you for sharing your amazing stories with me and
my DNA colleagues over the years.</span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">--</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">Here's a bit more from John Brown himself. I haven't yet found his obituary.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">John Brown • Written 6/20/2011</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><img alt="John Brown" height="91" src="https://immortals.chcs.net/site/assets/files/1018/brown72.jpg" width="79" /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">John Brown’s first lesson in commerce was as a ten-year-old boy, buying and reselling boxes of Christmas and holiday cards to customers in bars and restaurants in his hometown, Albany, Oregon. After high school he joined the U.S. Air Force hoping for some adventures around the world. Instead, he spent the next 3-1/2 years at McChord AFB near Tacoma working as an accounting clerk. He met his wife-to-be after a co-worker in the accounting office brought her to see his performance as an M.C. in an Air Force talent contest called Tops in Blue. He won local and regional contests and finally competed for a spot on the Ed Sullivan show. During his college years at the University of Puget Sound he worked as a bill collector for Weisfield’s Jewelers. After graduating with a BA in English in 1964 he tried unsuccessfully to find a job in an advertising agency. He was selling “Selectric” typewriters for IBM when an odd coincidence prompted Cole & Weber to give him a shot at the business. During his career there and at John Brown & Partners he has won more than 400 awards for excellence in copywriting and creative direction. His biggest regret: turning down the offer to merge John Brown & Partners with Chiat/Day when he had the chance. He has six grandkids from son Jason, a director producer and daughter Julie, a homemaker.</span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The following commentary was written for the author’s overdue enshrinement among the MARKETING IMMORTALS. It’s also being posted here to ensure that our readers don’t miss reading about one of the truly remarkable careers in Northwest advertising.</span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My advertising career was sparked to life by a fateful coincidence.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A couple of guys were making small talk at a weekly discussion group in Tacoma where a few carefully selected people gathered around a bottle of bourbon and a bowl of peanuts to talk about a book they’d all read the week before. One of them was <a name="tomsias" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Tom Sias, the copy chief of Cole & Weber. The other was <a name="halsimonsen" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Hal Simonsen, Chairman of the English Department of the University of Puget Sound. Tom recalled my applying for a job at his agency and that I was a UPS graduate in English so he asked if Hal thought I had the potential for becoming a copywriter. My favorite professor gave me a thumbs up. Tom decided to track me down with a job offer of $450 a month. Without that happenstance event my career in advertising would never have happened.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">By the time Sias called me I had forsaken the ad business and was working as a sales rep for IBM office products in Tacoma. The job at C&W paid $450 per month, far less money than I was earning by then. But I’ve always believed you should follow your passion.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My passion led me to an office at C&W which was formerly a coat closet, barely big enough for a desk, much less a lamp so I brought one in from home. With a beginning like that, everything looked like up to me. For the next few months I worked hard and learned a lot about writing copy on projects Tom assigned to me. Until another career-changing coincidence came my way.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The office of the legendary ad maker, <a name="haldixon3" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Hal Dixon was just across the hall from my closet-office. He and his partner, <a name="halnewsom4" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Hal Newsom, were working late and I just happened to be there, too. I overheard them trying to come up with a sequel to the locally famous billboard campaign they had created for Puget Sound National Bank. Example: George Weyerhauser saves $40 a month with a Puget Sound National Bank automatic savings account. (Bet you thought he didn’t have to.)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I worked later than they did that night and finally hit upon this campaign sequel: More and more Opticians have Puget Sound National Bank automatic savings accounts (They know a good deal when they see one.) I wrote a series of these--each with a different occupation--and dropped them on Dixon’s desk before I headed for home.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The next morning Hal came by and after I told him I had written this campaign, he asked me to move into a real office next to his friend and creative partner, Hal Newsom, who would become my new mentor.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Hal was a great teacher and one of his most valuable lessons was this: “Keep working on a campaign concept or an ad headline to make it better. Good enough is not good enough. Keep going and don’t stop until time runs out. Then go with the best idea you’ve got.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Cole & Weber was then the biggest agency in the Northwest and over the next 11 years I had the chance to work on many of its choicest accounts. I was promoted from copywriter to creative supervisor. And then another career-changing coincidence occurred. <a name="bobrecate" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Bob Recate, the beloved creative director of C&W’s Portland office, dropped dead.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Hal Dixon offered me that job the next day and after consulting with my wife, we were packed up and on our way to Portland 10 days later.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Hal Dixon’s advice to me about the Portland office was something like this: “The client list is made up mostly of industrial clients. They are conservative clients, not looking for wild stuff. Do the best you can without making too many waves.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I thought to myself. “Right, just you wait, Mr. Big Guy. Somehow, I’ll find a way to make some great ads.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Four years later, if memory serves, my team in Portland won more awards than the headquarters office. Dixon and Newsom asked me to show the Seattle staff our Portland creative work. A week or so later they asked me to return to Seattle to replace Hal Newsom as creative director.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I checked with my wife and we figured if I declined my career would have been stifled there. So back we came to Seattle.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That decision turned out to be a mistake. As much as the two Hals had expected to lead what they called Group X, a new business push with a goal of building C&W’s billing to 150 million, Hal Newsom found it difficult to give up his reins as creative director. When he asked me to change a campaign I was planning for Boeing and a couple of others I realized it wasn’t working. It grew more difficult week after week.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Then one day, out of the blue, <a name="stevedarland3" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Steve Darland called and said he had been retained by <a name="donkraft4" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Don Kraft to find a new creative director for Kraft-Smith. I knew their work; some of it was very good. After chatting with Don, I decided to give it a go.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Don Kraft hired me to be the new creative director and member of the board of what was to be Kraft-Smith & Brown.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My stay there, however, was brief. Don Kraft is one of the nicest fellows you’re likely to meet but--despite hiring me as the agency creative director, he apparently reserved the right to change the creative work I was doing at any time and he exercised it by asked me to make some big changes to a campaign we had created for Olympic Stain.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I resigned the same day. So after a brief stay of four months, I put my stuff in a bag and headed for a tiny office I rented in a bank building in Pioneer Square.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That was the start of John Brown & Partners. I had no clients and only enough money to last about six months.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">As luck would have it, an old pal of mine who ran a recording studio in Portland called to say there was a small Portland bank looking for an agency and all the good shops in town were unavailable because most of them already had a financial account of some kind. So off I went to Portland where I convinced the president of the little bank to hire my one-man agency.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Client number one was in the door. That night I called <a name="dennisstrickland" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Dennis Strickland whom I had met at Kraft-Smith to handle the art direction as a freelancer. We made some powerful full-page newspaper ads that put this little bank on the map of the business community fast. The CEO took reprints of our ads to businesses around the community to drum up new accounts.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Back in Seattle, Strickland called to say he had heard Blue Ribbon Sports, a small athletic shoemaker in Beaverton, Oregon, was looking for their first ever ad agency. I immediately called the co-founder <a name="philknight" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Phil Knight and invited him to lunch to introduce our fledgling agency. He told me frankly that he did not much like advertising but his dealers needed some promotional support but that I shouldn’t expect that this would ever be a big ad account.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Almost as if to show he wasn’t a big fan of advertising, he told me the story of how his logo was created. When he was starting the company that became Nike, Phil’s day job was teaching accounting at Portland State University. He found a design student and paid her two bucks an hour to design a logo. Her finished Nike “Swoosh” (now one of the world’s most recognized trademarks) cost him $75.</span><span style="background-color: #01ffff;">*</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span> </span><span>She was rewarded a few years later with Nike stock, now worth more than a million dollars.</span></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I showed Phil my portfolio about a week later and he said he had indeed seen and liked the ads we had made for the upstart Portland business bank. Before I left I mentioned that Denny Strickland was doing the agency art direction and that helped close the deal. As it turned out, Knight was a runner for the University of Oregon track team at the same time Denny played basketball for the U. of O. Another fortunate coincidence.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I got back to Seattle, Dennis joined me as the agency’s first art director. Phil hired us and client number two was in the door.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Blue Ribbon Sports--Knight’s company—sold about $25 million of Nike shoes that year. When we parted company nearly five years later sales had increased to $250,000,000.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Shortly after taking on Nike, I heard <a name="ivarhaglund2" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Ivar Haglund was looking for a new ad agency. Here’s where another convenient coincidence helped kick start the agency. While I was creative director for Cole & Weber, I had written and directed a TV spot for their client Rainier Bank that featured Ivar in a customer testimonial for the bank. When I called Ivar, he remembered that the bank spot had also attracted a boatload of business for his seafood restaurants. That peaked his interest. When I showed him my “book,” Ivar hired us and we worked for him until he passed away some 10 years later. He was more than a client; he was my good friend.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Back to Nike. Our work for them was a new business magnet. We won armfuls of local and national awards and that attracted lots of other clients. They included Pacific First Federal, Seattle City Light, Metro Transit, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Lamont’s apparel stores, Pizza Haven, Speedi-Lube, Everett Herald, Seattle Weekly, several political accounts, including Governor John Spellman, Senator Dan Evans and Congressman John Miller.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We also had several sports accounts besides Nike. Among them: Roffe Skiwear, Seattle SuperSonics, Precor fitness equipment, Pacific Trail sportswear, Pro-Tec protective eyewear and a tennis racquet manufacturer.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Our biggest success for Nike completely changed Phil Knight’s mindset about advertising. It happened because of a screw up in their factories.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">One month their pipeline produced no new shoes for us to feature in a new ad. They didn’t want to re-run an old ad so they asked us to do something that “just pats runners on the back, a feel-good thing. It won’t make much difference in sales because we don’t have a new shoe to show.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We answered with an ad that caused an explosion of response from runners. Our graphics were dominated by a beautiful long shot photo of a single runner on a lonely road out near Kirkland, shot by <a name="bobpeterson" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Bob Peterson. No picture of a shoe. This time it was all about running itself.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><img alt="" height="491" src="https://immortals.chcs.net/site/assets/files/1018/nike_ad72.jpg" width="355" /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Headline: “There is no finish line.” </span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The copy read: “Sooner or later the serious runner goes through a special, very personal experience that is unknown to most people. Others say its a new kind of mystical experience that propels you into an elevated sense of consciousness.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“A flash of joy. A sense of floating as you run. The experience is unique to each of us but when it happens you break through a barrier that separates you from casual runners. Forever.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“And from that point on, there is no finish line. You run for your life. You begin to be addicted to what running gives you.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“We at Nike understand that feeling. There is no finish line for us either. We will never stop trying to excel, to produce running shoes that are better and better every year.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“Beating the competition is relatively easy. But beating yourself is a never ending commitment.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That ad created an explosion for Nike in terms of customer response. Even though it was pre-email, runners wrote and posted more than 100,000 letters to Nike after that ad ran. They thanked Nike for making high performance shoes and for understanding what a lifetime of running means. Many of these Nike fans asked for a No Finish Line wall poster and wanted it to include the body copy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A couple years later I was a guest lecturer in an advertising class and ran into a young woman who was able to recite the body copy of this ad by memory.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This massive response taught Phil Knight about the power of brand advertising. It created “the idea of Nike” as compared to another “shoe from Nike.” It was the spark of ignition that blasted the Nike brand skyward.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">About a year later Nike fired us. Our office location was the reason why, they said. We were in Seattle and they were in Beaverton, a Portland suburb. They said they needed agency people who could be in their office every day. We were flying or driving down there about twice a week but they still wanted more face time.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They asked Denny Strickland to join them as ad manager. He didn’t want to move to Portland. With all the award-winning work we were turning out for them, we simply didn’t believe they would dump us. Big mistake.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A graphic designer who had done a few projects for them said he knew a couple of Portland ad makers who could give them terrific work and be there every day. Their names were <a name="danweiden" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Dan Wieden and <a name="davidkennedy" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>David Kennedy. And the rest is history.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It was a severe blow. However, as soon as the word was out one of Nike’s competitors invited us to his office in Cambridge, Mass. It was John Fisher, CEO of the company that markets Saucony brand running shoes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We flew back there, made a presentation and he hired us on the spot. Over the next four years we won dozens more creative awards for our Saucony ads. They loved our work but didn’t much like our office being across the country three time zones away. They parted company with us as friends.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I could have made some sort of merger deal with a Boston agency to improve our account service to them, just as I suppose I should have opened an office in Portland to keep Nike. But that would have pushed me into focusing more on agency business affairs than making ads. I liked doing creative work more than fooling with financial reports and personnel management so I kept making ads. And hoping new luck would break our way.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Before long my Cole & Weber friend <a name="dickhadley2" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Dick Hadley called to say he was leaving the agency and was taking Puget Sound Bank with him, since C&W had won the much larger Sea-first Bank account. Dick asked to join our agency. That changed our name to Brown & Hadley and Partners.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Over the succeeding three years we made some powerful advertising for Puget Sound Bank, some of my best work for any financial institution. The concepts were based on an overwhelming fact. Puget Sound Bank was the last major commercial bank left around here. All the others had sold off to even bigger banks from other towns in other states. We turned that to our advantage. We showed big banks of depositors’ money being stuffed in sacks marked Sea-First and put on trains headed for California. Same for other competitors. The second prong of our campaign promised to make a contribution to a fund to help clean up the waters and shorelines of Puget Sound for every deposit customers made to their accounts.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Money poured in. It caught so much of Key Bank’s attention they eventually made a buyout-merger offer to Puget Sound Bank they couldn’t refuse. Goodbye Puget Sound Bank.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Game over. With the loss of the bank income and the rest of our clients cutting back or canceling budgets in a difficult economy, we could no longer cover our costs. Brown & Hadley closed its doors for the final time.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It was a wild ride and I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I hired some outstanding people in my career, notably <a name="billborders" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Bill Borders, <a name="davenewman" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Dave Newman and <a name="marknorrander" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Mark Norrander in Portland and <a name="palmerpettersen" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Palmer Pettersen, <a name="stevesandoz" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Steve Sandoz, <a name="danwurz" style="color: #ae0000;"></a>Dan Wurz and Denny Strickland in Seattle. We had perhaps too lively a time doing good work and enjoying ourselves perhaps a little too often.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I decided to stay in the business as a freelance writer, creative director and consultant. I’ve been doing that for clients and agencies ever since.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And I’m still looking for work.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff;">*</span> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This is what Scott wrote to me just a minute ago, as I showed him the draft of my piece. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08); white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks;"><span style="font-size: large;">I absolutely LOVE that John Brown wrote that Phil Knight paid $75 for the Swoosh design. Phil actually paid $35. Voila, you have the crux of what I was talking about...stories that drift! And for all I know, Phil might actually have told John he paid $75. Other than my realization that I failed to include a close parenthesis in one paragraph of my post, it's fine with me for you to post.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.7em; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><br />george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-58161306446593882442024-03-08T06:55:00.002-05:002024-03-08T06:55:40.106-05:00George 101.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepKe2zyKgpEIjIGeGkqLNaNpYMdL2zG2a86JpwI1eH5T7M9r8F-ogPAy_pSjpvU7b8-uc2NIye27OP1hspCWNvZgUxKB7JBQuigfUU3nyq-srRY59Srhr3RWM8KSS6L0A5pMWdD1vv6A_wJTYboXB4wNafI1eIklnc7yNU_S0MLkgvj52fihqXSVRw8xg/s1438/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.54.29%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="1438" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepKe2zyKgpEIjIGeGkqLNaNpYMdL2zG2a86JpwI1eH5T7M9r8F-ogPAy_pSjpvU7b8-uc2NIye27OP1hspCWNvZgUxKB7JBQuigfUU3nyq-srRY59Srhr3RWM8KSS6L0A5pMWdD1vv6A_wJTYboXB4wNafI1eIklnc7yNU_S0MLkgvj52fihqXSVRw8xg/w640-h440/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.54.29%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="534" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DcaIMF_-1J4" width="644" youtube-src-id="DcaIMF_-1J4"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I had a phone call with a friend of mine a couple of days ago. An individual planner with as many brains as entire departments. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'll call her, Libby. Not her real name. But she looks like a Libby to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I spent the first half of my 44-years in advertising working in agencies that didn't have planners. They were pretty rare before 2000. But for the last quarter-century or so, I've worked alongside planners.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In fact, when I worked in an agency, my best friends were usually planners. I spent more time with fellow creatives. But to talk about work, ideas that weren't yet fully-formed, client issues, particular briefs or spots, or commercials on the air, or even macro-trends in the industry, I felt most alive with planners.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I felt planners were better at looking past executional trends. They understood better what Mr. Bernbach meant when he said "simple, timeless human truths." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They also weren't in competition with you. I felt I got a clearer perspective in a world where so much opinion is an amen corner or its converse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Today we bandy about the word "inclusion" as a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shibboleth" target="_blank">Shibboleth</a>. It's part of today's au courant "In hoc signo vinces." In this sign, we conquer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The thing about good planners and good observations and good perspective and mostly good creativity is that it most-often comes from people who AREN'T included. It comes from outsiders who have an outside perspective--therefore they can observe better--they can see the world we live in, our habits, practices, beliefs and tribal practices. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">By way of example, no "auteur" made better, more "American" movies than Billy Wilder. During his career, he received 21 Oscar nominations, won seven and didn't even speak English until he was almost 40.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Outsider.