Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet
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James P. Othmer, advertising executive turned novelist, gives us a hilarious, personal, and sneakily profound chronicle of the past, present, and future of the advertising business. On one level it’s the wickedly funny, compelling personal chronicle of the rise and fall of a modern-day ad man; a riveting insider’s look at the astonishing transformation taking place in advertising's hottest idea factories. But take a step back from the tales of lavish shoots, agencies on the brink, and pampered mega-brands and Adland becomes much more: a snapshot of how we are living our lives thirty seconds at a time. Funny, deeply thoughtful, and utterly unique, this book is both a wildly amusing ride in Adland, brilliantly recounted, and an exploration of the value of life in the information age. Publishers Weekly The life of an advertising executive couldn't be further from the glamorous world of Mad Men, according to this entertaining, albeit meandering, memoir. After a giddy beginning banging out copy for a small ad agency, Othmer, a longtime creative director and copywriter, worked his way to the top in 2000 only to discover that his traditional agency was being abandoned in favor of forward-thinking brand stewards who wanted hip new ideas from smaller shops well-versed in new media and digital marketing. Fascinated by groundbreaking interactive campaigns like the 2007 Nine Inch Nails Internet Easter egg hunt and Burger King's "Subservient Chicken" gag, he found his love for advertising reinvigorated, and his book is an effort to better understand the inescapable industry's influence on culture. Though there's no particular conclusion drawn, and the story itself wanders, the humor and genuine excitement that shine through may keep some media-world readers interested-most tellingly when, at a swanky party full of advertising executives, the author wistfully observes that even real life has begun to feel fake. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Part 1 It's Hard to See the writing on the Wall of a CubicleOn Moral Advertising and Other Corporate Oxymorons 3The Death of Darrin Stephens 6One Huckster's Beginnings 29When Agencies Fall 49A Tale of Two Chickens 84The Healing Power of Yogurt 114From Russia with Nanoabsorbers? 123Part 2 At Large in AdlandThoughts on Impressions 139The Opposite of Subliminal 175Zapping the Zeitgeist 201Part 3 The Merchants of What's NextIn Search of Advertising's Future in Cannes 219Idea Factories 237Torched if They do, Torched If They Don't 275Reunion 290The Care and Feeding of the Next Great American Hucksters 296Afterword: Who Do I Think I Am? 317Acknowledgments 321
