Save Your Soul: Work in Advertising: A Cheeky Proposal From America's Most Condemned Adman

By Richard Wise

At a time when advertising (and its related fields of marketing, public relations, and social media) has a sleazy reputation that keeps getting sleazier, seasoned adman Richard Wise asks a thought-provoking question: What if working in this oft maligned industry could actually make you a better, happier human being?

Here is a stirring, thought provoking book about an improbable idea from an equally improbable writer whose first claim to fame was that he was the strategic spin doctor for the only advertising campaign ever denounced on prime-time television by the president of the United States of America.

You shouldn't be ashamed to work in advertising—you should revel in it. And by the end of the book, Richard Wise will have convinced you. Irreverent, profound, with a strong dose of optimism, humor, and common sense, this little book will entertain, inspire, and challenge you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781635820348

Book preview

You

INTRODUCTION

Why You Should

Revel in Advertising!

CAN YOU

SPOT THE

PATTERN

HERE?

WELL, THAT

WAS EASY,

WASN’T IT?

Advertising has a sleazy reputation, and it’s getting sleazier all the time.

I can relate.

You see, I did all the strategic planning for Joe Camel, a cigarette salesman whose face resembled human male reproductive organs. He was the smooth character of an advertising campaign of such ill-begotten fame, it is the only one in history ever officially denounced by the president of the United States of America, William Jefferson Clinton. He said on TV (while wagging the same finger with which he had recently penetrated the private parts of one of the White House’s interns), You tobacco marketers, you know what you’re doing, and I call upon you now: Stop it.

Oh, how I love the cynicism of this story—I have always found it hard to resist inhaling the liberating perfume of moral turpitude.

But I don’t want to surrender to the temptation to squander a precious insight—one whose value far outweighs the spice of scandal.

And that is this:

WORKING HARD AT MAKING BRILLIANT ADVERTISING WILL MAKE YOU INTO A FAR BETTER PERSON THAN YOU WERE WHEN YOU BEGAN.

That’s right.

You shouldn’t be ashamed to work in this field. You should revel in it.

Bear with me a moment. I’d like to ask you to imagine for a minute that this was a eulogy someone gave for you at your funeral:

She put the sparkle in everyday life. She helped us to not take ourselves so seriously. She had an eye for humble people and connected with them. If you were arrogant around other people, she’d put you in your place. She was never intimidated by someone’s position or wealth and could chat with anyone. She truly believed in herself and the ideals she embraced. And she never, ever, ever gave up.

I CAN PROVE TO YOU THAT IF YOU STRIVE FOR GREATNESS IN THIS OFT-MALIGNED FIELD, PEOPLE WILL SAY VERY SIMILAR THINGS ABOUT YOU.

I know that’s a lot to promise.

You might want to decide to get off at this point. Or even before you get to chapter four (which is about persistence, hello?). That’s all right. I’ve already made it easy for you. You can always say to yourself, "This guy did Joe Camel. What would he know about advertising being good for you?"

But then you’d miss the surprise ending in chapter six. Just saying.

By advertising, I simply mean the entire business of building brands, whether it’s