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Before we, in a hyper Orwellian manner, limited our vocabulary to agree-with-the-prevailing-wisdom=<b>good</b> to disagree-with-my-way-of-thinking=<b>bad</b>, we used to understand that very often the best-thinking came from those who broke the dominant complacency: iconoclasts, rebels, dissenters, trouble-makers, the non-get-alongers. Those people are shit out of luck now. They're no longer included when we say inclusion. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In any event, back to Libby. </span><a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91027126/why-branding-is-having-a-wile-e-coyote-moment?trk=feed_main-feed-card_feed-article-content" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">During our multi-channel conversation, she IM'd me this article.</a><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;"> Calling out in particular the passage below, and in particular the word, asymptote.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlT3L2OsCDUE9FHxV9W5a11RaSooitV3NPEK_q3RPQ91leexvb5rdaYmMNHM71UHCWN5q9pyLFjsn0S4jvYSLK4qgBKrvgGeIVVM6KRZ5NClsoi7fTEnW8LIisrGop49LRcUlrhzgUOLQXNfUWiSPSw9mjtkLOgoZcADOgN21YCoWoRW4hX2cX9J57Kag/s1218/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.20.29%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="1218" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlT3L2OsCDUE9FHxV9W5a11RaSooitV3NPEK_q3RPQ91leexvb5rdaYmMNHM71UHCWN5q9pyLFjsn0S4jvYSLK4qgBKrvgGeIVVM6KRZ5NClsoi7fTEnW8LIisrGop49LRcUlrhzgUOLQXNfUWiSPSw9mjtkLOgoZcADOgN21YCoWoRW4hX2cX9J57Kag/w640-h230/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.20.29%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><br style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;" /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That called to my mind, this passage from "Ogilvy On Advertising," which regardless of some of David's over-active pedantry, remains worthwhile.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwTGvY0gxvYUuZoCD3wL6N-686OJCzKZMCpJ7MQ6dIy-tcEzPeBIU0OPEE-w4aaU6tcF5Kc1721VuXbxx5zdtdQ-oKSw5r9g8615VVQRbRohZ26jHmwR-0-YeOXtWU4rfMOYcli7IXeH-jSdRbwscKCxySq_6g31T7kuLbdyD3kwF5yGxvfwHBUbgfMSV/s1080/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.23.48%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1080" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwTGvY0gxvYUuZoCD3wL6N-686OJCzKZMCpJ7MQ6dIy-tcEzPeBIU0OPEE-w4aaU6tcF5Kc1721VuXbxx5zdtdQ-oKSw5r9g8615VVQRbRohZ26jHmwR-0-YeOXtWU4rfMOYcli7IXeH-jSdRbwscKCxySq_6g31T7kuLbdyD3kwF5yGxvfwHBUbgfMSV/w640-h392/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%2010.23.48%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Those two passages put together--and my conversation with Libby--are the subject of this post.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In our industry's projectile-vomiting-enthusiasm to:</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Be cool.</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">Shape the conversation.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Become a part of culture.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Go to Cannes.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Win one of the one-million awards given daily.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Drive people to experience our site </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>(<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.reynoldsbrands.com/products/other-products/plastic-wrap">https://www.reynoldsbrands.com/products/other-products/plastic-wrap</a>)</span></span></div></span><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Make a Tik-Tok.<br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Become viral.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scan our QR-code.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Visit our experience.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">...we've forgotten the absolute 101-ness of advertising. <br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Be interesting. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Show you care.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Help people make decisions.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bring order to the chaos of the supermarket.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Be kind.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Provide useful information.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Treat people well.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My belief as a denizen of advertising, as perhaps its oldest practitioner and as a friend of Libby and 78 other smart planners, is that most people today couldn't give a rat's rectum about any brand.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">They're worried about all kinds of things, from paying the rent to the worldwide resurgence of fascism to shoveling the walk because there was an ice-storm last night to I don't have cookies for my kid's lunch box.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a consequence, most people have no idea what most brands and/or products do. What's more, what they do hear over and again from ISPs and Telcos and the like, they know is a lie. There's never help at the end of the line or a smile across the counter. It's pretty bleak.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My success with GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company (I believe I've surpassed Ogilvy in annual revenue--not just revenue per employee) is that I've convinced my clients that no one knows who they are or what they do and the best thing we can do for their business is to tell people--day-after-day--in ways that are fun, polite and helpful.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">That seems fairly basic.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you were meeting someone you'd try to convince them that you were fun, polite and helpful. You probably wouldn't begin with a social strategy or keep telling them you're just $49.99/month if you act now.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXbORqo7uMsmIQ8mwO3wSpu3WSZMUGW93HrcShDl_6S4XCNO37IoGS12y-G3gyGsdPORNDmvvgcN0HYHAAF4h3qGbXLYDx4ig92kIEcqC2TOf3Zs4KvR8VGSIzeXi_IyjopUvS1lgWP3MVtlIsUZNwTaCwzxMbNbBdLGNVH4wy4XjuXHbAFNinXk-gtw6/s1116/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.40.05%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1116" height="618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXbORqo7uMsmIQ8mwO3wSpu3WSZMUGW93HrcShDl_6S4XCNO37IoGS12y-G3gyGsdPORNDmvvgcN0HYHAAF4h3qGbXLYDx4ig92kIEcqC2TOf3Zs4KvR8VGSIzeXi_IyjopUvS1lgWP3MVtlIsUZNwTaCwzxMbNbBdLGNVH4wy4XjuXHbAFNinXk-gtw6/w640-h618/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.40.05%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not too long-ago, Deutsch New York publicized a spot they just produced for J&J's Band-Aid brand bandages that uses a jingle that's been on the air for over half-a-century. It's probably had more media exposure than Jesus Christ. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The spot was far from break-through. Insta-footage of scraped knees and the song. What was break-through is someone at Deutsch New York or the client was smart enough to know that that 50+ year-old-jingle (if that jingle were a person they'd fire it for being too old) was a multi-billion-dollar brand asset. <br /><br />Don't tell me it's not "now." It's not cool. That it has to be auto-tuned and hip-hopped.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Get back to doing what communication does when communication works. <br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make a promise to people.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keep it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Entertain people.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Understand people.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Care about people.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Show how you can help people.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Help people believe you.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm not sure what "asymptote" means. Somehow in my 66 years, it was never a word I needed or searched for or felt I was missing. I am so uninterested in its pretentiousness, I could hardly be bothered to look it up. When I did look it up, I learned all this:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGPETOgP55aSeEaJ9FnQkHV68lprLZIM1maGmoTr-vxHRC_LSRtX41KfStoQ8_GpVvX9pC6Qsgbutb4_M1b1p4Ftcs5hy5TE5mW4dyvsvgco_Uf8MgjJCastXJcLLqHr50W6OYyQdrVvLFK78WQgKuY-N9vl1RtE-8paTnafEE3SvPgF2fiFjT85UsC1C/s1492/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.28%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1492" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGPETOgP55aSeEaJ9FnQkHV68lprLZIM1maGmoTr-vxHRC_LSRtX41KfStoQ8_GpVvX9pC6Qsgbutb4_M1b1p4Ftcs5hy5TE5mW4dyvsvgco_Uf8MgjJCastXJcLLqHr50W6OYyQdrVvLFK78WQgKuY-N9vl1RtE-8paTnafEE3SvPgF2fiFjT85UsC1C/w640-h350/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.28%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-plyEWF18i7wJ0PLlBiLOqCh4MHqvsewZ_k5yCspCwA0pIohPpta2n5sksg1hzid0ReuCmoPfi0BJ0gNDL6zz5CBMS0a_dET-5F49DBoOZJBX9Hzw1xPd5XWNbY2c5cAw647sFn7yvQfyXMWCZaI1V0wKDh0EKcMAFxxCvM6dvHqtIxLlmuzjBAhj73mg/s770/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.44%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="770" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-plyEWF18i7wJ0PLlBiLOqCh4MHqvsewZ_k5yCspCwA0pIohPpta2n5sksg1hzid0ReuCmoPfi0BJ0gNDL6zz5CBMS0a_dET-5F49DBoOZJBX9Hzw1xPd5XWNbY2c5cAw647sFn7yvQfyXMWCZaI1V0wKDh0EKcMAFxxCvM6dvHqtIxLlmuzjBAhj73mg/w640-h588/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.44%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyWZ0306Mmdx1qP5Pvy9H1XX2qgBPK20-gpR3sgSeb26VsCyaV67wOj-PA7WSRCDRNfQM_s5fH0OjrPtPqQ2LeL4IUhpBLDDcGn0C-pwO4G6AAdaIfjQyFlC5tBE1Wyve_8uC9IvOpTHTtzHrkpyIwYC3D30yIKBkL83dDo6ufSwTRBvxD_oRGkFJSic7/s674/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.36%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="674" height="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyWZ0306Mmdx1qP5Pvy9H1XX2qgBPK20-gpR3sgSeb26VsCyaV67wOj-PA7WSRCDRNfQM_s5fH0OjrPtPqQ2LeL4IUhpBLDDcGn0C-pwO4G6AAdaIfjQyFlC5tBE1Wyve_8uC9IvOpTHTtzHrkpyIwYC3D30yIKBkL83dDo6ufSwTRBvxD_oRGkFJSic7/w640-h584/Screenshot%202024-03-07%20at%203.31.36%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Why in god's name would anyone even loosely adjacent to the communications business speak like this.</div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Forget about branding.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Forget about AI.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Forget about hiring the director who shot ______ and shooting with anamorphic lenses.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Try to define what you do.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make it simple.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make it memorable.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Make it fun.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">Tell people.</div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hand them a laugh, a smile, or something to think about.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: center;">Do it again.</div><div style="text-align: center;">And again.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Then do it again.</div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks, Libby.</span></div></div></span></div>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-10694037764412265372024-03-07T06:17:00.000-05:002024-03-07T06:17:02.912-05:00Ain't No Mountain Chai Enough.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My father, wise if a drunk, had a belief. <br /><br />And once he had a belief he stuck to it like a vindictive Greek god.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">He believed every town and city needed the last place to go before you went home.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe a bar close-by the subway station. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe a clean, well-lighted place if you run toward Hemingway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Or maybe, if you're a New Yorker of a certain age, an old Greek diner with a menu as involved as the Talmud.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyFPMI7PXyvLZsUymReFCmJbVkQm1pQJjYF15SOa1PaLd4-2U9TTEstYUSuV3mCaPdqBpZaj3KOs_MavGauwePvbN9HJfFXBYKc6uq6y4evGyTOhKQFWgbzwgxr6uWAe6CVP6haWQwNp6j8ws6kr0wMPlTn2tC_rOanHcF92YmQQDGw7ysCscvxNp3fVv/s1186/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2011.59.19%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1186" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyFPMI7PXyvLZsUymReFCmJbVkQm1pQJjYF15SOa1PaLd4-2U9TTEstYUSuV3mCaPdqBpZaj3KOs_MavGauwePvbN9HJfFXBYKc6uq6y4evGyTOhKQFWgbzwgxr6uWAe6CVP6haWQwNp6j8ws6kr0wMPlTn2tC_rOanHcF92YmQQDGw7ysCscvxNp3fVv/w640-h334/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2011.59.19%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Back in the 1970s my friends and I went to the Thruway Diner. We were private school kids and so our parents' houses spanned the megalopolis from the Bronx to pre-strip-malled Rockland County. Back when there were both rocks and land up there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Thruway Diner was just about equidistant between the two poles. And it was open all night. And the waiters were brusque and no-nonsense. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They weren't the silly type who had to write things down. They had Alan Turing memories and Kobe Bryant hands so they could carry nine different plates, bowls, saucers and coffee cups with the dexterity of a Wallenda.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What's more, like Alice's restaurant, you could get anything you want at the Thruway Diner. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Living during today's reign of systems collapse, I often find myself thinking what I would do if a political party came to me for positioning help. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I have the answer. <br /><br />And no.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Though it's dumb, I'm not kidding.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVErqH90FEL3wtKmkD-B4N3fIHkuX9rOYtP0L36TuWLzg07pS3Qy6Vzn-PXohDAyu7n2xZHZyeffKoNTISoKF7jLTzqZEoPGwNJZKy4nTGM6qYBEZ-iMfRTtG5Ngvb4Wtrhar7M5mkpQcYq6a0fuB5l5o9HEiD3_K3Vl4Cg6K0_BQWREnlNHvovQenFAtc/s1024/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2012.08.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="678" height="889" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVErqH90FEL3wtKmkD-B4N3fIHkuX9rOYtP0L36TuWLzg07pS3Qy6Vzn-PXohDAyu7n2xZHZyeffKoNTISoKF7jLTzqZEoPGwNJZKy4nTGM6qYBEZ-iMfRTtG5Ngvb4Wtrhar7M5mkpQcYq6a0fuB5l5o9HEiD3_K3Vl4Cg6K0_BQWREnlNHvovQenFAtc/w589-h889/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2012.08.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="589" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We need to make Amerika run like a good coffee shop. We serve everyone, everything, every minute of the day. We aren't fancy. But fast, efficient, affordable for everyone. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And we have good American food, like a grilled cheese with bacon on white toast and a vanilla milkshake. Or Greek food, like a souvlaki. Or Jewish, like eggs, lox and onions. Or soul food, like bbq ribs. Or Polish food like a kielbasa. Or German food like some sort of schnitzel or knockwurst. </span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We've got hearty food and thin food. Steaks and salads. Cheap like a cuppa soup and expensive like Surf n' Turf. We've got beer, and alcohol and wine, and ice cream and apple pie and giant cakes in spinning displays.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We ain't fussy. We ain't decorative. We get things done.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We're not a place for small talk with the waitstaff. In fact, we don't have waitstaff. We have waiters and waitresses. Even linguistically we tolerate no bs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We need a world that works like the Thruway Diner worked. It's gone now. Replaced, like almost everything else, by a Home Depot. Which I choose to call the Home Despot, because they seek to rule everything.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My friend, the great Barbara Lippert, posted this on her Facebook feed on Tuesday. This is what I mean.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HncoB65I_7qhqI_y71KtepMYx6Kg2pHHVfofF-ZD9QGNoDo1_Cw0pHSGtElcD4wUFfLvAHNXi7VacEjEm4lxY6oAqgfoCGhzAwOZGvIddTE3KLAqu237IegPgI7yAluvtEg5y6HjzYnLvCWy61cd-ez9IGEQEAoOLz1UeB9sC1hcJqO0WRnynvXQG6dl/s1018/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2011.50.07%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="1018" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HncoB65I_7qhqI_y71KtepMYx6Kg2pHHVfofF-ZD9QGNoDo1_Cw0pHSGtElcD4wUFfLvAHNXi7VacEjEm4lxY6oAqgfoCGhzAwOZGvIddTE3KLAqu237IegPgI7yAluvtEg5y6HjzYnLvCWy61cd-ez9IGEQEAoOLz1UeB9sC1hcJqO0WRnynvXQG6dl/w640-h310/Screenshot%202024-03-06%20at%2011.50.07%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Apropos of this, a friend and former Ogilvy colleague, sent me a note just now, complimenting an ad I just posted on LinkedIn promoting my agency, GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wrote back to him. </span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"I've made myself the most-thought of agency in America because I act like an insurance salesman in a small town. Those guys go to every Kiwanis meeting. They join the Rotary and the Lions. They send condolences notes to widows and congratulatory notes to rising business-people and high-school graduates. </span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"They do the hard work of being there and pressing the flesh. They let no one forget they're there and in business. They're thought of in large measure because they're present."</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If your brief is like my brief, "Keep the phone ringing," it's not bad to keep those old-timey coffee shops and old-timey insurance salespeople in mind.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">One more thing. <br /><br />I don't know anyone whose brief isn't "Keep the phone ringing."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-10659867978281842792024-03-06T07:01:00.000-05:002024-03-06T07:01:11.431-05:00Adam and Eve.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My ex-boss Steve, the former CCO at Ogilvy, and I had breakfast the other day. Though we were both turned out on our respective ears at, for advertising, ripe old ages, we're each busier than we ever were during our very busy careers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Neither of us went out looking for accounts when we became independentized. And maybe that's the secret to finding them. Before long we were each as busy as a one-armed hitch-hiker.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Busy as we are, it takes us about six months of texting and calling and emailing to actually find the time to sit together in a vinyl booth in a crummy coffee shop along one of those ugly strips of America where virtually every store is a chain store. It's fair to add here that neither of us are very good at making plans. And we're each painfully shy. So we're not much good at getting together, though we enjoy ourselves when we do. Much as we try not to.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I suppose you could say, like Thomas Hardy might have, that we're now far from the madding crowd. Steve lives about forty miles out of the city and I live about fifty miles north of him. We meet equidistant. Just off of exit 41 on Rt. 95, in a town called Orange, CT. The main tourist attraction of the place, which broke off from neighboring Milford in 1822 is the Pez factory and the Pez Visitor Center.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_0GqPvr4U" target="_blank">All we are saying, is give Pez a chance.</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLEi7YY-rqLaT10rpY2t1KSdQIogHZA-uWnjwRPfK8V7QlevV8IWpLQ6R-fgHAFU2ptfZUnqx29QtmcmcM9S6sRi9ID6K_DsnFKaUdewmlhcITKA6-x4mbxKRXolpqnAaLz_Q22ux7WVjPNOauqb_5YQYA-tUZG8N4bCq5Dj9uN-xdTaa3W4m_avc-jGo/s1330/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%203.22.38%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="996" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLEi7YY-rqLaT10rpY2t1KSdQIogHZA-uWnjwRPfK8V7QlevV8IWpLQ6R-fgHAFU2ptfZUnqx29QtmcmcM9S6sRi9ID6K_DsnFKaUdewmlhcITKA6-x4mbxKRXolpqnAaLz_Q22ux7WVjPNOauqb_5YQYA-tUZG8N4bCq5Dj9uN-xdTaa3W4m_avc-jGo/w480-h640/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%203.22.38%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="480" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">According to their website, the visitor center is over 4,000 square feet dedicated to all things Pez--that's roughly 80-feet by 50-feet, if anyone's counting. About the side of now-empty holding-company-agency creative departments.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccnnvrxg2n0lRmxTh3Q1sDjKpSkT5Uqlm5MbHFE6sbPc6kfQJrTFdINtAT-C9716ZV4bjynhk8oyHjHDUdJdVNqVvIUFe8uGWGcIix6fJQ2X9_gIU8X1JajHJFWLAJDGYLL468Z8q4pOas6zJdkqpMMe5xqVL75FqMuyz1XNlwn4ETEunA9fW_YOzONBl/s1656/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%203.23.42%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1656" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccnnvrxg2n0lRmxTh3Q1sDjKpSkT5Uqlm5MbHFE6sbPc6kfQJrTFdINtAT-C9716ZV4bjynhk8oyHjHDUdJdVNqVvIUFe8uGWGcIix6fJQ2X9_gIU8X1JajHJFWLAJDGYLL468Z8q4pOas6zJdkqpMMe5xqVL75FqMuyz1XNlwn4ETEunA9fW_YOzONBl/w640-h422/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%203.23.42%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Pez Visitor Center is said to have the most extensive display of Pez memorabilia on public display in the world. That includes the world's largest Pez dispenser and a Pez motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers in California.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Steve and I have never, even for a scintilla of a moment, had the slightest interest in visiting the Pez Visitor Center. We're both pretty fervid about our over-easys and our jamoke and our lives beyond the fleshpots of Madison Avenue. Steve is also following his out-of-advertising passion and getting yet another degree, this one online from the University of Chicago, in English Literature.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuda79Pv1_XfOf3YPaJpTkid1a8M39uyF0X1C4PiuSiZ_0Kh0fnYo_3jaFyjS2mTBGvpFfkscszVGu8Thq_linf7_oL05dUOF0MpRQExEPnld49civBC2TQ4YFEUbIdNxjyl-6RHpRvQaLSmv4IFJaB5ErfbFOVHKQ_fJ_EvHsQhrdOjaGIMwVGCo-1wP1/s1108/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%205.07.32%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="764" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuda79Pv1_XfOf3YPaJpTkid1a8M39uyF0X1C4PiuSiZ_0Kh0fnYo_3jaFyjS2mTBGvpFfkscszVGu8Thq_linf7_oL05dUOF0MpRQExEPnld49civBC2TQ4YFEUbIdNxjyl-6RHpRvQaLSmv4IFJaB5ErfbFOVHKQ_fJ_EvHsQhrdOjaGIMwVGCo-1wP1/w442-h640/Screenshot%202024-03-05%20at%205.07.32%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="442" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Me, like Tom Joad, I'm just trying to get by without shovin' nobody, that's all.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So, our conversation stayed mostly on the books we're reading. The joy of having a moment or two every week to read a little Yeats or Proust, like Steve does or the giant histories I gravitate toward. We also talk about our youth. Games we played. Players we admired. And because there is today a renewed interest in the old African-American players who were barely allowed to play with white people, the history and the remembering of the never-known greats of yesteryear.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYJ_fMSBZiH5JAbep9V5uc73x06WvxCpMGDNEphFNTWI39RqNMhqe3WPKRjE57gUi_w4SRtj-m8MHKjCL8JfMrFmbfMoXBNZB3cZd6qaGVrc6AySAgeKih2oU2ZxwUMX3F9scPgrk3rJD2VykpWwkg0bMjML0JXz5as584gbLT_2vYCKfOT25nMGHk2Wc/s846/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20at%207.06.15%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="558" height="968" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYJ_fMSBZiH5JAbep9V5uc73x06WvxCpMGDNEphFNTWI39RqNMhqe3WPKRjE57gUi_w4SRtj-m8MHKjCL8JfMrFmbfMoXBNZB3cZd6qaGVrc6AySAgeKih2oU2ZxwUMX3F9scPgrk3rJD2VykpWwkg0bMjML0JXz5as584gbLT_2vYCKfOT25nMGHk2Wc/w638-h968/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20at%207.06.15%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="638" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZgwUyElETKdZES0vbT7u8wHHaBcI9ZQWzqcbZTpPaP0jNjZhV_W6I4eiYCJOXWIIYdYW1cavFIAG9b8dGydnRVD_Oe2Q2w6UfImxgUyr6qGtkBQAewufwlFLHs4mSswrrraklE8MXrrWd9nKpu_BSxX3_0bCLpTQXYN4DdG9Q2SS6Kn7qvG9oYRhxt3D/s910/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20at%207.09.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="910" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZgwUyElETKdZES0vbT7u8wHHaBcI9ZQWzqcbZTpPaP0jNjZhV_W6I4eiYCJOXWIIYdYW1cavFIAG9b8dGydnRVD_Oe2Q2w6UfImxgUyr6qGtkBQAewufwlFLHs4mSswrrraklE8MXrrWd9nKpu_BSxX3_0bCLpTQXYN4DdG9Q2SS6Kn7qvG9oYRhxt3D/w640-h430/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20at%207.09.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> </span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p class="p2" style="color: #545454; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Crispus Attucks High School’s basketball team, including Oscar Robertson, second from left, celebrate their 1954 regional title by hoisting their coach, Ray Crowe, on their shoulders.