Up the Agency by Peter Mayle

Author:Peter Mayle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Peter Mayle, Escargot Books, A Year in Provence, Acquired Tastes, Mad Men, Advertising, New York, Madison Avenue, Ad agency, Ad men, 1960s, 1970s, Ad Age, Satire, Television commercials, Copywriting
ISBN: 978-1-908191-51-9
Publisher: Escargot-Books

The Thug

He acts the part of a bluff, no-nonsense man of the people, too shrewd to be manipulated by a slick bunch of kids with marketing degrees, whom he invariably addresses as “you admen.” “Don’t play any games with me,” he says. “I like the straight-talking, direct approach. I call a spade a spade.”

This may initially be quite refreshing, but it is not a reciprocal arrangement. He can and does call a spade a spade, often using blunt and insulting language to do so. But should the agency take this as a cue to respond in the same way, the bluff veneer disappears and the thug is revealed, a crude bully who will not tolerate argument and who uses his advertising budget like a cattle prod.

He likes to make his agency jump, and he doesn’t bother with any of the conventional forms of commercial politeness. He will call up on Tuesday night to summon the agency to an out-of-town breakfast meeting on Wednesday. And then, just to show who’s boss, he’ll be late. He will demand complicated revisions to commercials, revisions that must be done in twenty-four hours so that he can see them before he leaves the city, and then refuse to approve the overtime bills. “You should have gotten it right the first time,” he’ll say. “That’s what I’m paying you for.”

When he visits the agency, he treats it as his personal domain, using secretaries to make his dinner reservations, to go out and buy his cigars, to get his theater tickets, to confirm his travel arrangements, and to order his limos. Curiously, for such an important man, he never seems to have any money with him to pay for these small services. If anyone has the audacity to suggest reimbursement, he will fix them with his bully’s stare and mention the vast profits that the agency is making from his business.

He likes loud, aggressive advertising. Any attempts at subtlety are dismissed with a sneer as being too clever by half (one of his favorite bluff, no-nonsense expressions). He assumes that the public, like his agency, can be browbeaten into submission. If the agency should dare to dig its heels in, he will unveil his secret weapon: a man he plays golf with every weekend who runs a small provincial agency and who would be delighted to take over the account and bellow to order.

Thugs are common in advertising and always will be. For every agency prepared to throw them out, there are half a dozen others willing to pocket their self-respect along with the commission.

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