</span> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small;">PHOTO: THEINDIANAPOLIS STAR<span class="s1" style="color: black;">/</span>ASSOCIATED PRESS</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Coincidentally, when I got back to my unramshackled cottage up the coast, The Wall Street Journal serendipitously--uncannily, maybe--just reviewed this </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Real-Hoosiers-Crispus-Attucks-Robertson-ebook/dp/B0C9ZTG9RF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NUCTI8X92XWD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.P3k5tC8rdSZxCuFg3psfqAguFa6vf2CrCMxCmIMIZL3Oeqdc9lB563K9gsWF0YzB318EFdn82MdFO3c5dhpoKVdfdvEMHTyj46BpvxuXD_QHZ-00-7cMgJ4Nqrx5ZXWRc_n4nEfWSNS5RgWQKQRvtpBoY5Ds9OEaHz85RyrzMz0AkP6ztLzPTL8qDS68v7pN5TBPAl48gOtFzR5yUFTAIYAK9sKw17iR8c9zJDyh3J6U9R5hL5GaU4FR4l5kbpY_3HJDurzdzDlQdWzCeq7GrCW2L-gOiBX9J3qMiJx_QV4.62VfqQS1NNktXaPqFxO5FJRHuUkHqDFrwwsrZpYnmyg&dib_tag=se&keywords=real+hoosiers&qid=1709510765&sprefix=real+hoosiers%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1" style="font-family: helvetica;" target="_blank">new book</a><span style="font-family: helvetica;">. Steve, a Hoosier himself, had been talking about the Crispus Attucks' team, their legendary coach, Ray Crowe, </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">just moments earlier. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Crowe's </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">brother, George was one of the first African-Americans to play for the Boston Braves--after a successful career in the Negro Leagues. He was also an All-American basketball player and played basketball professionally, as well.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">No real point today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Just two old admen telling stories.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What could be better?</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-13342211011266657862024-03-05T06:57:00.001-05:002024-03-05T06:57:40.396-05:00Four Minutes and Eleven Seconds of Career Guidance.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="478" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jgQyJeoPF24" width="575" youtube-src-id="jgQyJeoPF24"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'm 166 years old. Or at least I feel that way. Especially when I have revisions to do on things that shouldn't be revised. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I worked at Bloomingdale's as a copywriter in their in-house advertising agency, I never avoided doing the work that was assigned to me. <br /><br />Except drapery and blind ads. They demanded creating long rows and columns on my typewriter. Different lengths and widths for different window-coverings. Tough for a bad typist working on a typewriter, not a computer. I avoided those ads.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Today, I avoid revisions. Especially when I don't agree with them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wish I had seen the clip above, from the Coen Brothers' great movie, "Inside Llewyn Davis," when I was 16. Or 26. Or even 36, 46, or 56.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">At about 3:12, F. Murray Abraham delivers a stare and a single sentence that everyone in our business--or any business--would do well to consider.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This is somewhat painful to write about. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">To say aloud.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">To admit to the world.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And maybe it's a function of being old.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Of coming to the end of a lifetime in advertising.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Or, of working with smaller clients now, who when they spend money on advertising are spending their own money. When you work for a big agency and big clients, your clients are spending their budget. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When you work for start-ups and you're dealing with owners or founders--even if their company has a market cap of $20 Billion--you're spending their savings. You're spending their rent money. The money they need to pay for their kids' college. Or their retirement fund.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When you're working for such companies advertising hurts. Spending on it isn't a whim. Taking a chance is fraught with peril. Advertising is no longer an art-project. Or a silly exercise in creativity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Look at me! I won a trophy! It's a Lion!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's about spending one-dollar and getting back two.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Somewhere along the way we've forgotten the derivation of the word "agency." We are agents--motive forces of our clients' success. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We are in business not to promote our brilliance but to promote their brilliance. To show the world why our clients are important, needed, and why they should be bought.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We are agents who work for clients to make them money.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That doesn't mean we sell out and scream at people, the way so many advertisers do. Or break into dance to convey euphoria. That doesn't mean we aren't invested. That doesn't mean we should do things that are barbarous and ugly and short-term.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It means that in each thing we do, we need to calculate the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope">rise over run</a>. The "worth-it-ness" of our work to a client's business.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">How will this thing we do--our chosen profession--make our clients money?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I stole--and adapted--the thinking below from an art director and friend, Neal Raphan, over 35 years ago. I've carted it around for all those years. I carry it as a shibboleth. You know, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20hoc%20signo%20vinces" target="_blank">"In hoc signo vinces."</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Llewyn should have had these words, this--maybe this is pompous--guidance.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Then F. Murray Abraham at 3:12 might not have hurt so much.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe we all should.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkiHrzET3Sy9LQtXBSSgSHzcKP0zKV7npT0faFC00Xg0u4lJqhXelcWiiYv9hltnLDTuoDrB6GR9layccO3JqSBpgp5Yda91u5hg5QIivHWLav1h8E6iGkvFrZsdRc46SrZH9kd0ztxS0i6jN_C7TChtSZMH3RZqy_F15huXtlL31bAbtepLApXLJjGRNL/s766/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.36%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="766" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkiHrzET3Sy9LQtXBSSgSHzcKP0zKV7npT0faFC00Xg0u4lJqhXelcWiiYv9hltnLDTuoDrB6GR9layccO3JqSBpgp5Yda91u5hg5QIivHWLav1h8E6iGkvFrZsdRc46SrZH9kd0ztxS0i6jN_C7TChtSZMH3RZqy_F15huXtlL31bAbtepLApXLJjGRNL/w640-h494/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.36%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iiMsHlCjDGARIM42Y0M7JAQjIcu1oTk0But209OORRW7oDoSdyuxD93wqsxyLY-kStekX48EYCjmp4rbJowIhg8jNOx_qXpqPdYo9ebtTfzN-gS3vGOp0aWQyyRAQ0ueyWVSmcboju-u-yOVdqicEu1ZfNrviNHf3fHvtQVeCexWXJICVGDc2WaU-zAA/s768/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.44%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="768" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iiMsHlCjDGARIM42Y0M7JAQjIcu1oTk0But209OORRW7oDoSdyuxD93wqsxyLY-kStekX48EYCjmp4rbJowIhg8jNOx_qXpqPdYo9ebtTfzN-gS3vGOp0aWQyyRAQ0ueyWVSmcboju-u-yOVdqicEu1ZfNrviNHf3fHvtQVeCexWXJICVGDc2WaU-zAA/w640-h488/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.44%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeShquUxLlubLcLwBihSvp9_ZjelOsIw4XJPN5uogmbfHfqFCIwaBEyLPXOj_HfFzWyiVP2SDKkc2EBifoPgdKK0PqGbxxyjb10p6Cxf48bSUjddv0UNbcJ8n6JCtqxcM86EgbyXXQUrS9rkOaAtwhWjB-Aj0czXITzZb_K31rAcIPcjfA039PL8EKzru/s770/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="770" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeShquUxLlubLcLwBihSvp9_ZjelOsIw4XJPN5uogmbfHfqFCIwaBEyLPXOj_HfFzWyiVP2SDKkc2EBifoPgdKK0PqGbxxyjb10p6Cxf48bSUjddv0UNbcJ8n6JCtqxcM86EgbyXXQUrS9rkOaAtwhWjB-Aj0czXITzZb_K31rAcIPcjfA039PL8EKzru/w640-h492/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHNvD1qkZ6gl4tuy9MxI7U0hHxSiipJkoac_vY_9yZ_e7TRr-61c6LXqt0XOutc3CfzYWcYuRhiGGhbF-Q65QZG-K5JMuu9XYfwmBUHU3VAanrBcENleci-Vn2gO1YdjylHOU-GN4HvuCltKv8mDes6CIvXDKfrBaFDkZLCcM0HlN4Z2EM8J7XTIz4NmRn/s768/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.58%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="768" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHNvD1qkZ6gl4tuy9MxI7U0hHxSiipJkoac_vY_9yZ_e7TRr-61c6LXqt0XOutc3CfzYWcYuRhiGGhbF-Q65QZG-K5JMuu9XYfwmBUHU3VAanrBcENleci-Vn2gO1YdjylHOU-GN4HvuCltKv8mDes6CIvXDKfrBaFDkZLCcM0HlN4Z2EM8J7XTIz4NmRn/w640-h492/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.45.58%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK4bcRUoP0JMEbdOeS8wQU2rOobpevXEo_9WxVVqIPHmBdAwX-F0XHSIZL4cX5YnC7F_UQY30N-kCO9xYgiVnmvcNQtUSgUkGcW_HbcFQqJ2Bc9ZiFoGooK6ZEMeSY1Pzs3cXiyDCS6Xw3R1-sm6NBwAGTi7gIZQoWHpwc7TKrAK6oP6Q1PTma0i92Pjb/s756/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.05%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="756" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK4bcRUoP0JMEbdOeS8wQU2rOobpevXEo_9WxVVqIPHmBdAwX-F0XHSIZL4cX5YnC7F_UQY30N-kCO9xYgiVnmvcNQtUSgUkGcW_HbcFQqJ2Bc9ZiFoGooK6ZEMeSY1Pzs3cXiyDCS6Xw3R1-sm6NBwAGTi7gIZQoWHpwc7TKrAK6oP6Q1PTma0i92Pjb/w640-h500/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.05%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2K2dVOobkyorzMl3be1uMML0iHybCwJh8-t5TMJA7P1-zTLrF9ILWtWCnirgewXukakzkQIv7w9NpU8AmgZOqlPghBRZDnqmy9FjoV_xS0K_98cGFL4fF5azs1Gg6ARiG_9ev9YfmST8dxRXTPSBigFJrAPDxUpFLUzn2_54isNJJxfrsoYOrZBGUDtX0/s764/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.13%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="764" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2K2dVOobkyorzMl3be1uMML0iHybCwJh8-t5TMJA7P1-zTLrF9ILWtWCnirgewXukakzkQIv7w9NpU8AmgZOqlPghBRZDnqmy9FjoV_xS0K_98cGFL4fF5azs1Gg6ARiG_9ev9YfmST8dxRXTPSBigFJrAPDxUpFLUzn2_54isNJJxfrsoYOrZBGUDtX0/w640-h492/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.13%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTaf2BDZdDg8yi2dZt-8pPE4U1lAspdz50rdW8cnFcYsECBhYIEx5oL0dosBPYwyoMvQNBDnidtoAw5FUPojsVA3oJV-cEMAOO_JnB85ECIBLClfZGNDKKK0v6kpHlP7Q_AhvWPDh3oDA_VheoiemZjNyZZzymzYVSl8E8snLoxutk7ldzpln2TevsZcS/s768/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.19%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="768" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTaf2BDZdDg8yi2dZt-8pPE4U1lAspdz50rdW8cnFcYsECBhYIEx5oL0dosBPYwyoMvQNBDnidtoAw5FUPojsVA3oJV-cEMAOO_JnB85ECIBLClfZGNDKKK0v6kpHlP7Q_AhvWPDh3oDA_VheoiemZjNyZZzymzYVSl8E8snLoxutk7ldzpln2TevsZcS/w640-h486/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20at%208.46.19%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-65020053034063692892024-03-04T07:00:00.003-05:002024-03-04T07:00:27.929-05:00Modern Metaphor.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsl8uEo4RhBYgv_0Vl4mGFPRrmeQQDUFRgtyVfniXAdwjcxvXfmhK8uhRWR6WPksPSGXYa-wZzBp-lLu8YciROg52wF1rif_ClAzEdfzS3Lg4WNYlkGPa8mDXi0NQNvb-XU8s1lHkUNgSJR1SZZqVSmQYbCQdG1ecjQbNdYGuD7M3JrvmUPIVMgRZr2gE/s1214/Screenshot%202024-02-29%20at%207.31.56%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1214" data-original-width="926" height="778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsl8uEo4RhBYgv_0Vl4mGFPRrmeQQDUFRgtyVfniXAdwjcxvXfmhK8uhRWR6WPksPSGXYa-wZzBp-lLu8YciROg52wF1rif_ClAzEdfzS3Lg4WNYlkGPa8mDXi0NQNvb-XU8s1lHkUNgSJR1SZZqVSmQYbCQdG1ecjQbNdYGuD7M3JrvmUPIVMgRZr2gE/w593-h778/Screenshot%202024-02-29%20at%207.31.56%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="593" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Casey Stengel, AKA "The Ol' Perfesser."</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />I'm good at metaphors. <br /><br />Or at least I think I am.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Because I've spent so much of my life on my own, I've had to explain much of life to myself. I didn't have a father, or a mother to help me. I had to figure out things myself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The $2 word is: <a href="http://autodidact.">autodidact.</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I didn't understand something, I learned to leap to something I did understand and compare what I didn't know to what I did.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I might not understand dual-core processing in a chip. But I understand that two engines in a toy-airplane would give you more power and speed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's learning through metaphor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Seeing someone cook a good Bolognese and realizing that cooking ain't all that different from chemistry. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's learning through metaphor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I remember reading, when I was young, a quotation by the Yankees' manager, Casey Stengel: <u>"The trick in managing," he said, "is to keep the ten guys who hate you away from the fifteen guys who are undecided."</u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I don't have an MBA or a degree in psychology. But there's not much left to learn about managing after you understand that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's learning through metaphor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I worked in agencies, I often thought about the two-bit diamond merchants who had no shop of their own. They had a desk and a display in one of the big stores on 47th Street. Or the fragrance companies that built a counter on the perfume floor at Bloomingdale's flagship on Lex between 59th and 60th.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxWJPZtE0nSOH1wPxO8l2-Q1RpQS4bhfDoT0FmJEVg2ZOkZzGF_C3yFmrsJNdzJackfYavFPFcwPxQd2VJi84NMdvw4BV7q5DGB2MvyjzpkSF5pVBcmgc2_K4qqLJe1pmMD5D9iI4sAfCCcWdKmDe6sxWgC7X-ZIF3uUxF4uplsFHAiCU4Cq3a5-Fkb8p7/s1202/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%206.59.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1202" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxWJPZtE0nSOH1wPxO8l2-Q1RpQS4bhfDoT0FmJEVg2ZOkZzGF_C3yFmrsJNdzJackfYavFPFcwPxQd2VJi84NMdvw4BV7q5DGB2MvyjzpkSF5pVBcmgc2_K4qqLJe1pmMD5D9iI4sAfCCcWdKmDe6sxWgC7X-ZIF3uUxF4uplsFHAiCU4Cq3a5-Fkb8p7/w640-h322/Screenshot%202024-03-04%20at%206.59.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">These are all people who don't have enough capital or the inclination to open up an entire place. So they rent out a portion of something larger. Hair-stylists do this, too. Rather than open up their own shop, they lease a chair in an established salon. They pay for that chair and have to turn much of their revenue over to the person who has the primary lease on </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">the shop.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I realized some years back that that was how agencies worked. Most people believe that they can't attract and run business on their own. So they essentially rent a desk in an agency.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If you're renting a desk, you might get paid $100,000 for the $200,000 you're making the agency. You pay for the work you do, the desk you sit at, the broken xerox machine you nominally have access to, and the supposed support you get from the agency itself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There’s nothing in these relationships but payment. There's a pretense of symbiosis, but they're about as mercantile as you can get. And no orchestra will keep a one-armed xylophone player. If you can't make them money, you have to hit the bricks. As long as you’re making them dough, you keep your table, or seat. They mask the mercenary-ness of the relationship by pretending you’re part of a team or a family member. Yeah, right.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They pay you, yes. But only a portion of the money you bring in. They never, under any circumstances, pay someone more money than they bring in. Especially creative people. Creatives never get "overhead consideration."<br /><br />Most people don't look at working for a company as a form of <b>pay-go-ism</b>, but that's what it is. If you don't pay them, you don't get work. It's no different from any of the examples above. I guess buried somewhere in our evolutionary patterns, we want to believe we're important to the tribe. So we try to ignore that we're only there to make money for the boss.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'm not one-hundred percent sure why this system seems to have collapsed. For me, personally, when I got fired from Shmogilvy I soon discovered I didn't need an agency to give me clients. I found I could get them myself. I discovered I no longer needed an agency brand to help define me, I could build my own brand.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Emergent George, you could call it. Believing in myself.<br /><br />My friend Nicole, also ex-Schmogilvy, said to me one day before they fired me: "Don't worry about being fired; you're brand is better than theirs."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The final reason behind the break-down of the agency-worker relationship might be the hardest to understand. Somewhere along the way--maybe about five years ago--a lot of agencies and clients decided that their path to greatest returns was to mass produce commoditized work making small profits on thousands of pieces rather than making large profits on one or two pieces.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's the old, make for the classes, you dine with the masses. Make for the masses, you dine with the classes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Agencies today for the most part get their money producing a trillion banner ads and social tiles. These "assets" keep hundreds of low-paid people working at 110-percent capacity and maximizes the agency's return on worker-output. It's work that's churned out and often it's work that's produced in "batches." Agencies make more money on one-thousand people at, say, one-hundred dollars a day, than they would on twenty people even if those people earned them four-thousand dollars a day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">ex: <b>1,000 people x $100 income/day = $100,000.<br /><span> 20 people x $4,000 income/day = $80,000.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span>This is exactly how you'd run a barber shop or a diamond desk or a perfume counter. You'd maximize profit.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Agencies used to be agents for their clients' success. Today's calculus is different. Agencies aren't agents anymore--they deliver little added-value and advice is scarce. </span></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Only rarely do they do something big that drives a brand or a category forward. They patch streets. They don't build road-networks.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span>Agencies more properly might be called Vendories. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span>That's not a metaphor.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-47489560132738009372024-03-01T06:45:00.005-05:002024-03-01T14:10:56.290-05:0044 Micro-Aggressions.<p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I see no reason for college sports.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I especially see no reason for college football coaches to be paid $7.9 million dollars.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If America really had separation of church and state, religious institutions would be taxed.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Related to that, so would billionaires. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I happen to believe most societies fail or prosper according to the success of their tax policies. And their ability to exploit cheap labor.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When you work for a company, it seems to me the relationship between work and pay is broken. I'd restore that by paying people daily. In cash. For every hour they work.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Speaking of bans, if I had the power, I'd ban mylar balloons.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And Edible Arrangements. Both are horrible for the environment.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Listening to Trump, Haley, Johnson, McConnell or any of one thousand republicans I can't help but think of </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Mary McCarthy's line about Lillian Hellman: "<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3f4855; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'."<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3f4855; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">And Adlai Stevenson's remark, "If republicans stop lying about me, I'll stop telling the truth about them."<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #3f4855; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">I would like a TV with a dial and only seven channels. Modern TVs take more know-how than the programming you can access is worth.<br /><br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've never used and never will use the word "party" as a verb.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I don't miss Mitt Romney.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Mitt Romney as the conscience of the senate is like Nero as director of fire safety.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I think most purchases are made too soon.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Because most-consequences come too late.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every sports season has 40-percent too many games. I'd be happier with a major league baseball season of just 100 games. If you can't decide who's best after 100 games, you're doing something wrong.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Any creative who introduces themselves as anything other than a writer or an art director is a fraud.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">'Smores are over-rated.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've come to terms with smart friends talking about dumb reality TV. If I were on the Titanic, I'd have come to terms with being in a life raft, even if it leaked.<br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZV4gewvt_9Ek6ZhHsNO2Cc-1mEUV6WDQrCxlL989wKab-luJhn9b0gnVa2cV_sdIGqgzFYYr0mq92WjDNX2Y_tWCIe6pPjl6euEsAPQUIXtPn2bcAGaN-eIcOfJoGkZrrKoDIJpJV-8oLF19BBLZ9M7bMraqLH1eqFtbIo6xXpeeDXVEsAGTv863_la8-/s1158/Screenshot%202024-02-29%20at%202.51.39%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="928" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZV4gewvt_9Ek6ZhHsNO2Cc-1mEUV6WDQrCxlL989wKab-luJhn9b0gnVa2cV_sdIGqgzFYYr0mq92WjDNX2Y_tWCIe6pPjl6euEsAPQUIXtPn2bcAGaN-eIcOfJoGkZrrKoDIJpJV-8oLF19BBLZ9M7bMraqLH1eqFtbIo6xXpeeDXVEsAGTv863_la8-/w512-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-29%20at%202.51.39%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="512" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="464" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q46sCU3xph8" width="558" youtube-src-id="Q46sCU3xph8"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Sheldon Leonard always makes me smile.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Joe Louis makes me proud to be a human.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">No one was ever funnier than Gracie Allen.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Maltese Falcon is an American apotheosis.<br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-NIq2OtkftGq_pYIajwgYplIA80o7VLqtXWmL9auH3F_UTYIgjIhGAjpjX3hSPAUhA4XdlYKkYmxXkw5wrdw9LcN1Sh7rzxFhGbjCG2YCygNHiygK9M-cVs3MyI9w2SirzLVqw-7MWvvykiLeCfVm6U9aznWUmAP7JycowLbo_QaZfUi4muYJwSdaGy8/s806/Screenshot%202024-02-21%20at%204.04.08%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="804" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf-NIq2OtkftGq_pYIajwgYplIA80o7VLqtXWmL9auH3F_UTYIgjIhGAjpjX3hSPAUhA4XdlYKkYmxXkw5wrdw9LcN1Sh7rzxFhGbjCG2YCygNHiygK9M-cVs3MyI9w2SirzLVqw-7MWvvykiLeCfVm6U9aznWUmAP7JycowLbo_QaZfUi4muYJwSdaGy8/w638-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-21%20at%204.04.08%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="638" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The world would be a better place if 24-hour news was 30-minutes and The New York Times was reduced to eight pages. I never will need articles like the three I pasted above.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Remember when companies were supposed to honestly list salaries in help-wanted ads in an effort to achieve pay equity? Why do they still have ranges between $68,000 and $272,500?<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If a CEO makes 300X what the median employee makes, can their company still claim to believe in the E in DEI, that is, "equity"?<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'm so old, I still call aluminum foil "tin foil."<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And if they still had it, I'd still save 'bakery string.'<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I have also never used the word "curate."<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Everyone has an agenda.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Especially people who claim no agenda.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I was a kid, there was an asphalt plant near the Bronx Zoo. I think of gorillas and elephants whenever I smell boiling tar.<br /><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFLxTrY81HT3YsJjp11Ok5r7hThR1VWiSeCQhMUgOok4JFBgHOqwxreb5mTPUp29WcOMf3oe0QsjZcGzREEM_yEFK0C6Bk7Uo8zIoF9OkIn5U8mUzZpEg54E7NTF0Hzi5H1oTQxcO6xWa2icSuAbD-cfa_TJdyjqOohmKzQP2jbZ-oxoAzW_BcrrxfNu0/s1140/Screenshot%202024-02-21%20at%204.17.43%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="604" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFLxTrY81HT3YsJjp11Ok5r7hThR1VWiSeCQhMUgOok4JFBgHOqwxreb5mTPUp29WcOMf3oe0QsjZcGzREEM_yEFK0C6Bk7Uo8zIoF9OkIn5U8mUzZpEg54E7NTF0Hzi5H1oTQxcO6xWa2icSuAbD-cfa_TJdyjqOohmKzQP2jbZ-oxoAzW_BcrrxfNu0/w340-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-21%20at%204.17.43%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="340" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The prettiest girl I ever saw was drinking Hoffman's through a straw. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Having an eidetic memory is having a disappointing life. I really do remember feeling rich with 85-cents in my pocket.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wish Homer wrote more than two epics.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">No, I don't mean Homer Simpson.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My Wilson A2000 baseball glove was stolen from my dorm room in Johnson Hall at Columbia University during a fire drill in late May, 1980. I'm still looking for it.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every place I hung out as an unsupervised child in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s is now a Home Depot.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Amber Alert would be a good stage name.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I know I said 44 but this is more than enough.<br /><br /></span></li></ol><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-15240968105456068012024-02-29T06:32:00.003-05:002024-02-29T07:16:01.677-05:00Disposable, I.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtjsvxDo5H1BT8Sqa8OIip0wf4PGGacFo-KY7SPp2FIa-c3jHEoRgPkIwV_4e5sVKYHnFhVz9KC9ilSckMTVwToY3NfCMvVsPk6j7yqA9jFHXaFIL8jDpqbpbvLlKIEMxLFfcVRw3or6KSglfi02xDAWxm0x6s2pk680lTtIhb51ldZxUCc4gf2xQE70w/s960/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.13.42%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="872" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtjsvxDo5H1BT8Sqa8OIip0wf4PGGacFo-KY7SPp2FIa-c3jHEoRgPkIwV_4e5sVKYHnFhVz9KC9ilSckMTVwToY3NfCMvVsPk6j7yqA9jFHXaFIL8jDpqbpbvLlKIEMxLFfcVRw3or6KSglfi02xDAWxm0x6s2pk680lTtIhb51ldZxUCc4gf2xQE70w/w582-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.13.42%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="582" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />A friend of mine complimented one of my blog posts yesterday--effusive praise, really. Of course I responded the way anyone who's been beaten for his entire life and for 5000 years before he was even born would respond. I answered with self-deprecation and an old one-liner. <br /><br />I thought that was that.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But then I started thinking about the one-liner. I said to myself, "I've been telling that joke for over 50 years." My deceased bestie, Fred, used to distinguish between long-time friends and friends for a long time. One is about length of time. The other about depth of soul. This was a depth of soul joke.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And then I thought some more. I thought some more about using a joke I've been telling for more than half a century. The same way I use references from Jeremy Bentham, Winston Churchill, Plutarch and Virginia Woolf. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And then I thought some more. I thought about how my age peers and I, no matter what level of affluence or poverty we were raised in, grew up in what I'll call a "savers' culture." When we brought a cake home from the bakery--there were bakeries in those days--our mothers, no matter how Miltowned and Metracalled they were, saved the red and white striped baker's string, usually in a big inscrutable ball.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My mother--a child of World War II scrap drives, had us bundle old newspapers and magazines and haul them to the dump, where a bundle the size of a footlocker might earn us $2. Even as my father rose through the advertising ranks and emerged as the Chairman of a top-20 agency, she was getting glassware with her fill-ups at the gas station and was darning socks at night. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We drank our frozen orange juice in glasses with Texaco logos.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It occurred to me we grew up saving everything. And that included vast stores of jokes, song lyrics, quotations from John Greenleaf Whittier, movie scenes, gravestone inscriptions, funny names and a trillion other pieces of old bakery string we could pull at and get ideas from.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLOusnXdPQK7CqkI9q1lUU71-e3Ou9IbBMmnU63o0TESH6tzSXkUZIA-KAvx0px-7p8N2qMkn6Z5u8AyLp8UUN7aR1sSCOvg7mZyOAZs40x-8cNEWv9EcGIjATkmDEUGqw1MNgU9ooqnP3N55NQQqcHvzTfWm4a_jOGBgHMKaBB_YhGZCSmdKmaxUuN7L/s1424/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.15.12%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1424" data-original-width="948" height="1037" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLOusnXdPQK7CqkI9q1lUU71-e3Ou9IbBMmnU63o0TESH6tzSXkUZIA-KAvx0px-7p8N2qMkn6Z5u8AyLp8UUN7aR1sSCOvg7mZyOAZs40x-8cNEWv9EcGIjATkmDEUGqw1MNgU9ooqnP3N55NQQqcHvzTfWm4a_jOGBgHMKaBB_YhGZCSmdKmaxUuN7L/w690-h1037/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.15.12%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="690" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I had read a book (this is an example of saving things) by an elderly former English professor who grew up during the depression on a lonely farm in Iowa. The book--which I recommend--was called "Little Heathens," and it gives you a Willa Cather view of life one-hundred years ago. The author recalls an inscription on the hog slaughterhouse near her house: "We use every part of the pig but the squeal."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I think good creativity is like that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We use every synapse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So we get into the habit of storing every synapse. We become savers, compilers, recallers. And those shards of life, like Etruscan pottery bits, re-form and re-mix to become ideas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's not fair for me, an old man, to disparage all of what I see today. Just as it's not fair for me to praise all those of my generation. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvs2koYd9ejPrh-W-94LFKT-R4ObErBLA915ia5in4XZGObDM5JyKVasv_p5gyO40UQtOsEeRxREu3rQH-5zwekZFKFp0vOAROXT71GzYvSgFC8Gqce5Sx9k6fXjAzFgj_TZ58aHXdmkTmYqEdzuoZlG5yqh0yiF4efRduCT9wbn6S54SXBXoOLNPU4zv/s1360/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.02.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="1036" height="777" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvs2koYd9ejPrh-W-94LFKT-R4ObErBLA915ia5in4XZGObDM5JyKVasv_p5gyO40UQtOsEeRxREu3rQH-5zwekZFKFp0vOAROXT71GzYvSgFC8Gqce5Sx9k6fXjAzFgj_TZ58aHXdmkTmYqEdzuoZlG5yqh0yiF4efRduCT9wbn6S54SXBXoOLNPU4zv/w592-h777/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%209.02.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="592" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe the archivist brain that I have trained has always been rare and unusual. And certainly there's no reason for me to be able to recall not only the name of William McKinley's first Vice President (Garret Hobart) but the mnemonic legerdemain my mother crafted to help me remember it. (She remembered Attic --a garret-- coffee-grinder--a Hobart.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Today we live in a toss-away culture. Everything from clothing to food to housing to technological breakthroughs are about as enduring as a shave with a cheap razor. Your stubble soon redoubles.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wonder if ideas in today's disposable world are suffering the same sad fate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">About two years ago I had a phone call with yet another advertising luminary. He was the owner/creative head of a regional agency that played on the national stage. Like a lot of successful people, his age hadn't dimmed his love of work. <br /><br />David, not his real name, was gushing over a line he had written for a client. He said, "George, that was one of the best lines I ever wrote. And tomorrow, they'll swap it out for something else. It's instagram. That's the way it goes."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I worry that we have today too much Insta and no more Perma.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Too little saving and storing and too much obeisance to celebrity, the latest trends and whatever else passes for hot at the moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Our values are as long-lasting as a dust bunny. Brand truths are malleable. And our creative well is without depth, reference and resonance. We're not only numerically illiterate, we're painting by numbers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What's more, because all of america now believes everything can be thrown out--we have a "single-use country"--why bother paying for anything? Most of what we make from fast-food to fast-ads is regarded as about as valuable as a Kleenex tissue. The best that can happen to one is it gets wadded up in a jean's pocket and lasts through the wash.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My advice to people?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Never throw anything out.</span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-66272105168947634222024-02-28T06:52:00.000-05:002024-02-28T06:52:36.106-05:00NYork.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="535" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4CxHcJKU8iQ" width="643" youtube-src-id="4CxHcJKU8iQ"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVgpqj2UsIzEpJWC03N7SnJutqsox50xHxmhNk3LV9coSlFpr9K_lsSeUe_aPHaiwJXsd38R6-31TJ1kUFqI5heS01uHyMvWbKIvsptcbXyMuhMdTlwdy1MmdeB5Q_QGMn-zCmSByLGTyvQ_tgLWpsT4WoTPJGnDqCOr6C8JE5aFbpz97UtEnVMMq2GZE/s1550/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.13%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1550" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVgpqj2UsIzEpJWC03N7SnJutqsox50xHxmhNk3LV9coSlFpr9K_lsSeUe_aPHaiwJXsd38R6-31TJ1kUFqI5heS01uHyMvWbKIvsptcbXyMuhMdTlwdy1MmdeB5Q_QGMn-zCmSByLGTyvQ_tgLWpsT4WoTPJGnDqCOr6C8JE5aFbpz97UtEnVMMq2GZE/w640-h470/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.13%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1kvcd3bN3EmYgXYQJvWuROx6dMD2BLvAYAfeHa5MMmb8Md9pnE39c-fcy9KjzMh_08R_wI1oUwyFHAWADyzcB57cEsAMWWJPGukXXkEYUPJOB8exkbfP-lbMN4AOSZ_141YUJzpN8Trzq8YB7SIadzlZotlwI8LsTWapwwJOvfIZobha_oglM1cofuV81/s1520/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1134" data-original-width="1520" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1kvcd3bN3EmYgXYQJvWuROx6dMD2BLvAYAfeHa5MMmb8Md9pnE39c-fcy9KjzMh_08R_wI1oUwyFHAWADyzcB57cEsAMWWJPGukXXkEYUPJOB8exkbfP-lbMN4AOSZ_141YUJzpN8Trzq8YB7SIadzlZotlwI8LsTWapwwJOvfIZobha_oglM1cofuV81/w640-h478/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfXrrh3vkkofAzTUH7UcCMmRlFCTQFoNtFOYjD9de_2GNdGaVB1P5kvX5s95e6FSt2mvn87wFL0_trafbWRUx3Et-gsjt-Dl80qNKI5zXXl8KNMr7ISlVrqwNjbqBViqJ9z3zelCAKDmBHaYzLSTWD06F9VL1u6V7oJkbd6GODFsrhCfNH4eDk8WPS3vz/s1524/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.33%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1524" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfXrrh3vkkofAzTUH7UcCMmRlFCTQFoNtFOYjD9de_2GNdGaVB1P5kvX5s95e6FSt2mvn87wFL0_trafbWRUx3Et-gsjt-Dl80qNKI5zXXl8KNMr7ISlVrqwNjbqBViqJ9z3zelCAKDmBHaYzLSTWD06F9VL1u6V7oJkbd6GODFsrhCfNH4eDk8WPS3vz/w640-h474/Screenshot%202024-02-27%20at%206.58.33%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>While I am spending many of my days these days up on the Gingham Coast (there's a contractor in our New York apartment now doing a small, expensive job) I've twice taken the train into the city from Connecticut arriving in the nines, meeting with the clients I have to meet, meeting the friends I want to meet, then hastening back to either Penn Station or Grand Central for the ride out of the city, often with good Chicken Paprikash from Veselka in tow.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The sad reality of coming into the city speaks volumes about amerika's current "can't do" attitude. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I read in a book some decades ago that getting to Machu Picchu from Lima by the "Inca Trail" takes longer today than it did in the 15th Century, before the Spanish depredations, rape and despoiling of the continents. I believe the same phenomenon holds in New York. It takes longer to get into Manhattan from suburbia in 2024 than it did in either 1924 or 1874. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The wheels of progress aren't supposed to roll backwards.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The whole Jeremy Bentham "greatest good for the greatest number thing" is about as passé as democracy itself. Today, it's billionaires and politicians first, all others be damned. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's all besides the point of today, however. The point of today is that I had something all-too-rare in my adult life. I had wander-and-wonder-time atop the ancient schist that holds up our particular island in a stream. I had hours between meetings, even longer between beatings, and the rare day when some joint or appendage isn't barking about some old-timey injury. Or just plain over-use.</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjY_Bwn3jnM18LBgUFS09oumcKMCrJqrKrAfRziAWKE33R8N4fZrBkXMacU6NNIcOz6jnszrLF5_TKwnbQyc5Q5OErqy7mMlNNVj4bD2ayumcRLZuy3HKp76S0ZyFtse1F3BEWCDdzupSRRVgZWLHQGJi6on6ZPIHzm9DXVwjZHt8g5NMQbudV6Vn-vdkT" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1090" data-original-width="752" height="861" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjY_Bwn3jnM18LBgUFS09oumcKMCrJqrKrAfRziAWKE33R8N4fZrBkXMacU6NNIcOz6jnszrLF5_TKwnbQyc5Q5OErqy7mMlNNVj4bD2ayumcRLZuy3HKp76S0ZyFtse1F3BEWCDdzupSRRVgZWLHQGJi6on6ZPIHzm9DXVwjZHt8g5NMQbudV6Vn-vdkT=w596-h861" width="596" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />As the great Langston Hughes wrote as Jesse B. Semple in "Feet Live Their Own Life," on a day when Jesse felt not so spry:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“These feet have stood on every rock from the Rock of Ages to 135th and Lenox. These feet have supported everything from a cotton bale to a hongry woman. These feet have walked ten thousand miles working for white folks and another ten thousand keeping up with colored. These feet have stood at altars, crap tables, free lunches, bars, graves, kitchen doors, betting windows, hospital clinics, WPA desks, social security railings, and in all kinds of lines from soup lines to the draft. If I just had four feet, I could have stood in more places longer. As it is, I done wore out seven hundred pairs of shoes, eighty-nine tennis shoes, twelve summer sandals, also six loafers. The socks that these feet have bought could build a knitting mill. The corns I’ve cut away would dull a German razor. The bunions I forgot would make you ache from now till Judgment Day."</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In short, I got to see New York as I seldom see New York. I got to see old buildings and their ornamentation. I got see cabs careening, people screaming, street vendors scheming. I got to see funny graffiti, angry graffiti, ugly graffiti, huh graffiti and a fecund crop of anti-trump graffiti. I got to see lovers, haters, skaters, even alligators down sewer graters. I got to feel the paces, see the races, look at the faces.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I saw the mortarless marble of the Morgan Library. Patience and Fortitude standing leonine guard in front of the library. I saw the aluminum beacon of the Chrysler and the glowing spires of the Empire State. It was New York, as it should be, with your neck craned and your eyes strained before your ass is en-trained.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There's a lot of repugnant bushwa about the dangers of New York, a city that is, in fact, safer than most red-state middle-schools, where people live side-by-side and collide and subway ride and elide and glide . Where illicit lovers hide, where citified beats country-side, an time and tide wait for no one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's the place I love.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A place I visit now yet never leave. <br /><br />As I write this from the sea just two hours north.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-50681564564550348522024-02-27T07:03:00.000-05:002024-02-27T07:03:11.663-05:00The Grateful Dead.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I know many people think it's morbid to read obituaries. They think my doing so is yet more evidence of my innately lugubrious nature. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Some people, I'm sure, look at the practice as some ones and zeroes form of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/necromancy" target="_blank">necromancy</a>--a dip into the Black Arts--in which I try to summon, communicate and maybe even influence the dead to do my bidding.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Having worked in mostly-giant agencies since 1980, I have plenty of experience with the dead. I'd go so far as to say that in any meeting you're called to that has more then ten people in attendance, at least six have left us and all the incessant texting in the world can't and won't bring them back.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlHmMjVWGznhWB07DTFhuy7VDZWe-br8O6QiHBFUHqz9xyzlPnTeBxj5ZSh_Yo1inuBq0H1CnGbb5L3IN4OFoPvQTw8IgIjF38X8t_CenyTBaTZJsTrbZGvNpHlSglGSDIwQHjkTN4D8J1QLbi9HRpwQ1ype2WlM9b-i1dOnKMvv5hxHeEXCmRCrwzjeI/s600/Screenshot%202024-02-26%20at%204.19.18%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="398" height="906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlHmMjVWGznhWB07DTFhuy7VDZWe-br8O6QiHBFUHqz9xyzlPnTeBxj5ZSh_Yo1inuBq0H1CnGbb5L3IN4OFoPvQTw8IgIjF38X8t_CenyTBaTZJsTrbZGvNpHlSglGSDIwQHjkTN4D8J1QLbi9HRpwQ1ype2WlM9b-i1dOnKMvv5hxHeEXCmRCrwzjeI/w600-h906/Screenshot%202024-02-26%20at%204.19.18%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="600" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The truth is, as Laura my insanely astute wife pointed out the other day, obituaries aren't about death, they're about lives lived. And from Plutarch's Parallel Lives till at least the end of humanity, which by my reckoning happens every year around St. Patrick's Day and will crescendo loudest at amerika's election day, people have always learned from the lives of other people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Long before some cockamamie episode of 'reality tv,' (cotton-candy tooth-decay for cognition) people learned from Gilgamesh, the Jewish Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Decameron, Canterbury Tales and from the lives of great and small and comical and morose brought to life by the Bard of Stratford on Avon, aka, Billy Boy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Late last week I read two obituaries which made their way into my "fuck-a-duck" files. My fuck-a-duck files are astounding things I trip upon that I learn from, share with friends and clients--as instruction--and even my daughters who take in my chazerai even though they seem to be ignoring me.<br /><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBKQ7lVNTmyygcOft07VPeG8pLCD3l81RX-X_mm-_syvzv7bcsoeoAyXSt-zppNtHVQQoNy-d6jAl67V6L092mYefr-4k0ubsH36Qp4t8rBP38mkeYyWz3lJ0jhDANRl5VGkxN3_VhbaVlnyEyT-KDFlT-5cmzk98zBKEno01c08FOTZV85zv6eh90JlY/s1494/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.09.53%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="840" height="928" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBKQ7lVNTmyygcOft07VPeG8pLCD3l81RX-X_mm-_syvzv7bcsoeoAyXSt-zppNtHVQQoNy-d6jAl67V6L092mYefr-4k0ubsH36Qp4t8rBP38mkeYyWz3lJ0jhDANRl5VGkxN3_VhbaVlnyEyT-KDFlT-5cmzk98zBKEno01c08FOTZV85zv6eh90JlY/w522-h928/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.09.53%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="522" /></a></div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/style/monica-hickey-dead.html" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">The first obituary was of a woman called Monica Hickey, who died at 100.</a><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> Most often I highlight articles I save as a memory jog. I hope years from now when the Great Scorekeeper comes to pen my name, someone will say, "oh, that's why that weirdo saved that."</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Ordinarily, you'd think I'd give nothing more than a rat's ass about the life of a woman who ran bridal salons at New York's society department stores. But, I pulled some fatherly "speak up for yourself" stuff and some more "be brave" stuff from Hickey's death notice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Here are two examples, as I said above, highlighted:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyajyGeMg1LJZFH666JLI87OKIeOyMdsU1ekL2QG3N4B03tp1KAyRcugXRFnEA4pchQA_uvqCmzc6f9jdePQ-ildsv_ZsZOCDht9xg5nSWEvigqn2u5V4yRo2_QK7zW6dWyTuAbMm9L_K8p4Fl7eQQDBAODShrUrcaANUhXLsS3UkgR2wW_xh5wJh4wmp5/s1450/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.17.26%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1450" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyajyGeMg1LJZFH666JLI87OKIeOyMdsU1ekL2QG3N4B03tp1KAyRcugXRFnEA4pchQA_uvqCmzc6f9jdePQ-ildsv_ZsZOCDht9xg5nSWEvigqn2u5V4yRo2_QK7zW6dWyTuAbMm9L_K8p4Fl7eQQDBAODShrUrcaANUhXLsS3UkgR2wW_xh5wJh4wmp5/w640-h346/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.17.26%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">---</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFJ-BIo6TXVtmPW7WsrG8pvNsvvcHgEZGGbluQ2jEbNMmvjMgCy3sK-6jAeWq4LW6xzYYO68m2-05mHJB8yfRtgOrHyr0XpT9htjgKwR9XFuwIm9IXjbqFhThVOavNJDjANEVHjAleCCSPBPzjhvsJ-fxmytHTDOW0uBw_Z_NHv8cBVxPUg9a1jFpCwJx/s1426/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.19.34%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1426" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFJ-BIo6TXVtmPW7WsrG8pvNsvvcHgEZGGbluQ2jEbNMmvjMgCy3sK-6jAeWq4LW6xzYYO68m2-05mHJB8yfRtgOrHyr0XpT9htjgKwR9XFuwIm9IXjbqFhThVOavNJDjANEVHjAleCCSPBPzjhvsJ-fxmytHTDOW0uBw_Z_NHv8cBVxPUg9a1jFpCwJx/w640-h298/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.19.34%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The next obituary I noticed was perhaps more up my typical Georgian alley. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/technology/niklaus-wirth-dead.html" target="_blank">It was of a software engineer, Niklaus Wirth, who died at 89.</a> I shared it within minutes with two of the tech clients I am currently working with. </span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuteFI6f7XwXorxMLMitlz1K6PAg1b1rKo1QHOX4MeB_Sowd1kcByoGBHJyHojvsqydrcoRRzheugPhYYVQIlVq2hpOUVd258WPJ1GW9WDffuutWpDxlKhK-2AZl2nCh3ShErwAJXvM57Zlk2CoqSHrtAFBdrmcJQ3kTvqUPxLCt03TsnxCPBbODo3wEv/s1180/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.23.59%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1180" data-original-width="956" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuteFI6f7XwXorxMLMitlz1K6PAg1b1rKo1QHOX4MeB_Sowd1kcByoGBHJyHojvsqydrcoRRzheugPhYYVQIlVq2hpOUVd258WPJ1GW9WDffuutWpDxlKhK-2AZl2nCh3ShErwAJXvM57Zlk2CoqSHrtAFBdrmcJQ3kTvqUPxLCt03TsnxCPBbODo3wEv/w518-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.23.59%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="518" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Here are the two bits from Wirth's obituary that, to me, should inform both technologists as marketers--including advertising agencies.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-nZX3_L2zBn2959hrh7hD1dQjiUFIEtwYov6FHgXllINBkgVJT9sjFAb0Ym6nSF5ND2TNpqoSxLIXMUjG2n7Pq3sGOx0n2iIKtgkA0egF-OfaZyXQ5YXhCqrKKW6FbRB7PEYF8ve3XBUeTx-NIFvANCzOs2uaT2nnB3UEs_NK75aAXcRzRcECHe849Mt/s1436/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.31.03%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="1436" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-nZX3_L2zBn2959hrh7hD1dQjiUFIEtwYov6FHgXllINBkgVJT9sjFAb0Ym6nSF5ND2TNpqoSxLIXMUjG2n7Pq3sGOx0n2iIKtgkA0egF-OfaZyXQ5YXhCqrKKW6FbRB7PEYF8ve3XBUeTx-NIFvANCzOs2uaT2nnB3UEs_NK75aAXcRzRcECHe849Mt/w640-h238/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.31.03%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShrRhywZo1RtcVpEyjERU-0doPRWyAD1692Y7ypsMMgwKrJ0ZAH0cCf2h2Sd4tGkT7JV3iqtTKj8-mCmcCGRi_2GPQuPlVGGc_P12UphaZK2s6xJ2jnxL_sn8rzqXHTbTee1U25Tc94JRRChbKbg-fZhlulSwIzDi1023EuxgR_9c1bP7JiWF46tT3jgG/s1136/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.31.35%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="1102" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShrRhywZo1RtcVpEyjERU-0doPRWyAD1692Y7ypsMMgwKrJ0ZAH0cCf2h2Sd4tGkT7JV3iqtTKj8-mCmcCGRi_2GPQuPlVGGc_P12UphaZK2s6xJ2jnxL_sn8rzqXHTbTee1U25Tc94JRRChbKbg-fZhlulSwIzDi1023EuxgR_9c1bP7JiWF46tT3jgG/w620-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%208.31.35%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="620" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />That's a lot of life advice to find in a couple of death notices. You gotta give this blog credit. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Now I am death, destroyer of worlds.</span><p></p></div>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-26516295690158049132024-02-26T07:31:00.006-05:002024-02-26T07:47:08.462-05:00Clocked by Time.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijK0Vo3LPu20iDUMsmowpQzfbXv9qbZOdgv2ndajJ_-POu8RV5RlKvZ4GzoeC3e5U-0ELeHrJr5nb-KyvWHCaggJYZ4YThazExcJ6Ms1-csJpgFNpl6KdEuxsl8TyEqxRH19MutUudqZkEOrUmFxKDxYqygkxR6-MUabnxh6hebwYP1V8pCQG4szJ6SxBU/w640-h480/IMG_3289.HEIC" width="640" /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's just arrived.</span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A genuine time punch clock made by my ex-client IBM--when they made business machines and people, in turn, knew why they were in business--back in the 1950s.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I love machines made in the old style. Of metal. To last. To last as long as the Great Wall of China or the Pulaski Skyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Since my wife reconstructed our ramshackle tiny cottage up on the Gingham Coast and I got my first real office in almost a decade--and the best office I've ever had--I've been craving--lusting after, actually--a genuine punch clock.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVehgSsxpr9i5oW5y4YFmQOP81evhLM1PC7SdC1l_qSwysUrRsCNKYJfMTyvW2dbbB1KtcjHufw2eg3UHiazEEnvcKORysiSJQog7IEOcgNM8CJvhA5P2DXeql_Ej8bM4_Ncm1cRPBjjTc2w-he72ECm3dxRGnNTymgZGer2aqHwjhxwcP2rqGwYAoMP7/s1148/Screenshot%202024-02-25%20at%201.40.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1148" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVehgSsxpr9i5oW5y4YFmQOP81evhLM1PC7SdC1l_qSwysUrRsCNKYJfMTyvW2dbbB1KtcjHufw2eg3UHiazEEnvcKORysiSJQog7IEOcgNM8CJvhA5P2DXeql_Ej8bM4_Ncm1cRPBjjTc2w-he72ECm3dxRGnNTymgZGer2aqHwjhxwcP2rqGwYAoMP7/w640-h396/Screenshot%202024-02-25%20at%201.40.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I went for a walk yesterday night before dinner, and a UPS truck as wide as the asphalt I was walking on was blinking its way down the street. It stopped in front of our place and coughed to a halt. The driver, I thought, must be from the old school. He turned off the ignition--he didn't leave his truck idling--to go get the box.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"Tannenbaum?" He said to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"I'll take it," I said as he emerged from the canyon of boxes in the back. He handed the corrugated to me.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VC1_tdnZq1A" width="469" youtube-src-id="VC1_tdnZq1A"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"Wow. It's heavy,</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> I obvioused. I was afraid for a second Mark Read, CEO of WPP might be sending me a horse's head or something since so many of his ex-clients are working with me now. I felt the bottom of the box for equine <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ichor" target="_blank">ichor</a>. Feeling none, I wrestled it into the house.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I had forgotten I had ordered the ancient time-clock from eBay a week or so ago. I'm not sure if it's functioning--and it was only $49. But I wanted it more as a stern working class reminder of a less effete time than a way to keep track of my hours. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I carried it down to my office. It sits now, in kind of a bit of interior decorating irony, next to my sleek Apple-white wireless router. It looks, therefore, as appropriate as a Sherman tank next to a Tesla Cyber Truck. One was built to withstand the vicissitudes of time and gunpowder. The other as ephemeral as a donald trump marriage, inheritance or statement of fact.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I plugged the old machine in.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Our house itself was built in 1920, but everything else around me these days is younger than I am. We live in a world where everything, even expiration dates have expiration dates, and it's rare to have a machine built during the Eisenhower administration. I plugged the behemoth in. It's cord was as thick as a water main. It wasn't built to be pretty. It was meant to last. You could vacuum over it with a Toro lawnmower and that cord would scoff at the blades.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There were no lights on the dingus. There was no sign of life.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Today every mechanical device from my electric toothbrush to a heating pad I use </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">once-a-year</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> when </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">my back demands it after, excuse me, an hour's of yard work has pretty little lights on it. Some MBA somewhere has convinced some industrial designer somewhere that lights that indicate nothing are luminescent branding. The interiors of most modern houses today look like landing strips. A dozen machines are blinking. Even though virtually nothing works.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wasn't sure if the time clock was on. As I was leaving my office, I heard a click like a bank vault closing. Yep, my machine resounds once of a minute. As in, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">8:51, click, Frank's here.<br />8:52, click, Charlotte's arrived.<br />8:53, click, Alphonse is here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The machine was once a symbol of authority, of order, of hierarchy. It presided over a world of bosses and the bossed. Of watchers and people who had to show up on time and couldn't leave early.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That world--and the integrity that comes with hard-work and following the rules that worked for so many centuries--has vanished like democracy in modern amerika. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My wife said to me, "You know, the most fun jobs I ever had, were places I had to punch in. Even when I flipped burgers at Geno's."</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1g2sO5bkLwcDCNhYJgMnSZKa75LcYZxw6Sdv_yK2MxU-wf7xljQiAGcqAD-b_mOnrEHmQbZhJ_KkA9gS3LZoC_ojN5kVWuJHcCTki9Gjd0lzDQmfx9d5LYTgsOr2hAXr4yjng3Stx4tvXOtac5FYLAIG1nmq0V61tqlWgz6Ox9eMOwW4ZO_x_WKbXlHD/s714/Screenshot%202024-02-25%20at%207.57.40%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="518" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1g2sO5bkLwcDCNhYJgMnSZKa75LcYZxw6Sdv_yK2MxU-wf7xljQiAGcqAD-b_mOnrEHmQbZhJ_KkA9gS3LZoC_ojN5kVWuJHcCTki9Gjd0lzDQmfx9d5LYTgsOr2hAXr4yjng3Stx4tvXOtac5FYLAIG1nmq0V61tqlWgz6Ox9eMOwW4ZO_x_WKbXlHD/w464-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-25%20at%207.57.40%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="464" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm0aJjxyZ0f8CV13LDVA-H09j1hM_JN2l9ql3wTrY0T9RcXotwPfLkWbZzlhM3oLSWTAQJQTVr-xZe7OL2oRP8gcd2L3dG9LBbcCjAV9qQU4jRoIpjvmAROQuyYYiUsU1mPPD21F59lL9edzcn50oy3koIHOU6lcd8M_251G5mHTESnwgTV8lXfBq0taKT/s1588/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%2012.26.35%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1588" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm0aJjxyZ0f8CV13LDVA-H09j1hM_JN2l9ql3wTrY0T9RcXotwPfLkWbZzlhM3oLSWTAQJQTVr-xZe7OL2oRP8gcd2L3dG9LBbcCjAV9qQU4jRoIpjvmAROQuyYYiUsU1mPPD21F59lL9edzcn50oy3koIHOU6lcd8M_251G5mHTESnwgTV8lXfBq0taKT/w640-h420/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%2012.26.35%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I was lucky enough to punch in and out at Bragno's, the night shift, 4PM-12AM, 1978, Chicago</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"Me too," I said, thinking of working at Bragno's liquors on Rush Street in the City of Broad Shoulders, the Hog Butcher of the World.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wondered why we've lost that. <br /><br />Why we've lost machines like the old one in my new office.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Agencies want us to track every bit of respiration we do. A friend at a giant Omnicant agency tells me, "They are tracking people’s IP addresses and letting them know they’re not in the office enough. Even when they’re on shoots and in edit…" </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I don't know why, since your agency day is spent in a windowless conference room, they can't have time-clocks. You punch in when you arrive, punch out when you leave. Let a machine track you. You shouldn't have to string your own noose with a bad SAP time-system.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But that's the world today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Freedom's just another word for time clock's you don't punch.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">-</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And why not:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5p2wsRgFT7UlxSQPbLVzX-T7gV53uU-NF6s98ECCpOGRi-rPasBCixocFUjzVxl6GSnxIX5y5Z-GDNSG3VvWY0BgxCjHzNMKA_ewUtO5y06eKtNrlaaALvTZpMteksh_4k_J0H46C7XV_y6c2TCgyoFQmWRKYpsVdrx5JVXe9j7kfiFrzumhstYgHUdn/s1046/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%2012.29.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="814" height="823" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5p2wsRgFT7UlxSQPbLVzX-T7gV53uU-NF6s98ECCpOGRi-rPasBCixocFUjzVxl6GSnxIX5y5Z-GDNSG3VvWY0BgxCjHzNMKA_ewUtO5y06eKtNrlaaALvTZpMteksh_4k_J0H46C7XV_y6c2TCgyoFQmWRKYpsVdrx5JVXe9j7kfiFrzumhstYgHUdn/w640-h823/Screenshot%202024-02-24%20at%2012.29.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-14928830286418902692024-02-23T07:07:00.000-05:002024-02-23T07:07:08.894-05:00Bad News. Worse News.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X9HLLZk6rEBJGJdKa-jWGHE8VBls_lqzEa_CD7VT2xBZlCX5TwQ5Mp4oAs2gsJ1o1NMRJEYxaZ9Lwy6SoBk_3GDLoerm49blQl8S8MCSRO40ZgVBgCTpWhg1yfilZDTJaaA6OyJdiXAwMu3iM8N4r86bZR8hVthYSzcFiS18iDJa2witLTmPAm1NdZtS/s1930/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%208.53.49%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1930" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X9HLLZk6rEBJGJdKa-jWGHE8VBls_lqzEa_CD7VT2xBZlCX5TwQ5Mp4oAs2gsJ1o1NMRJEYxaZ9Lwy6SoBk_3GDLoerm49blQl8S8MCSRO40ZgVBgCTpWhg1yfilZDTJaaA6OyJdiXAwMu3iM8N4r86bZR8hVthYSzcFiS18iDJa2witLTmPAm1NdZtS/w640-h272/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%208.53.49%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> You've gotten Covid again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> It's Covid 19--as in your 19th time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> You've gotten hired by a WPP agency.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> You harken back to the 2000s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Bagels in the break room.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> Stale.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> The client loves your copy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> She loves it in seven colors of contradictory direction.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Verizon is offering a free phone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> You had to watch an entire Verizon commercial to find out about it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> You work for the industry's second most-awarded agency network.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS:</b> Every other agency network is tied for first.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> You worked for months and won a giant piece of new business.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">You worked for months and won a giant piece of new business.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Your new CCO has a really crappy creative reputation and a terrible reel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">She didn't do any of the work attributed to her.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Your new CCO has a really crappy creative reputation and a terrible reel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>Her replacement will arrive soon and will be even less qualified.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Upper management has decreed you have to be in the office three days a week.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>Unfortunately they're the same three days upper management is in the office.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Upper management has decreed you have to be in the office three days a week.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>There's no place to sit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> The holding company expense system is so complicated at takes three weeks to do your expenses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>They'll be approved just three weeks after you get charged a credit card late fee.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> The client is on Net 120.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>After taxes, your net is gross.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> The agency has a new podcast.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>You're expected to listen to it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> The global holding company town hall discusses nothing but data.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>For a moment it seemed like you understood what they were saying.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>BAD NEWS:</b> Five years until you retire.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>WORSE NEWS: </b>You're only 27.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-40107144738992240352024-02-22T06:44:00.002-05:002024-02-22T06:44:23.558-05:00Malefactors of Great Meh.<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW53QS0C2VTZr43n5bwhzn4P3zBqEyXu6AFP_NC-uK0O_yS33xl1QvJywBrf8l0yq-vAK9OYvMSu8-aa5tJ6lHHmrp3ff2y-6htYOPldbFtFf6MtkMb7UR_1aaHA7p_I4_lUSZVN4TpgkDDytts9laFluORiwvE7p_uYybOZCk8zLIaV73DcHON26-L-tu/s1134/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%205.56.19%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1134" data-original-width="1054" height="694" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW53QS0C2VTZr43n5bwhzn4P3zBqEyXu6AFP_NC-uK0O_yS33xl1QvJywBrf8l0yq-vAK9OYvMSu8-aa5tJ6lHHmrp3ff2y-6htYOPldbFtFf6MtkMb7UR_1aaHA7p_I4_lUSZVN4TpgkDDytts9laFluORiwvE7p_uYybOZCk8zLIaV73DcHON26-L-tu/w644-h694/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%205.56.19%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="644" /></a><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A friend of mine works for a new business consultancy. They recently published the Agency Family Tree which I've pasted above with a GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company headline attached. I removed the name of the new business company. They had nothing to do with my repurposing.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I realize my art direction and design skills are minimal and, really, without merit. I couldn't, though I tried, make the listings of all the individual agencies above that have been subsumed into the giant holding companies large enough to be legible. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But you should, just based on the mass of grey lines underneath holding company headings, OMNICOM, WPP, PUBLICIS, INTERPUBLIC, DENTSU, HAKUHUDO, CHIEL, HAVAS, STAGWELL, get the idea that the malefactors of great wealth and bland advertising have bought up just about every agency of any considerable size. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They've kept their paws off of Wieden & Kennedy, who somehow remain independent, and they haven't yet acquired or been folded into the giant accounting consultancies like Accenture or Deloitte. My guess is, that's coming.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Leave no cash-flow unpillaged, right?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I realized something a few years ago when I was in the local supermarket. Where there used to be Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up and then a considerable number of local brands in the soda section, now there are no more local brands. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The oligarchs, by introducing Coke Diet Zero Low-Caffeine Cherry Vanilla Lemon-Lime light, have bought a shelf-facing. They ain't selling a lot of that SKU (stock-keeping unit) but they're keeping that shelf-space out of the hands of any still surviving smaller competitors. Ask Russia. Ask Ukraine. In a war, you grab territory. Er, it comes with the territory.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The same strategy has removed competition in the hotel industry, the automobile industry, the handheld-device industry, the airline industry, the hamburger industry, and the political-industry. When giant companies own everything and limit choices, quality usually plummets and prices usually rise. There's little question that dynamic--paying more for less--has happened in what remains of the advertising industry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The "Internet Service Provider or ISP Industry" in the US is a metaphor for so many of the extortionate business practices we no longer question. First, there's no Service-ness or Provider-ness anywhere near their names. Second, if you ever wondered why so many terrible sports teams are owned by cable and internet companies, think of how much money you could make, and what you could do with it, if you owned a toll-booth. These companies have a government-ordained unregulated utility. Billionaireitude usually follows. They make money by strip mining. They never re-invest.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrIbDuEz8-KVXIXt3Ou1n-ZhsRMvgsNzbgQ7Fid8VsNiI5fDlUHye2VgKiTE7d6Hkri6dGoCGY4-HdnSEETWhKQkERzyPD-c71pe0xHS9vTrFSrvhKE7CGS-o4isNbFPhXkhunIbIPrIRcYzNIPwGqeyw6XdjeatbmDAnqu2Tv82hbxz9BpTycZzC2PI6/s2202/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.52.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="2202" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrIbDuEz8-KVXIXt3Ou1n-ZhsRMvgsNzbgQ7Fid8VsNiI5fDlUHye2VgKiTE7d6Hkri6dGoCGY4-HdnSEETWhKQkERzyPD-c71pe0xHS9vTrFSrvhKE7CGS-o4isNbFPhXkhunIbIPrIRcYzNIPwGqeyw6XdjeatbmDAnqu2Tv82hbxz9BpTycZzC2PI6/w640-h142/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.52.25%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK84XPzlxF7F1qX_gwejhEeyg8CvT-8ADYlDq2DEs8POfxfvQwXTSkcPZQqdvnsNJVXTDFA9EFNBwqGeC8pYFpLyWaFhDo4yCCsf-mWh0l8M578cOLPx0awiTAZsDTao1TZVBFDDh1LiTh0RWBPVzckqrelt-76yumL1stWJ33hFCMAiRTpHrj581-g7BE/s1226/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.53.09%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="1226" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK84XPzlxF7F1qX_gwejhEeyg8CvT-8ADYlDq2DEs8POfxfvQwXTSkcPZQqdvnsNJVXTDFA9EFNBwqGeC8pYFpLyWaFhDo4yCCsf-mWh0l8M578cOLPx0awiTAZsDTao1TZVBFDDh1LiTh0RWBPVzckqrelt-76yumL1stWJ33hFCMAiRTpHrj581-g7BE/w640-h232/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.53.09%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u43c1XFynnu1z8dRuor82B03g-Wp9mmBQzRXp__eF9VtA1N8Fz-gis-mYIDguVNyD29-Kk0OpI9PGFPf3uYmESWVsqGRc2mJDwY9TAfbAf_fyQuyXpU0IIhGw95h8ZGR_eVx_viq0j1b8OWnAET4N_kyC3Mlu7YAo6A4RBo3FC1TvFOkIcKmng2tI_w6/s1194/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.53.28%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1194" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u43c1XFynnu1z8dRuor82B03g-Wp9mmBQzRXp__eF9VtA1N8Fz-gis-mYIDguVNyD29-Kk0OpI9PGFPf3uYmESWVsqGRc2mJDwY9TAfbAf_fyQuyXpU0IIhGw95h8ZGR_eVx_viq0j1b8OWnAET4N_kyC3Mlu7YAo6A4RBo3FC1TvFOkIcKmng2tI_w6/w640-h354/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.53.28%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'm not one-hundred percent sure why there's no anti-trust sentiment arising against this agglomeration of capital. There's a verbal fudge in the law that's on Federal books, it's called "the rule of reason." Corporate lawyers maintain that some restraint of trade is "positive or beneficial for consumers or society." And, I'd allege for reasons of graft, the Sherman Anti Trust Act is about as effective as abstinence videos aimed at horny teens, a tautology if there ever was one.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0hlwo8Sc8jj2GhbxRiEREV33E4glxjkvubX63kSrZFg37-_L5lNsh2DnpRjRLP8u7I7nPpLtR4dxnDc6icsjkDVm1jVWn0NqyvHMj_zzloTIm3VFzxCP8X-pn5GYRvy6NOPy84BmaLBWWGYfU7lzrm08L0MzKj5hbriOG86JLKBf7oOimzkmTHuQH6OdD/s894/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.21.19%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="760" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0hlwo8Sc8jj2GhbxRiEREV33E4glxjkvubX63kSrZFg37-_L5lNsh2DnpRjRLP8u7I7nPpLtR4dxnDc6icsjkDVm1jVWn0NqyvHMj_zzloTIm3VFzxCP8X-pn5GYRvy6NOPy84BmaLBWWGYfU7lzrm08L0MzKj5hbriOG86JLKBf7oOimzkmTHuQH6OdD/w544-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-18%20at%206.21.19%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="544" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If you have $100 million and an unwieldy superego and seven or nine Senators on your payroll, maybe you could start to fight for the spirit of the 1890 Sherman Anti Trust laws to again be upheld. But you'd quickly be called a Red and a Socialist and FoxGnus would revoke your citizenship. Besides, you have $100 million--your raison de crumb-cake is to get your next $100 million. That's the American Way. E Pluribus Unum, that's Latin for stick you hand in someone's pocket.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">To be fair, year-over-year GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company is growing faster--and maybe even larger--than any of the companies listed in the horrorshow family-tree above. But while my clients range from pre-revenue start-ups to the Fortune 50, I'd really love an auto-maker account, or even a motor-oil, or the electric car division of an automaker or a chain of pool-halls in the midwest or a supplier of fishing gear or a string of training centers that tutor dogs to improve their SAT scores. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A lot of being a small operation is pushing water uphill. You're shut out of a lot. And you have to compete not only against other creatives but an overwhelming dominant complacency, which includes a depressed fee schedule based on the commodification on creativity perpetrated by the holding companies. Half your work is de-commodification--and that ain't easy.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But they ad game--the ad game that <er> harkens back to the 80s was always an underdog's playground. The little guys always took on the big guys. Like Apple versus IBM or VW versus Detroit. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrnLvYLvb_OOPtRdRgWdGhsHfZuhuFxrWHMmnZVe7eHRnMOtdJj3JGTLlG7VN4m9Eet0FlFSi3K7a1AUJDuRe9m06P66drvggKrFwHuoFhFaQWcjsT5nQsiE9gGmKz_pxJfMfFbjOTNubzaKn8NFfBZTqNI2bblRIzNNbnUnumYgOxGdKSfauEsvkMO26/s820/welcome%20ibm_51944.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="630" height="718" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrnLvYLvb_OOPtRdRgWdGhsHfZuhuFxrWHMmnZVe7eHRnMOtdJj3JGTLlG7VN4m9Eet0FlFSi3K7a1AUJDuRe9m06P66drvggKrFwHuoFhFaQWcjsT5nQsiE9gGmKz_pxJfMfFbjOTNubzaKn8NFfBZTqNI2bblRIzNNbnUnumYgOxGdKSfauEsvkMO26/w552-h718/welcome%20ibm_51944.png" width="552" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I wish it were easier being The Alternative.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">At least it's fun.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="471" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QsUV3UcICL4" width="566" youtube-src-id="QsUV3UcICL4"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-37163799649729209302024-02-21T06:52:00.003-05:002024-02-21T06:52:20.122-05:00Be Bop Shee Boop.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">You can't go on any social media site, read any feed, or even go on a news site without 75 or 50 otherwise intelligent people gushing over the latest advent in some sort of AI-enabled film technique, word-to-image technology, weapon-system, satellite rapine or whatnot.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="930" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3qC3Fm4EBvg9O5MhrgVTDaSGlfzKvR5Chezax2N5sE44pgLggQbv-Os1CNmzmQu-LU9fDJEF02oXsuUhdkPRkw_QZHH6oxRF-t8E9hrgV54Keqcb3YIVmXmnk3metZv2gHRNHrZFjXPNdssCPj-WbNwzUJS6KXz1FnKbEnh4ItjbOR4-P8fiP9kz7LnR/w640-h598/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.32.05%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Different in every way. But hyperbole.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3qC3Fm4EBvg9O5MhrgVTDaSGlfzKvR5Chezax2N5sE44pgLggQbv-Os1CNmzmQu-LU9fDJEF02oXsuUhdkPRkw_QZHH6oxRF-t8E9hrgV54Keqcb3YIVmXmnk3metZv2gHRNHrZFjXPNdssCPj-WbNwzUJS6KXz1FnKbEnh4ItjbOR4-P8fiP9kz7LnR/s930/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.32.05%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="926" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JSfpajdBvoQ6ppcRnHPnPhi8802hM2wT6VNpgA0YtAvXdiuR_Fh2_0QF_1gMRdGv4cqZMfGdSkEVMs8WqgTdtF6j7PWsjj3ObS3OFvxDOQYdi6fbFDgCijHygjJ86023nuWH-nwHzzWTXNn_CqKklHrkEgWy67B3lYZqxt_-fmyehi6zogbBBm0LGN5n/w640-h438/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.32.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The system is rigged.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JSfpajdBvoQ6ppcRnHPnPhi8802hM2wT6VNpgA0YtAvXdiuR_Fh2_0QF_1gMRdGv4cqZMfGdSkEVMs8WqgTdtF6j7PWsjj3ObS3OFvxDOQYdi6fbFDgCijHygjJ86023nuWH-nwHzzWTXNn_CqKklHrkEgWy67B3lYZqxt_-fmyehi6zogbBBm0LGN5n/s926/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.32.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="792" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWzFMRDbv5dp5g-H30ZMPZaDSQvhTr6jULMJRSUaege6vQ_XdNGd-_twriiiVxn33Dit-UK2M-SkLJUmwrerRcPmvNb-8rJ6F62HkGEH1_bWO1u1y9lNUwh_YOCohNFsQI2lofGS2zrlsdPrcQbO1aarLxEPl4F0z9bZN1ZGuZR104G_zzzVO5F3xMM2g8=w512-h640" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="512" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Jed Clampett, a dramatization.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWzFMRDbv5dp5g-H30ZMPZaDSQvhTr6jULMJRSUaege6vQ_XdNGd-_twriiiVxn33Dit-UK2M-SkLJUmwrerRcPmvNb-8rJ6F62HkGEH1_bWO1u1y9lNUwh_YOCohNFsQI2lofGS2zrlsdPrcQbO1aarLxEPl4F0z9bZN1ZGuZR104G_zzzVO5F3xMM2g8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Humankind seems to be gushing more over our collective binary destruction than Texas oilmen did over gushers at Spindletop a century and a quarter ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The wealth bubbling up was going to change everything and all would be right with the world. We refused to see the unintended consequences of all this gushing. The corrupting wealth. The environmental destruction. The forcing people off ancestral lands. The climactic cataclysm. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="410" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yw7rVWDHXg4" width="493" youtube-src-id="yw7rVWDHXg4"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Today, people post absolute AI garbage. Worse than crap. Awful disgusting ugly dumb insulting. Seriously, the above is the technological second coming? I've sat through thousands of meetings in my day. I'm 66 years old. I've been to Disney Land and through "It's a Small World." I've never seen anything worser.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Yet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The gush continues.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And for whatever reason, on Twitter, I'm in a small coterie of ancient ad people. And non-ancient ad people like to share these things with us. Like an early neanderthal might have shown an early sapiens his latest cave drawing. We're supposed to be awed, I suppose. Lascaux-a-go-go.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhsXyRUV3-U5R4wJqgmIqySU742YC4o12vqhovvY7QB3lwX-SgU5IkYkdepqFnysj6oNaZjqZiWOCfP9M8z46uxn1S-RKuFjcUxmuxgeT2hNS_5MShgV7slOwd0C5cEPSxKYUpfhLKjASR5JrHnmMi77dYYd0D7sD5VdJnf08H8WzYUdfIDOXoQ5W9dzl/s1776/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%2011.52.37%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1180" data-original-width="1776" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhsXyRUV3-U5R4wJqgmIqySU742YC4o12vqhovvY7QB3lwX-SgU5IkYkdepqFnysj6oNaZjqZiWOCfP9M8z46uxn1S-RKuFjcUxmuxgeT2hNS_5MShgV7slOwd0C5cEPSxKYUpfhLKjASR5JrHnmMi77dYYd0D7sD5VdJnf08H8WzYUdfIDOXoQ5W9dzl/w640-h426/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%2011.52.37%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Seriously. AI can't even top Neanderthals.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's all so empty. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">You learn more looking at the fractals of a puddle in a Bronx parking lot. No aurochs need apply.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Yet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The gush continues.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">While it doesn't take a lot to anger me, it takes a lot to anger me enough to write about it on Twitter. But finally, I cracked. And I wrote this:</span></p><div class="css-175oi2r r-zl2h9q" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 2px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-k4xj1c r-18u37iz r-1wtj0ep" style="align-items: start; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; justify-content: space-between; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1d09ksm r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2" style="align-items: baseline; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l r-1awozwy r-18u37iz" data-testid="User-Name" id="id__734k8qev24q" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><a class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l r-1loqt21" href="https://twitter.com/georget20" role="link" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-b88u0q r-1awozwy r-6koalj r-1udh08x r-3s2u2q" dir="ltr" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: flex; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">Words that make you different make a difference.™</span></span></div><div class="css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-xoduu5 r-18u37iz r-1q142lx" dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline-flex; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1awozwy r-xoduu5" color="inherit" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;"></span></div></div></a></div></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2 r-13hce6t" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1d09ksm r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2" style="align-items: baseline; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><a class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l r-1loqt21" href="https://twitter.com/georget20" role="link" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="-1"><div class="css-1rynq56 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-18u37iz r-1wvb978" dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: inline; flex-direction: row; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: "ss01"; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">@georget20</span></div></a></div><div aria-hidden="true" class="css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-1q142lx r-s1qlax" dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: inline; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 4px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">·</span></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-18u37iz r-1q142lx" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><a aria-label="Feb 15" class="css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-xoduu5 r-1q142lx r-1w6e6rj r-9aw3ui r-3s2u2q r-1loqt21" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/georget20/status/1758219277939658824" role="link" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; column-gap: 4px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-shrink: 0; flex-wrap: wrap; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; gap: 4px; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; row-gap: 4px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap;"><time datetime="2024-02-15T19:58:36.000Z"><span style="font-size: large;">Feb 15</span></time></a></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-1jkjb" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-18u37iz r-1cmwbt1 r-1wtj0ep" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; column-gap: 8px; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; gap: 8px; justify-content: space-between; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; row-gap: 8px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-6koalj r-18u37iz" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-18u37iz r-1h0z5md" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; justify-content: flex-start; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-label="More" class="css-175oi2r r-1777fci r-bt1l66 r-bztko3 r-lrvibr r-1loqt21 r-1ny4l3l" data-testid="caret" role="button" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-1awozwy r-6koalj r-1h0z5md r-o7ynqc r-clp7b1 r-3s2u2q" dir="ltr" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: flex; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; justify-content: flex-start; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: color;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-xoduu5" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-xoduu5 r-1p0dtai r-1d2f490 r-u8s1d r-zchlnj r-ipm5af r-1niwhzg r-sdzlij r-xf4iuw r-o7ynqc r-6416eg r-1ny4l3l" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; inset: 0px; list-style: none; margin: -8px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: absolute; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, box-shadow; z-index: 0;"></div><svg aria-hidden="true" class="r-4qtqp9 r-yyyyoo r-dnmrzs r-bnwqim r-1plcrui r-lrvibr r-1xvli5t r-1hdv0qi" viewbox="0 0 24 24"><g><span style="font-size: large;"><path d="M3 12c0-1.1.9-2 2-2s2 .9 2 2-.9 2-2 2-2-.9-2-2zm9 2c1.1 0 2-.9 2-2s-.9-2-2-2-2 .9-2 2 .9 2 2 2zm7 0c1.1 0 2-.9 2-2s-.9-2-2-2-2 .9-2 2 .9 2 2 2z"></path></span></g></svg></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="css-175oi2r" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1rynq56 r-8akbws r-krxsd3 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41 r-bnwqim" data-testid="tweetText" dir="auto" id="id__jwqu0e6r5tk" lang="en" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 10; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: -webkit-box; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">every time we show some advance of technology, we should show something amazing that's human-made. I think we're forgetting that our brains have six trillion synapses and are way more advanced than the most-complex computers ever built.</span></div></div><div aria-labelledby="id__5a62gigwm6i id__hinrk2j55v7" class="css-175oi2r r-9aw3ui r-1s2bzr4" id="id__kj4jd6kz5i" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; column-gap: 4px; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; gap: 4px; list-style: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; row-gap: 4px; z-index: 0;"><div aria-labelledby="id__3ns227f1lkz id__g83a92nvstl" class="css-175oi2r r-1ets6dv r-1867qdf r-1phboty r-rs99b7 r-18u37iz r-1udh08x r-o7ynqc r-6416eg r-1panhkp r-1ny4l3l" data-testid="card.wrapper" id="id__hinrk2j55v7" style="align-items: stretch; border-radius: 16px; border: 1px solid rgb(207, 217, 222); box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, box-shadow; z-index: 0;"><div aria-hidden="true" class="css-175oi2r r-1ets6dv r-1phboty r-1adg3ll r-1udh08x r-zmljjp r-13l2t4g r-t12b5v" data-testid="card.layoutSmall.media" id="id__3ns227f1lkz" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-color: rgb(207, 217, 222); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: calc(130px); z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1udh08x r-13qz1uu r-o7ynqc r-6416eg r-1ny4l3l" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, box-shadow; width: 129.091px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="-1"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1adg3ll r-1udh08x" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="r-1adg3ll r-13qz1uu" style="padding-bottom: 129.091px; width: 129.091px;"></div><div class="r-1p0dtai r-1pi2tsx r-u8s1d r-1d2f490 r-ipm5af r-13qz1uu" style="bottom: 0px; height: 129.091px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 129.091px;"><div aria-label="" class="css-175oi2r r-1mlwlqe r-1udh08x r-417010" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; inset: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1niwhzg r-vvn4in r-u6sd8q r-1p0dtai r-1pi2tsx r-1d2f490 r-u8s1d r-zchlnj r-ipm5af r-13qz1uu r-1wyyakw r-4gszlv" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-image: url("https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1758219156090953728/_lnNosLy?format=jpg&name=360x360"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 129.091px; inset: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 129.091px; z-index: -1;"></div><img alt="" class="css-9pa8cd" draggable="true" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1758219156090953728/_lnNosLy?format=jpg&name=360x360" style="height: 129.091px; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; width: 129.091px; z-index: -1;" /></div></div></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-1pi2tsx r-1777fci r-u8s1d r-13qz1uu" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 129.091px; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 129.091px; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Play" class="css-175oi2r r-1ny4l3l" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="r-uvuy5l r-cfp7ip" viewbox="0 0 60 61"><g><span style="font-size: large;"><circle cx="30" cy="30.4219" fill="#333333" opacity="0.6" r="30"></circle><path d="M22.2275 17.1971V43.6465L43.0304 30.4218L22.2275 17.1971Z" fill="white"></path></span></g></svg></div></div></div></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-16y2uox r-1wbh5a2 r-1777fci" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 auto; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-18u37iz r-16y2uox r-1wtj0ep r-1loqt21 r-o7ynqc r-6416eg r-1ny4l3l" role="button" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 0 auto; justify-content: space-between; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, box-shadow; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="css-175oi2r r-16y2uox r-1wbh5a2 r-z5qs1h r-1777fci r-1e081e0 r-ttdzmv r-kzbkwu" data-testid="card.layoutSmall.detail" id="id__g83a92nvstl" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; column-gap: 2px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 auto; gap: 2px; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 12px; position: relative; row-gap: 2px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1rynq56 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41" dir="auto" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">youtube.com</span></div><div class="css-1rynq56 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-3s2u2q r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41" dir="auto" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; text-wrap: nowrap;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">Palm Beach Story (1942) - The Weenie King plays Fairy Godfather.</span></div><div class="css-1rynq56 r-8akbws r-krxsd3 r-dnmrzs r-1udh08x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41" dir="auto" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: -webkit-box; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" color="inherit" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;">Claudette Colbert and Robert Dudley in Preston Sturges's classic comedy, The Palm Beach Story.Check</span></div></div></div></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And that's how I feel. That's what I believe. STFU about the splendors of science if you ain't willing to what a piece of work is man, how Noble in reason, how infinite in Faculty, in apprehension how like a god.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span>Every time I see some butterfly with a clown face playing pickelball on Mars, marvelously rendered by a billion-dollar machine programmed by people who have </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>never visited a proper museum, we should look at a Caravaggio or </span><span face="Inter, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="letter-spacing: -0.2px;">Artemisia Gentileschi</span><span>.</span></span><span> Or go to the Egyptian wing at the Met or see an old Roman mosaic of fish or gods.</span></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1204" data-original-width="948" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKTJ42zyUEMw7rKJNy3BU_TOeJSxp6mGwvtGpOSXF3Bq4Cea2beNuY-P8GyZnB6DgYrdZXc4Xo41mQSZQXjqvjRHKUil3ROsLCX0CUIN7whaVxOVw0zxd79rPl4ZizIzbNR28tAJUxJEhjsJV63t3uMPCyFYnCPcejj_WvFhoid1QjLK8g-H0RL4E9lCM/w504-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.56.20%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="504" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">AI. Cain't.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKTJ42zyUEMw7rKJNy3BU_TOeJSxp6mGwvtGpOSXF3Bq4Cea2beNuY-P8GyZnB6DgYrdZXc4Xo41mQSZQXjqvjRHKUil3ROsLCX0CUIN7whaVxOVw0zxd79rPl4ZizIzbNR28tAJUxJEhjsJV63t3uMPCyFYnCPcejj_WvFhoid1QjLK8g-H0RL4E9lCM/s1204/Screenshot%202024-02-17%20at%209.56.20%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Or read Ozymandias, whose giant trunkless legs are today built on binary bullshit and their description has a 140-character limit. Or go outside one dark and moonless night at look at the blackness of black and see the flicker of a billions years' past and wonder like the ancients did as they tried to derive our place in the universe.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A place made by humans and brains, of awe and fear and wonder.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Not pixellized spin art.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Sorry, Alan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's worse today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;">I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434;" /><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;">dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434;" /><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;">angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,<br /><br />Or, Babs. Even better.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="374" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ulgXG4NLjgw" width="450" youtube-src-id="ulgXG4NLjgw"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span class="long-line" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #343434; display: inline-block; margin-left: 32px; text-indent: -32px;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="css-175oi2r r-zl2h9q" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 2px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-k4xj1c r-18u37iz r-1wtj0ep" style="align-items: start; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; justify-content: space-between; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1d09ksm r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2" style="align-items: baseline; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs r-1ny4l3l r-1awozwy r-18u37iz" data-testid="User-Name" id="id__734k8qev24q" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-18u37iz r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-175oi2r r-1wbh5a2 r-dnmrzs" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 1; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-24278984335632473582024-02-20T07:05:00.001-05:002024-02-20T07:34:14.022-05:00Stakanovite.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For most of the seventeen years I lived under my father's roof and under my mother's borderline personality (or whatever the latest DSM calls 'a nasty old hag') my older brother, younger sister and I had to tiptoe around their tilted little house.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">First, any noise might set my mother's hair-trigger to 'extra-hairy,' and two, my father almost died of a heart-attack in 1967 and again in 1974, and we, as children were told it was the noise we made which was largely responsible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I grew up knowing my father could die at any minute and my mother could explode. As I learned about my parents when I left home for good, age 17, no one is entirely useless; they can always serve as a bad example.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJ-49wCAErgOll4ZdjuIiWheNuIt6s7UqsPyw1_PGwyIysYAepEdDsY6Gy2ejeuQEr83IsmWNYklgm7FhyNcO3TYlEAlxgppbEWG54XFEgmqCoQfJ-GO3xKeJgyeUx9h8fuegxGFC_rmDr_dzoRss-85eNwKlx7eSWJ7An7vjgJPeMWwXcfYJYxS8fQIo/s988/Screenshot%202024-02-16%20at%206.36.29%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="840" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJ-49wCAErgOll4ZdjuIiWheNuIt6s7UqsPyw1_PGwyIysYAepEdDsY6Gy2ejeuQEr83IsmWNYklgm7FhyNcO3TYlEAlxgppbEWG54XFEgmqCoQfJ-GO3xKeJgyeUx9h8fuegxGFC_rmDr_dzoRss-85eNwKlx7eSWJ7An7vjgJPeMWwXcfYJYxS8fQIo/w544-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-16%20at%206.36.29%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="544" /></span></a><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Even Joe Louis couldn't take a punch like a time-clock.<br /><br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">One of the examples I learned from was my father's work ethic. Except for his non-stop schtupping of various secretaries, he seldom took a break. There was hardly a moment he didn't have a yellow legal pad and a black Pentel pen.<br /><br />At an early-age, I vowed I would be more moderate than he. In fact, in an attempt at moderation, I set out for a career in academia. I incorrectly thought the ivied halls of some leafy campus somewhere in say Maine or New Hampshire--somewhere suitably out-of-the-way-and-fray, would be much more benign than my father's martini-fueled Madison Avenue hallways. I quickly learned that the only difference between advertising stiletto knives and professorial stilettos was that at a university the stabbings come fully annotated and with copious footnotes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So, mostly because I had rent to pay and no visible or invisible means of support and I was tired of getting my furniture from ratty piles on city sidewalks, I went to the School of Visual Arts and after some years of working at it (I think I dropped my portfolio at 41 agencies) I finally started my advertising career. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I vowed, however, not to cardiac my way to an early death. While I always worked hard, I never got into the practice of staying all hours to show my fervor. I'd get in early, work hard, and go home at a reasonable time. Peer pressure be damned.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When my first ACD (when that was a big title) had a heart-attack virtually right in front of me when he was just 37, I redoubled my efforts not to redouble my efforts. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In short order, I convinced myself, I was not a hard-worker.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's now forty years later, and I have two daughters, 36 and 32, who are fast making their ways in their careers. My 36-year-old is a Clinical Psychologist and runs a Harvard-affiliated clinic specializing in helping children and their parents. My 32-year-old is a Marine Biologist and helps run the University of California San Diego's Master's Program in </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a class="x-brand text" href="https://mbc.ucsd.edu/" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #272727; display: inline; letter-spacing: 0.04em; line-height: 1; margin-top: 22px; text-decoration-line: none;">Marine Biodiversity and Conservation</a>. It's kind of funny and fascinating to me that in a sense they have the academic careers that I wasn't able to pursue.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkk-B6PeX7s8pYPsk5XhwsWn-0Ma_boWhN8fRZynjhG9GEe-eaY9K9PVXTAQJGXAAOQ67mWP40N6JI62umIebWd7-La4-d7UuId_GNdKswUdxcOWB4rxe5W5hrA50zJi0Jb01HstKJxNpvyn3G8d-v44RTUQcZvmt74ElOYoyY80ZkXCEQeXdbUannrzk/s936/Screenshot%202024-02-16%20at%206.31.18%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="936" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkk-B6PeX7s8pYPsk5XhwsWn-0Ma_boWhN8fRZynjhG9GEe-eaY9K9PVXTAQJGXAAOQ67mWP40N6JI62umIebWd7-La4-d7UuId_GNdKswUdxcOWB4rxe5W5hrA50zJi0Jb01HstKJxNpvyn3G8d-v44RTUQcZvmt74ElOYoyY80ZkXCEQeXdbUannrzk/w640-h362/Screenshot%202024-02-16%20at%206.31.18%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: "arial narrow", sans-serif;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">The Stakhanovites (</span><span lang="RU" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">стаха́новцы</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">) modeled themselves after </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Alexei Stakhanov</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">, a coal miner, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">and took pride in their ability to produce more than was required by working harder and more efficiently, thus contributing to the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">common good</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;"> and strengthening the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">socialist state</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">My daughters, touch wood, often call me. And, as children do, they excoriate me for having worked so hard. They chastise me for giving them a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Stakhanovite" target="_blank">Stakanovite</a> work ethic.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">They tell me about the late nights they work and the 5AM wake-ups. They tell me about the pressures of living in a world where nearly everything that tries to uplift others is under-funded and understaffed and under-pressure. They say, with some anger, "Dad. Why'd you teach us to work so hard?" Their voices are not without rancor in these moments.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I look at them and I have a simple answer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLmh_8rV9rSJ31hrbtY3ZrogtL9ia80yg3MUEItIhpdOTz0ZF28nAWXWFhaYFLrLoaca5I3qeHIMohVtW6jjhIPRkS-aoN4m3cEweRoeHi_TD-jUMH0qLciCzdTbeDO-qQo9FDFF4YvrzxSMmaFg6ZiXthMpkVr3tdzEg3lHRQ7uF1wNhjzsSCh8JbPGQh" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="838" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLmh_8rV9rSJ31hrbtY3ZrogtL9ia80yg3MUEItIhpdOTz0ZF28nAWXWFhaYFLrLoaca5I3qeHIMohVtW6jjhIPRkS-aoN4m3cEweRoeHi_TD-jUMH0qLciCzdTbeDO-qQo9FDFF4YvrzxSMmaFg6ZiXthMpkVr3tdzEg3lHRQ7uF1wNhjzsSCh8JbPGQh=w501-h640" width="501" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The same answer Joe Louis, the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, uttered when assessing his twelve years as champion and holder of a fight-all-comers 66-3 record. The same answer Philip Roth quoted when he evaluated his career and more than thirty novels: "I did the best I could with what I had."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In thirty or so years, lord willing, my kids will say the same to their kids.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-84059888448209957652024-02-16T07:25:00.000-05:002024-02-16T07:25:52.205-05:00Facing Faces.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBZrd_Gg2xDid8sS-cZtTpc5UjyMhVw_aQPH3LJqUxDHvRUkdOHH8LWHV7H4sAyhPB0uJcrVqhEaxnzqhjAYa_pjKl8Hdg7bNv2zn0BHDK9HuP7m-AJi-Fs08hSNvMlUvDg4Gy8ZUgZuahtu8mz1DLWSHX19oRvdyd7wDSmVJuK80S2RQe5YhnRvl0bv2/s2204/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%205.29.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1262" data-original-width="2204" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBZrd_Gg2xDid8sS-cZtTpc5UjyMhVw_aQPH3LJqUxDHvRUkdOHH8LWHV7H4sAyhPB0uJcrVqhEaxnzqhjAYa_pjKl8Hdg7bNv2zn0BHDK9HuP7m-AJi-Fs08hSNvMlUvDg4Gy8ZUgZuahtu8mz1DLWSHX19oRvdyd7wDSmVJuK80S2RQe5YhnRvl0bv2/w640-h366/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%205.29.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />About three hundred years ago, somewhere in Mittel Europa, what we now call German and Austria, there was a popular sculptor called Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">He sculpted bronze busts that were very popular for a time, particularly among nobles, people with Vons in their names. Not the skate-boarding cool-kid sneakers.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="434" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qWXGoOx1jZI" width="522" youtube-src-id="qWXGoOx1jZI"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Consider this, the creepiest thing you'll see all day.</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Messerschmidt's busts showed heightened emotions. There's an exaggerated and even grotesque aspect to them. I wouldn't mind seeing them in the Getty Museum in LA, or in various galleries in Vienna. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want one in my home. I don't find ventriloquist's dummies scary, or even clowns, but these might keep me up at night. Especially if I saw one move--or convinced my wife that I had.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXYmwRwcKDlWbnf-stTWuNHq7-f1z9wvq8fprvSRh-arj7j7_oZLK8faJu15rk49heJU3kf6AoP6QaWDW27_WtEkzCLmaZuGy1OuHVWFLlcQiBaEbzwpbUFZqXktzonrrrFHq_MYLnZGfNLqz7NrI1M4qnXy1JcdRH39qlX8INpGcG5eaHD1CPJRXdSrH/s868/b1e99c0cb08bad41f86691e4234288dd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="564" height="911" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXYmwRwcKDlWbnf-stTWuNHq7-f1z9wvq8fprvSRh-arj7j7_oZLK8faJu15rk49heJU3kf6AoP6QaWDW27_WtEkzCLmaZuGy1OuHVWFLlcQiBaEbzwpbUFZqXktzonrrrFHq_MYLnZGfNLqz7NrI1M4qnXy1JcdRH39qlX8INpGcG5eaHD1CPJRXdSrH/w592-h911/b1e99c0cb08bad41f86691e4234288dd.jpg" width="592" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AOpxkX53_5K2Ze5C8AZDnIhALneCinIarM804in7QsF_Eiqj2GXhuJGfkV-IP6u78NMbozpJgkErBMJ3CKPnZ8Ouy7Xk5me3ZSnXwgHT_k6qPCqXj5LzrEv5E9NyZ8a_EJbEPzqvDaRtMmFvRR9RBCROEM0A6_RVp-qre94wREjTKVX5gyaJYVnz5cA5/s1082/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.51.30%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="802" height="780" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AOpxkX53_5K2Ze5C8AZDnIhALneCinIarM804in7QsF_Eiqj2GXhuJGfkV-IP6u78NMbozpJgkErBMJ3CKPnZ8Ouy7Xk5me3ZSnXwgHT_k6qPCqXj5LzrEv5E9NyZ8a_EJbEPzqvDaRtMmFvRR9RBCROEM0A6_RVp-qre94wREjTKVX5gyaJYVnz5cA5/w578-h780/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.51.30%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="578" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJS1CCAxyl9u75lshRwFKL8dgLl4URXVWiv3_e3wsOBH37rfbMgxGN_pyje84FFrAXp23QqqDNy_eewHjingsqQI-CJ-JiyptwRhhIIa2p06QcUED6PtCtv2ju338s0k9-T0bldcTaJSItl_5nA6XVOwC7-UsFe-xZeOpPy0FvEjNxnZdThY_VEVEe34s/s1168/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.51.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="812" height="907" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJS1CCAxyl9u75lshRwFKL8dgLl4URXVWiv3_e3wsOBH37rfbMgxGN_pyje84FFrAXp23QqqDNy_eewHjingsqQI-CJ-JiyptwRhhIIa2p06QcUED6PtCtv2ju338s0k9-T0bldcTaJSItl_5nA6XVOwC7-UsFe-xZeOpPy0FvEjNxnZdThY_VEVEe34s/w629-h907/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.51.52%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="629" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFuUHQooWmM8y_Sh41CXGXY-0USFAONABlqwwNVZ1fs9lKh9cqnf6kHvHrJjnxBD8a92fQm_zcui4zf3aj01pe7A2Qh6xdpNS8dws7ObPnFPI8cKPrjKdGQDEMD_7NVSIq3Gph06KHZx622fmjmQNl1pa6iMD0f5bTk8NP_0TuiXTsKHsq_NhHEZabdIV/s1358/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.52.38%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1358" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFuUHQooWmM8y_Sh41CXGXY-0USFAONABlqwwNVZ1fs9lKh9cqnf6kHvHrJjnxBD8a92fQm_zcui4zf3aj01pe7A2Qh6xdpNS8dws7ObPnFPI8cKPrjKdGQDEMD_7NVSIq3Gph06KHZx622fmjmQNl1pa6iMD0f5bTk8NP_0TuiXTsKHsq_NhHEZabdIV/w640-h516/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.52.38%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_s5YmT7GkaKFEurXNFTAILRzTc2gVrmKBDipHl34C7jBOPcYxIwsJsmMqpJvdeDK3CcsX0VjEJ6clJcxnCRF7zRgOAou6fg89jZHr86qPr1qUOum_M3LmqNh_rWF8a7jXS-OtnmAbdtWj_Cm4XYMXHFxFN7hTk-XpRLILNDXaWQcqNtivgRXh7cE06dl/s1090/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.06%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1090" data-original-width="726" height="965" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_s5YmT7GkaKFEurXNFTAILRzTc2gVrmKBDipHl34C7jBOPcYxIwsJsmMqpJvdeDK3CcsX0VjEJ6clJcxnCRF7zRgOAou6fg89jZHr86qPr1qUOum_M3LmqNh_rWF8a7jXS-OtnmAbdtWj_Cm4XYMXHFxFN7hTk-XpRLILNDXaWQcqNtivgRXh7cE06dl/w642-h965/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.06%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="642" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijix7veZaSnQ5BWJnq5gDHFAzFVUL4bGL8AX6fT16h9aEo9Uy2Oh_cZcQuIxY3PQFvQcIh7uhX011C-8MhPTCHaQ6wOwG0BSPruuI_teoT16eFbGd74YKUMoruizYflRlE1o88giWXVGZdRWdtxHkvIUaZltzO-BE7w9UPGG3-5ji7L-AewZPjy69-DCNk/s1354/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.26%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1354" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijix7veZaSnQ5BWJnq5gDHFAzFVUL4bGL8AX6fT16h9aEo9Uy2Oh_cZcQuIxY3PQFvQcIh7uhX011C-8MhPTCHaQ6wOwG0BSPruuI_teoT16eFbGd74YKUMoruizYflRlE1o88giWXVGZdRWdtxHkvIUaZltzO-BE7w9UPGG3-5ji7L-AewZPjy69-DCNk/w656-h516/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.26%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="656" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rlgPV22aSqKaSWda04DUbQ7sPjUZ41YBxydg_vb_nLnR-FzBor2h-tutXtn3aE_hSHhFZ8vmEp9EtrHWa4cB8pvGImvLxwG_HaduJ9fqv-HMb2rRanQM8Ehqvkx7B-J9D8Scq33zPm8Y2A_LC6qF1Z0R-MvV88ocQty0hBGOQZrv0M-nrP5z-9p4JHdL/s1074/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.34%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="918" height="761" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rlgPV22aSqKaSWda04DUbQ7sPjUZ41YBxydg_vb_nLnR-FzBor2h-tutXtn3aE_hSHhFZ8vmEp9EtrHWa4cB8pvGImvLxwG_HaduJ9fqv-HMb2rRanQM8Ehqvkx7B-J9D8Scq33zPm8Y2A_LC6qF1Z0R-MvV88ocQty0hBGOQZrv0M-nrP5z-9p4JHdL/w651-h761/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.34%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="651" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSdlUyYrVNLGqSOsz-M6S6mCO79slBZ9y1fKK1BL-QX9un_A0aFUHACvAyhTc-V5twmmeuYvoFnkM7ZX-RqZ8U231TeaEBJZk5LxekVW6han4UQwFi_1madwzyR-iBY552sdCltaUDn84wGxPeNE3J2QBjO41fgP4sb3S90TsLdx3kmrcS4qd8eBXgtfE/s1326/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.44%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1326" height="527" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSdlUyYrVNLGqSOsz-M6S6mCO79slBZ9y1fKK1BL-QX9un_A0aFUHACvAyhTc-V5twmmeuYvoFnkM7ZX-RqZ8U231TeaEBJZk5LxekVW6han4UQwFi_1madwzyR-iBY552sdCltaUDn84wGxPeNE3J2QBjO41fgP4sb3S90TsLdx3kmrcS4qd8eBXgtfE/w649-h527/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.44%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="649" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OhBnruUXgrvFB1U7edOFdzKI7CQWa8p_P8tI7T1VXfdjqy9Y15tEalWgt4X2Tts1BUBjDWNVrewELoYDqIV61H-fS_2WOXFTlF6yTwZr-3CD292fEIF6yaz50es4yLHL4fg0Q9bc2sVTgCux3V0_ebMf_0vnBsLFjQdrCWQi43adISHu1A0BlQB8BoDp/s1080/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="812" height="879" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OhBnruUXgrvFB1U7edOFdzKI7CQWa8p_P8tI7T1VXfdjqy9Y15tEalWgt4X2Tts1BUBjDWNVrewELoYDqIV61H-fS_2WOXFTlF6yTwZr-3CD292fEIF6yaz50es4yLHL4fg0Q9bc2sVTgCux3V0_ebMf_0vnBsLFjQdrCWQi43adISHu1A0BlQB8BoDp/w662-h879/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2010.53.54%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="662" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's less than a week since the commercial, political, violence and sports phenomena we call the Super Bowl has ended. I'm still thinking about the commercials I saw during the game and which are so ardently debated, critiqued and praised by advertising people in the wake of the event.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">All those spots and all the chatter about them has gotten me thinking, as I so often do, about advertising. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Whatever you think of Messerschmidt's art--and I'm sure nothing I do will come close to lasting 300 days, much less 300 years--his busts capture human reactions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Do a bit of a Google search and you'll see each one of his heads has a title like, Man Yawning, or The Vexed Man. His depictions match his descriptions pretty well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I thought of my face. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">On Monday, I had a drink with a friend. She described my visage as "resting cranky face." This is a friend.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I thought about Messerschmidt and advertising and the faces our work contorts.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbkHnljrVYY8cumwvO78w5asdztNPI7qyiV7ujheD1G1mrBauz-sJYKWX0Vj-a0RkC4dyaKHMm6NdQRUsJGj2LY2CmwhfQY1_H-ZgbiFt0KEEVLuZQKPAucpjeTHFH2yMVeUmtul01luaRb8MPonRAglZ_Tp3ejHjAS_INmnt-ma8t7E0jlbVu7IAzybgA/s1282/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2011.06.41%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1282" data-original-width="1008" height="930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbkHnljrVYY8cumwvO78w5asdztNPI7qyiV7ujheD1G1mrBauz-sJYKWX0Vj-a0RkC4dyaKHMm6NdQRUsJGj2LY2CmwhfQY1_H-ZgbiFt0KEEVLuZQKPAucpjeTHFH2yMVeUmtul01luaRb8MPonRAglZ_Tp3ejHjAS_INmnt-ma8t7E0jlbVu7IAzybgA/w732-h930/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2011.06.41%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="732" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'm 99.7-percent sure my face on Sunday during the game could be described as slack-jawed. Sort of like the illustration by Thomas Lea in Life Magazine in 1944 of an unnamed marine at the Battle of Peleliu. The 2000 yard stare. A marine in the wake of the entrenched Japanese enemy during World War II, one of the most horrible of all battles in a horrible war.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I looked at the waste.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The noise.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The incomprehension.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The adjectival gushiness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The buy-me-now Bacchanal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I thought about Carl Ally, whose agency I worked at for five years. He said, "advertising should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." The advertising I saw on Sunday neither comforted or afflicted. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It victimized.<br />It assaulted.<br />It was a pipe-organ gone mad at a carousel spinning out of control. Dissonance rampant.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I know everything is tested.<br />I know we track eye-movements.<br />And we heat-map pupicks and apply our learnings.<br /><br />I wonder if we do what Messerschmidt did.<br /><br />Look at people.<br />And say, why do they feel like that?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo3KIP5gY74hNg2Znz4C65245P6vaAljdFG_0kq0tf3QxJeAfmfpDnKYzYbur8nJVUa2hDI075WhK-iib4apmcSM7CNuo5adnc8IdgUADISN0nqTxU4UoxnrlzKP1aVmhjqY_ubEeAd13pZRrcDpQO5o0hhj8yNbpwTmtssWQ9g88XjOnzSRWRdc3yVRP/s1262/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2011.14.59%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1262" data-original-width="934" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo3KIP5gY74hNg2Znz4C65245P6vaAljdFG_0kq0tf3QxJeAfmfpDnKYzYbur8nJVUa2hDI075WhK-iib4apmcSM7CNuo5adnc8IdgUADISN0nqTxU4UoxnrlzKP1aVmhjqY_ubEeAd13pZRrcDpQO5o0hhj8yNbpwTmtssWQ9g88XjOnzSRWRdc3yVRP/w474-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%2011.14.59%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="474" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-82558905422083842362024-02-15T06:56:00.001-05:002024-02-15T07:03:05.335-05:00That's Not What I Saw.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Living for so many of my days up on the Gingham Coast, and living up here with a five-month-old golden retriever, I find myself talking to people who live near me. The issue is, they know me but I don't know them.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5YtM5V2UdDVu4uZ8QubVNK8MGsw2Tt0NGx7ZN1HfdnT-KLe8gLDfIv4k4ZzfoFlAcmHynVQsOvc1FyJEAs1BrGrrLC7frq3RDGeMJPOT2Doou0PByY4XXsDmPk6uViZOEvA0ny1IxHOQT2yRS32KlWcrj0M6qigyaCEvm0QLrOp6ALrY-wQb6_m0LBrA/s1130/Screenshot%202024-02-14%20at%202.20.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="866" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5YtM5V2UdDVu4uZ8QubVNK8MGsw2Tt0NGx7ZN1HfdnT-KLe8gLDfIv4k4ZzfoFlAcmHynVQsOvc1FyJEAs1BrGrrLC7frq3RDGeMJPOT2Doou0PByY4XXsDmPk6uViZOEvA0ny1IxHOQT2yRS32KlWcrj0M6qigyaCEvm0QLrOp6ALrY-wQb6_m0LBrA/w490-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-14%20at%202.20.40%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="490" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Though I have a scary-good memory, it's only scary-good about some things. When it comes to names and faces, I have the absorbency of a discount one-ply sheet of paper towel. I can't tell you how many times I have a meeting with Mark and call him Matt one-third of the way through and then hang-up by saying "talk to you soon, Mike."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Around here in Connecticut, my wife knows all the neighbors, their children and grand children, their dogs, favorite recipes, their approximately monthly heating bills and a Stasi-like amount of miscellany. I have conversations with people who know my name and my golden-retreiver Sparkle's name and sundry other things about me, but if you'd ask me, I'd swear I never met them before.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In any event, it often comes out that my real home is not the rocky littoral of "the shoreline," but the rat-paved streets of the naked and teeming city. Every once-in-a-so-often, I'll mention, distractedly, that I'm heading back for a meeting, a laugh, a good bagel or the grit that passes for real urban sinew. None of which anyone up here understands. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"Oh, be careful," they warn. "I heard the city is gangland. A hellhole, a madhouse."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"Murder!"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Someone else will say, "Didja hear about that thing on the subway? It's out of control."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"And the gangs are rampaging, clearing the shelves in the CVS. It's out of control."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I was about to write that I look at these people like they're from a different planet. But they <u>are</u> from a different planet. They're sifting whatever news they get through a series of screens that confirms their belief in the danger of elsewhere and the absolute genius of living up here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The biggest crime in this fairly elegant section of the world is someone either not picking up after their dog or putting their dog's waste in your garbage pail. Yet all over the neighborhood their are signs with distended eyes painted on them that say in capital letters, "NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME WATCH." That's like posting a sign in the middle of the Sahara that reads, "Bridge freezes before road surface." Sure, it does. But that matters not a bit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In our riven era it occurs to me that there's little "truth" anymore. Just opinions shouted at the top of our lungs with utter resolve and conviction.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In the wake of the Super Bowl, according to the self-aggrandizing-ness of the ad industry, you'd think people actually gave a shit about ads. It seems to me, yes, I view things with some critical cynicism, that according to one ad meter or another, virtually every ad won "best ad" recognition from someone--probably some rating entity that collects millions in revenue in return for stellar grades. </span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-ap58vGC7QVA99E1TE2LTGDyscAM7VIO-ZARmR2tevvYVPPd4Ant3pWJ9IZhSJNGQdpIjNsjiaT-jnB6YPOfOYsir9600xSKLjc2H8QlQTlNhSIe1zTonLV3LNcCulX1LCelT5sKdEXmF557-fIGBM-lx0e3YBHTpBMhRIr73IVgQZxM_3tof_mIVfRU/s1144/Screenshot%202024-02-14%20at%2010.04.22%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1144" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-ap58vGC7QVA99E1TE2LTGDyscAM7VIO-ZARmR2tevvYVPPd4Ant3pWJ9IZhSJNGQdpIjNsjiaT-jnB6YPOfOYsir9600xSKLjc2H8QlQTlNhSIe1zTonLV3LNcCulX1LCelT5sKdEXmF557-fIGBM-lx0e3YBHTpBMhRIr73IVgQZxM_3tof_mIVfRU/w640-h422/Screenshot%202024-02-14%20at%2010.04.22%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bey and Verizon. But I'd bet Verizon is still one of the most-hated brands in Amerika.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">BTW, I remember launching a campaign for high-end business technology equipment and having the client boast, "In one week we doubled sales." They had gone from two machines sold to four.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It seems to me that the entire ad industry and its accomplices now behave like first-time parents in a Type-A suburb. "Jennifer lost a tooth! She so advanced." "Billy," at age four, "can count to three in Spanish. He's gifted." "Little Jonny farted! Can you believe it!"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Yes. That is our world.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every thing is an -est.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The best. The funniest. The hardest to have accomplished. The importantest. The influentialest. The est-ti-est, apologies to Werner Erhard.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every agency has won at least a dozen agency of the year awards or is shortlisted for a shortlist of shortlists.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">There are more people on Linked in who describe themselves as award-winning than people who don't.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Here's a tip, if everything you see on TV sucks, yet every creative and every agency has about 3289 awards to their names, something is really wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_and_object_(philosophy)" target="_blank">Subject-object split</a> anyone?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What we're being subsumed by instead of a flat telling-of-the-facts is grandiose posturing, axe-sharpening and agenda-propagating.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Those who proclaim the death of the city have an agenda. Those who give someplace that sells artisanal mac-and-cheese three Michelin stars are being paid. Those who proclaim every thyroid-case with an outside jump shot as the GOAT are trying to sell tickets.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Most of what I saw during the game and afterwards was as noisy as a four-year-old's birthday party during a Ritalin shortage and about as lucid. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I never once uttered the phrase, "I wish I did that." I say it when I read a book, a poem, see a Billy Wilder movie or even something with Laurel & Hardy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And I don't care if any of that stuff won awards.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's someone else's agenda. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Not mine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-48305155251862488302024-02-14T07:15:00.003-05:002024-02-14T07:15:41.849-05:00Or Die.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphenUr4HOjE14SzULiv4wAYPJpIn0cw_Y5LupacFfpDIflzO7wMMlJtw8V_0PrZDiLEOkCzAXcdvYPn886rmoUj0Kz_0PdLEGRbdz6CFvh8IPUuc33PosPAOr8KQsiJlnl_4wBaayDwphp94RrjGQuxvfEjWt8bb03m-x3UDtE1JBwoBMFrtJzwzOc85IX1/s700/Screenshot%202024-02-12%20at%209.53.28%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="524" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphenUr4HOjE14SzULiv4wAYPJpIn0cw_Y5LupacFfpDIflzO7wMMlJtw8V_0PrZDiLEOkCzAXcdvYPn886rmoUj0Kz_0PdLEGRbdz6CFvh8IPUuc33PosPAOr8KQsiJlnl_4wBaayDwphp94RrjGQuxvfEjWt8bb03m-x3UDtE1JBwoBMFrtJzwzOc85IX1/w480-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-12%20at%209.53.28%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLegkbfCqQptsm3ReS3GlSlqIRHByJKKxpVaETJjVUo-UgtzfknCM9WIRgjuqP7gAIJfT36aE3rysCZhBH7nFJhsIf67AIW6tihgPDqM14piaahjo6AoPi3vP0r2Y5PQj_Ce-yqgsS89BcBgVF2biqpDzgJrCq8zt4nlYnANVR25PBLWjAPhurlZy8hbEa/s1450/Screenshot%202024-02-12%20at%2010.03.30%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1450" data-original-width="1122" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLegkbfCqQptsm3ReS3GlSlqIRHByJKKxpVaETJjVUo-UgtzfknCM9WIRgjuqP7gAIJfT36aE3rysCZhBH7nFJhsIf67AIW6tihgPDqM14piaahjo6AoPi3vP0r2Y5PQj_Ce-yqgsS89BcBgVF2biqpDzgJrCq8zt4nlYnANVR25PBLWjAPhurlZy8hbEa/w496-h640/Screenshot%202024-02-12%20at%2010.03.30%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="496" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Let's start with a time-worn truism.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We've all heard that.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We've probably all said that.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">My experience tells me something. Nearly every product being sold today sucks. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Nearly every product being sold today is bad.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every airplane seat is too cramped. The flights are late. The personnel are nasty. I'd say you're treated like cattle, but cattle is probably treated better.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every telco is unreliable. And loads up your bill with hidden charges. And makes bills impossible to decipher. And drops about three calls in five. Beyonce my ass.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Same with every ISP.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Every hotel room is pubic-haired. And full of hidden charges. And filthy. And near the noisy elevator. And the rattling ice-machine. Even expensive hotels. Some MBA sold them on the idea of cheaping-out on every courtesy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />Every automaker has crappy service departments. If you can get an appointment, you can't get a loaner.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />Every fast-food place strews its trash everywhere. And service is slow and surly.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />Every soda spot shows thin people while causing a nation of diabetics.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I can't be the only one who feels mistreated at every "customer interaction experience."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Customer service is more aptly customer disservice.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Or disrespect.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">None of this is advertising's fault.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But what happened to our higher Bernbachian order? <br />What happened to guiding clients, not just being their vendors?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What happened to being agents?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">To saying, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">fix your problems rather than sweeping them under the rug.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">What happened to substantially helping a brand, not just polishing is turdiness?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br />What happened to Love thy Neighbor?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">And believing the consumer isn't a moron.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I've been in the advertising business literally my whole life. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I was born into it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I never saw myself as a flack. A whore. A liar. A mouthpiece.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I saw myself as someone who was meant to improve a client's business. Not just from ads. From actions. From candor.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The ad below is more than half-a-century-old.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It might be half-a-century since anyone read it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">That's a mistake.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It should start every meeting, every presentation, every new business pitch. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The commercials I say during the Super Bowl didn't reflect the reality of the world I live in. Everyone of them--no matter how entertaining and pyrotechnically adroit--struck me as dishonest. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">We seem to be a Potemkin industry.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">All facade. No foundation.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;">How was your blogpost experience today?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;">😃<span> </span><span> </span>😐<span> </span><span> </span>😠</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneXmlhT0rQDjL8cMsYHdPNtDH7x7L2wBh62tbhZjsdPPFga_qW6KsFMukHz219x40j9rB8LjWEIkzt4VPvr7ksWI4Tmyg0hSRPidAfiK7wxoDwS2oDBEEeKqJDZolTuVmrYZhBvci4Ebn/s1600/dothisordie.jpg" style="color: #2288bb; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="300" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneXmlhT0rQDjL8cMsYHdPNtDH7x7L2wBh62tbhZjsdPPFga_qW6KsFMukHz219x40j9rB8LjWEIkzt4VPvr7ksWI4Tmyg0hSRPidAfiK7wxoDwS2oDBEEeKqJDZolTuVmrYZhBvci4Ebn/s640/dothisordie.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="464" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><br /><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Do this or die.</span></b><br /><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Is this ad some kind of a trick?</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />No. But it could have been.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />And at exactly that point rests a do or die decision for American business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">We in advertising, together with our clients, have all the power and skill to trick people. Or so we think.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><br />But we're wrong. We can't fool </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">any</i><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"> of the people </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">any</i><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"> of the time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">There is indeed a twelve-year-old mentality in this country; every six-year-old has one.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><br />We are a nation of smart people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">And most smart people ignore most advertising because most advertising ignores smart people.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Instead we talk to each other.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />We debate endlessly about the medium and the message. Nonsense. In advertising, the message <i>itself</i> is the message.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />A blank page and a blank television screen are one and the same.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />And above all, the messages we put on those pages on those television screens must be the truth. For if we play tricks with the truth, we die.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Now. The other side of the coin.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Telling the truth about a product demands a product that's worth telling the truth about.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Sadly, so many products aren't.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />So many products don't do anything better. Or anything different. So many don't work quite right. Or don't last. Or simply don't matter.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />If we play this trick, we also die. Because advertising only helps a bad product fail faster.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />No donkey chases the carrot forever. He catches on. And quits.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />That's the lesson to remember.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Unless we do, we die.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Unless we change, the tidal wave of consumer indifference will wallop into the mountain of advertising and manufacturing drivel.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />That day we die.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">We'll die in our marketplace. On our shelves. In our gleaming packages of empty promises.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />Not with a bang. Not with a whimper.</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br />But by our own skilled hands.</span></span></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> </span><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-27479425786723322452024-02-13T07:07:00.000-05:002024-02-13T07:07:09.905-05:00Six Things the Internet (and Holding Companies) Don't Understand.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE711NP8ZKbY-9_h6s8ti3nb8cG9RrsZILRzz4UYGh7qLu00G8nWRc7E8B7G_eABfdbAk-g3WwnzEfuQ8pJvZkDZJhOWMCeXrG-xk_kOCZ23iIMnb8VuN_rRrvrNRsZd3ySlyDNad570Kk6oXWjnlvzY45XvqHKg7Fcjb7ZjABhrKDxt1Gxtc60M-HRR6v/s1862/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.53%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1862" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE711NP8ZKbY-9_h6s8ti3nb8cG9RrsZILRzz4UYGh7qLu00G8nWRc7E8B7G_eABfdbAk-g3WwnzEfuQ8pJvZkDZJhOWMCeXrG-xk_kOCZ23iIMnb8VuN_rRrvrNRsZd3ySlyDNad570Kk6oXWjnlvzY45XvqHKg7Fcjb7ZjABhrKDxt1Gxtc60M-HRR6v/w640-h456/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.53%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje81c_VBKhA3sXpfkfmuf_KU73tZhfSjBZuapixRzI_jrSCKGZ7dWNfupY1T4FySLg2xS39wyOSKwgVakC8HmW-BwdYe2_bj292YGToah6gbMlpZps9N0hONgUjbDiQhYUIm7p9eoSIsnnJD4EaR2tzVE5mZNrOKq-gw9IGtg0MRiiKA3uoBzqHQL81Hnw/s12/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2" data-original-width="12" height="2" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje81c_VBKhA3sXpfkfmuf_KU73tZhfSjBZuapixRzI_jrSCKGZ7dWNfupY1T4FySLg2xS39wyOSKwgVakC8HmW-BwdYe2_bj292YGToah6gbMlpZps9N0hONgUjbDiQhYUIm7p9eoSIsnnJD4EaR2tzVE5mZNrOKq-gw9IGtg0MRiiKA3uoBzqHQL81Hnw/s1600/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="12" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYmEN-PNAf3V4TYVQ2v4DFifLxuLUUD1Z-2OH_nFwioCtlpXyx86oPJ1HUIt9Eye-N0Cs4TykV9fgBE2twW7uKs9J4TNIk2BTg9hj9X8FnnqEtYZ1sNsU5WF-yXIixPsg7nqKtkyAYHyJyKgMt-OUmnEaz4AZ-rbJ_2CA5MjwOshQofmm1iGzbsl0mpCB/s12/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2" data-original-width="12" height="2" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYmEN-PNAf3V4TYVQ2v4DFifLxuLUUD1Z-2OH_nFwioCtlpXyx86oPJ1HUIt9Eye-N0Cs4TykV9fgBE2twW7uKs9J4TNIk2BTg9hj9X8FnnqEtYZ1sNsU5WF-yXIixPsg7nqKtkyAYHyJyKgMt-OUmnEaz4AZ-rbJ_2CA5MjwOshQofmm1iGzbsl0mpCB/s1600/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.02.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="12" /></a></div><br />About two times a year, the great publisher, Taschen has a sale that's really a sale.</span><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So many sales today start with artificially high-prices and knock them down to meh. Or, they trumpet products that are always on sale. Either way, they're phony. Their ginning up some excitement to get you to act.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Taschen, to me, seems different.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When I get their emails announcing a sale I am fairly agog. I don't know what Balboa looked like when he first saw the Pacific. Or Ada Lovelace when she unraveled the mysteries of computer science. But when I get notice of a Taschen sale, I jump onto my phone and look to tell every friend who might care that "it's here."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">It's an event, the Taschen Sale.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, I know virtually no one who cares about it as much as I do. As my therapist of 40 years or one-million-dollars says, "I need to widen my circles."</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEfZk6mBqPmzjp60gzxhLs_noS6rCNOkNgnx6574mrObbdnIGByhYfTg02j7Zb1oERn35WM9bswL7r7DML9Magy3_zztZH5glPYLVekGbN7zNpwfHH7FpgmusxHCswBX8pCCUMr071F-dK0nK5CnfN5ev9PQa2OH65RQYt_x0V_XNyiiZvI652vyuHB1p/s1624/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.09.21%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1624" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEfZk6mBqPmzjp60gzxhLs_noS6rCNOkNgnx6574mrObbdnIGByhYfTg02j7Zb1oERn35WM9bswL7r7DML9Magy3_zztZH5glPYLVekGbN7zNpwfHH7FpgmusxHCswBX8pCCUMr071F-dK0nK5CnfN5ev9PQa2OH65RQYt_x0V_XNyiiZvI652vyuHB1p/w640-h490/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.09.21%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A lot of book mania has been superseded by the wonders of the Internet. And the Internet, for all its cockeyed, sold-to-the-highest-bidder search mechanisms is wonderful.<a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/bookreader-68/" target="_blank"> Like, here's a site that lets you page through and zoom into a Shakespeare first folio.</a> That's downright amazing. And brings to mind this, also from Shakespeare: </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzAl6G-yQbKzLHtWehiU52smrQYg8iIyPfIUUiSmosAXFAfNuYMkauFsRoUfGqQdOSdoqLqO3jxywjhLhSyeczi4Y7NoIBB1ZIWjMekC5JA2lCEdx3xt_9nbQ6Rl29lZ-u3m0cf0gNk6hMdJzef7HbiNtQxBMRDKGVfoZokO6gM199ad0QNxSw6Xdtq1fX/s820/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.15.26%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="820" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzAl6G-yQbKzLHtWehiU52smrQYg8iIyPfIUUiSmosAXFAfNuYMkauFsRoUfGqQdOSdoqLqO3jxywjhLhSyeczi4Y7NoIBB1ZIWjMekC5JA2lCEdx3xt_9nbQ6Rl29lZ-u3m0cf0gNk6hMdJzef7HbiNtQxBMRDKGVfoZokO6gM199ad0QNxSw6Xdtq1fX/w640-h244/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.15.26%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="357" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fstxNFdQWZQ" width="430" youtube-src-id="fstxNFdQWZQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But back to Taschen and the six things no longer understood by nearly anyone.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">For under $200, these six books just arrived at my Connecticut cottage. A 1,500 sq. foot shack girded with eight statute miles of bookshelves.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue4EJKS_dbNaF5KEmzc4TGq9n0DreQ5fydDJFlNn17s6CuVaZcwPuQhThP_CpQbh4XMEpGMjC0JisXmMrYW5wLyll-fk2evi62I0Mz9m7IMowkGLi4Q-dOgbQYbPz1o2GnWMP6rvmdAcs0Gu_eg_wdkhWVez-TPrxINcjrteEnIhewFbWdCu5i81_1cN7/s1364/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.36.33%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1364" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjue4EJKS_dbNaF5KEmzc4TGq9n0DreQ5fydDJFlNn17s6CuVaZcwPuQhThP_CpQbh4XMEpGMjC0JisXmMrYW5wLyll-fk2evi62I0Mz9m7IMowkGLi4Q-dOgbQYbPz1o2GnWMP6rvmdAcs0Gu_eg_wdkhWVez-TPrxINcjrteEnIhewFbWdCu5i81_1cN7/w640-h438/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.36.33%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUz3ufx1Ux-pTCGvIDFHbxdF4L_cs35yot7TcCA0XVfHiT1siRP_A4P-LxlFS5t_fLYu7slkEN4xez12U9-_0X75P24O4wt5xEsX5jtUzjZJu_6FGFqG268J30WGHnLJ3fuiS8LyxkIxZ5wrQ9KBpiB1QmmQOeOiylHWNAMbJlXli3Qw0pXw8oDDYW-Zj/s1682/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.36.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1682" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUz3ufx1Ux-pTCGvIDFHbxdF4L_cs35yot7TcCA0XVfHiT1siRP_A4P-LxlFS5t_fLYu7slkEN4xez12U9-_0X75P24O4wt5xEsX5jtUzjZJu_6FGFqG268J30WGHnLJ3fuiS8LyxkIxZ5wrQ9KBpiB1QmmQOeOiylHWNAMbJlXli3Qw0pXw8oDDYW-Zj/w640-h356/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.36.41%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTvT6S6KnEnbqNrYwoNm7xUI2J4cpYeoHs4gONbQGrQkNlcizv3exvAjQiQDCqsahHOuMi2ffvf5r21hrSo13e19dp7IcJSuy45ZC7cPAjP45_qkoE-mDR7e58ZgtocWGLzr-v-gPB82qK8YOgbbf3LeFBYV3rNUER4FZ52CCFmOpWa4ex3evldTdl0sn/s1638/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="1638" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTvT6S6KnEnbqNrYwoNm7xUI2J4cpYeoHs4gONbQGrQkNlcizv3exvAjQiQDCqsahHOuMi2ffvf5r21hrSo13e19dp7IcJSuy45ZC7cPAjP45_qkoE-mDR7e58ZgtocWGLzr-v-gPB82qK8YOgbbf3LeFBYV3rNUER4FZ52CCFmOpWa4ex3evldTdl0sn/w640-h206/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOeQkCG38Ro6e9ALSD2dKMpDPf6VX3Cj4B7pQcRxvr9LM1owECJm0Sl-ow7dcAn5IPlpIGwJg_3ccBn2kwodZ0RnjRlu1oJSxzsTNjJwz-OmsD2zGyZnUX_dG6LUxMoe0QdWA7bZBn9QN9pyNGs7Q6-tjDjhcxAcwRYr-8cEjJydmGD78-By7OWT6eLot/s1636/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.30%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1636" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOeQkCG38Ro6e9ALSD2dKMpDPf6VX3Cj4B7pQcRxvr9LM1owECJm0Sl-ow7dcAn5IPlpIGwJg_3ccBn2kwodZ0RnjRlu1oJSxzsTNjJwz-OmsD2zGyZnUX_dG6LUxMoe0QdWA7bZBn9QN9pyNGs7Q6-tjDjhcxAcwRYr-8cEjJydmGD78-By7OWT6eLot/w640-h360/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.30%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBpEZ6HUCKQ9WNuK_3TJAEc8R3wknjuOclo5tsaqYTxp4lPv2UbjDT1_6N9aUlnr-6BkPpWHaVdrv5CL5yH94NoyaN9iLjZtPHYx9Bvj7BiNLIozhT6t2xUeY5T-pn4g8DMCFSRQRkwtkAi-N0CUkBqz6LwaR-vf5hdZkpUShp3Wvba1sUnIq3qzEI9nB/s1304/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.37%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="1304" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBpEZ6HUCKQ9WNuK_3TJAEc8R3wknjuOclo5tsaqYTxp4lPv2UbjDT1_6N9aUlnr-6BkPpWHaVdrv5CL5yH94NoyaN9iLjZtPHYx9Bvj7BiNLIozhT6t2xUeY5T-pn4g8DMCFSRQRkwtkAi-N0CUkBqz6LwaR-vf5hdZkpUShp3Wvba1sUnIq3qzEI9nB/w640-h214/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.37%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWNSiRNNC_63VPD4ZAFmjI3OvcqRhT6dbUjdfRNjhKo6puwYv1NKO_p7w8mtptUJLAAcVziIPP7c1axRbdBupeJHZgldwLpboV-8PSGgW6Sc4zGzNTr8BIRM4aGngSAkqoXpSwA6ugN_pDzN0TbpqVSuIeGtLp20GzpfGbuu6OEAgyVWVAfv5LczhGyRz/s1636/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.43%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1636" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWNSiRNNC_63VPD4ZAFmjI3OvcqRhT6dbUjdfRNjhKo6puwYv1NKO_p7w8mtptUJLAAcVziIPP7c1axRbdBupeJHZgldwLpboV-8PSGgW6Sc4zGzNTr8BIRM4aGngSAkqoXpSwA6ugN_pDzN0TbpqVSuIeGtLp20GzpfGbuu6OEAgyVWVAfv5LczhGyRz/w640-h364/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.43%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPczCcVXSMqEPvITSCqF2gWjkn7aRU9B9qknB3TesqB3X8GQ8caG6YVznE2WvcmdHaLG7NIU7cCtCAtRpBtapXGED17lod7M8bad6-tYGAC68lebXPH4tgBFjuUAloRXOSwfPVcv2mpZN2QATiPaZrRrABLFSb4iGU_ob7LynP_VDq8zhPVm6UAASXhe0N/s1574/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.49%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="1574" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPczCcVXSMqEPvITSCqF2gWjkn7aRU9B9qknB3TesqB3X8GQ8caG6YVznE2WvcmdHaLG7NIU7cCtCAtRpBtapXGED17lod7M8bad6-tYGAC68lebXPH4tgBFjuUAloRXOSwfPVcv2mpZN2QATiPaZrRrABLFSb4iGU_ob7LynP_VDq8zhPVm6UAASXhe0N/w640-h222/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.49%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TgLfUFmE8td84N3xC3fflPsdNIp63VyMPRIsOESDtMx0p0V1Yy7P3x6AAvX2Q7nR0sZlxqEMIKNRWeEexHjNdQihcvYhF7XhycN9f8TLdRrZmzD2UvsN67tNjn6QnVFk8h2sWgW25zffyBtMI43MPNjOc2ZeIc1C6t8wK08weQJ7sdNtDo2L9kTAVnR/s1630/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.55%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="1630" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TgLfUFmE8td84N3xC3fflPsdNIp63VyMPRIsOESDtMx0p0V1Yy7P3x6AAvX2Q7nR0sZlxqEMIKNRWeEexHjNdQihcvYhF7XhycN9f8TLdRrZmzD2UvsN67tNjn6QnVFk8h2sWgW25zffyBtMI43MPNjOc2ZeIc1C6t8wK08weQJ7sdNtDo2L9kTAVnR/w640-h362/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.37.55%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk6rUbyR1RECJAkA2KoAepfty3TyTg-7ockXOs3yshaJfMUQnkHZiz_4ZNjurxq6CVeGoc8RAP347pJB9fNyFCX8r3XZwoKTBa1V6jgHPtijZlsoxGPcbhPf7gtb0JUxTvqnnkk8EeH9wI33itLPuRWUBappHXBgN7mW6VJdEa9tfmvTe1A-wuTQCyTl5/s1494/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1494" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk6rUbyR1RECJAkA2KoAepfty3TyTg-7ockXOs3yshaJfMUQnkHZiz_4ZNjurxq6CVeGoc8RAP347pJB9fNyFCX8r3XZwoKTBa1V6jgHPtijZlsoxGPcbhPf7gtb0JUxTvqnnkk8EeH9wI33itLPuRWUBappHXBgN7mW6VJdEa9tfmvTe1A-wuTQCyTl5/w640-h246/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.01%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtjzLSLl8Bvgdwdz8i_OjrbMbCXBj2_DuvDluEhHrWml0p-Hlz4AuyfrS2F96QUYqTg-Lk9AfPiGM8XARoWmdXvqvaoGWO00rGjEIknngWi7r0YDQNY1aC8rVBjtJxcn1xBqPhs_L9P-MHa_5mONyeMeg-OICBUTU60NbokdnrDdiPDFJ6v4SNmpM_Gru/s1122/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.09%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1122" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtjzLSLl8Bvgdwdz8i_OjrbMbCXBj2_DuvDluEhHrWml0p-Hlz4AuyfrS2F96QUYqTg-Lk9AfPiGM8XARoWmdXvqvaoGWO00rGjEIknngWi7r0YDQNY1aC8rVBjtJxcn1xBqPhs_L9P-MHa_5mONyeMeg-OICBUTU60NbokdnrDdiPDFJ6v4SNmpM_Gru/w640-h466/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.09%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVKhx-TQ6n3seyb2CDDX8UcOPFuF4imYw9b8LD20N8KVaGyVEspHHSEMnu9I9th2bKm0xs9UF85hwK8Xg-v3dY2-pd4lAHG-CrYb5PH9aKEhrI_o-hwgDav6OMLR1JFCDAoZOEr16YrWyRo_L61Qribh8GieKgXydWdcMgsRrTv2v4NKzM0z5dZO2rgiJ/s1460/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="1460" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVKhx-TQ6n3seyb2CDDX8UcOPFuF4imYw9b8LD20N8KVaGyVEspHHSEMnu9I9th2bKm0xs9UF85hwK8Xg-v3dY2-pd4lAHG-CrYb5PH9aKEhrI_o-hwgDav6OMLR1JFCDAoZOEr16YrWyRo_L61Qribh8GieKgXydWdcMgsRrTv2v4NKzM0z5dZO2rgiJ/w640-h234/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2012.38.16%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">You can find all this stuff on the internet, I suppose. But not so large. Not so touchable. Not so vivid. Not so organized. Not so mine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I'd say about 99.7-percent of all people in the advertising industry are more "creative" than I am. But 0-percent are more curious. And (high-end refrigerator joke) sub-zero read and remember more than I do. Finally, maybe 0-percent work so<br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedulous" target="_blank">sedulously.</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I might never reference a single of these books in an ad, or a meeting, or even having a drink with a client. But they help me, nevertheless, think different. They're synapses made legible. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">When ad people get together--I get together with some doyens of the old school once every few weeks for a casual cholesterol infarction--the conversation often turns to the dearth (and death) of creativity left in the business.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I betcha it's directly correlated to the dearth (and death) of agency libraries.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">If you don't learn, you can't lead.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6072420181476584961.post-65644346095156991562024-02-12T06:39:00.003-05:002024-02-12T06:39:59.945-05:00Super. Stupor.<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">As I get farther and farther away from the standard utterances and issuances and masturbatory mania of what used to be the advertising industry--as Jerry Della Femina called it, 'the most fun you can have with your clothes on,'--the more clearly I can see it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Sorry, Jerry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Maybe this is jealousy on my part because I don't, again, have a spot running on the Super Bowl. In fact, I never did.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Even when I was at the pinnacle of my career, my commercials never ran toward the mainstream. And I was more about expressing an idea--heaven forfend, a reason to believe--than I was about constructing a spectacle with celebrities, too-loud rock 'n roll, or some faux touching story of a love regained.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="458" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XSeezsPw550" width="551" youtube-src-id="XSeezsPw550"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Not that ideas and spectacle can't be blended. Carol Reed was no slouch. Though I think he'd be a second-tier creative these days. Restraint. Subtlety. Intelligence. No high-decibel dancing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But more of my view of the industry is colored by the incessance of our chatter around the spots that will air and our hubris in promoting these things clients spend millions on and people care little about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Soon, someone smart in the industry will have an idea. They won't merely have teasers for ads next year. They'll create teasers for the teasers for the ads. And the year after that, teasers for the teasers for the teasers for the ads. And so it goes, as Billy Pilgrim dirged.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The industry is like a CVS drugstore. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The Halloween candy will come out right after Memorial Day. And it will all be stale by July 4th. Like the rest of our trumpian wet dream.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Super Bowl is the only time the industry feels vital to the business community. We'll look at it like a new born baby set loose in a topless bar. It's the good ol' days.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">But as I see ad after ad--before the game--and teaser after teaser, before the ads before the game--it all feels like a high school production of Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Our fanfare about what we do and the noise we make about it is solipsism not with just a capital S, but a 144-point capital S. In other words, the importance and influence of our work is minimal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Sure, we've created an analytic industry to prove the creative industry is still viable. But I'm not sure who all that data convinces except for people whose jobs depend on believing all that data.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I saw the homage to bygone America from VW. I saw the paean to mayonnaise. I saw a repellent 90-foot dorito in Las Vegas, and can barely imagine another thing more likely tp produce vomit enhanced by artificial coloring.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">I saw the Christopher Walken spot for BMW. And this might be part of the problem.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">BMW dealers--BMW is a hot brand now, they're selling more cars than ever--so their dealers suck worse than ever. I can't find anyone to repair my car and give me a loaner--which they're obliged to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><u>I think part of the issue with advertising--and the world--is there's a giant and ever-widening gap, a subject-object split--between the world portrayed in ads and the world we live in.</u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">You see this in politics too. A divergence between truth and the party line. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">In Norman Lear's New York Times obituary, I remember this bit:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrzW9fNC6026hQ1DZwto2jJNRuZtlvFXlYPdmiBzAbk0iQgerEYE_Rbk7un9_XwYZZW1fwJR6HvXk2jF6-RN-yPdvT60Cfzto8jHo9M0co7I2M4poNu-4zR8QBHrJ6iFcpcNNv_OWLRgE0m8fDsPLuOsJk1tGL2lfPSSE4jw-OkpftDI_mA0zyIv0Coc2/s1212/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2011.12.56%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="1212" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrzW9fNC6026hQ1DZwto2jJNRuZtlvFXlYPdmiBzAbk0iQgerEYE_Rbk7un9_XwYZZW1fwJR6HvXk2jF6-RN-yPdvT60Cfzto8jHo9M0co7I2M4poNu-4zR8QBHrJ6iFcpcNNv_OWLRgE0m8fDsPLuOsJk1tGL2lfPSSE4jw-OkpftDI_mA0zyIv0Coc2/w640-h204/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2011.12.56%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Believing in advertising today, or politicians, is a bit like believing in the salutary effects of crack cocaine. It's not smart to focus on only the highs without the inevitable lows. Look at TV spots and it's "which Tina do I want to be," not the world is burning, my kids are on tranq and my neighbors are neo-fascist wannabees.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">"The message that was sending out was that we didn't have any problems."</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">I dunno.</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">We're living in a post-trust world. A world riven neatly in two where one-half cannot even fathom what the other half says, believes or how they live.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="414" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L-NVL8YvfiY" width="499" youtube-src-id="L-NVL8YvfiY"></iframe></span></div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">We have no agreed upon truths. </span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Fair is foul and foul is fair. The battle is lost and won. </span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Truth.</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The re-establishment thereof is all we should be examining. Not the effects of gamma rays on man in the moon corn chips and piss-water beer.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebcVtuzi41tfcXrDfXIN0osM8hVeN73v8tfHeE6bHaoRmFxuNHvxT0Lj5ClLNKlB26RI6Up2sgoCLsXgO_AouvsPw6c6p-cCYuZcM9_14N7I13toBLVSQ5HhQ3hokkh7hLp84nfUMmCfnNgraXvNDKn0coWKt2PRPyCJjFqG65_gx2uPfooFY3RHKUMMa/s1158/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2011.22.01%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="766" height="771" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebcVtuzi41tfcXrDfXIN0osM8hVeN73v8tfHeE6bHaoRmFxuNHvxT0Lj5ClLNKlB26RI6Up2sgoCLsXgO_AouvsPw6c6p-cCYuZcM9_14N7I13toBLVSQ5HhQ3hokkh7hLp84nfUMmCfnNgraXvNDKn0coWKt2PRPyCJjFqG65_gx2uPfooFY3RHKUMMa/w511-h771/Screenshot%202024-02-10%20at%2011.22.01%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="511" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>george tannenbaumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10974259094860905139noreply@blogger.com0