Why centenary? well, it’s been 100 blogs and I thought that was worth a review.
So while I am here, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who continue to read my ramblings and opinions.
It reminds me of the time Eric Morecambe (if you don’t know he was then I’m afraid we can’t be friends) was leaving the hospital where he had been treated for a heart attack and was interviewed by a reporter.
The reporter told him about the singer Des O’Connor, (with whom Morecambe and Wise had a great friendship – but publicly never missed an opportunity to rinse him without mercy) who had been doing a show the night before and had asked his audience to pray for Eric. So what did Eric think of that?
“Oh that’s marvellous” said Eric to the reporter and without missing a beat he said “they may not know it but those nine people could have saved my life”.
Anyway, where were we? Oh yes…a blog review.
One of the curious pleasures of doing this is to re-read some of the blogs I’ve posted, as if for the first time. Time has a way of blurring the memory and so I was intrigued by the title of ‘Why agencies fight for creative work’.
As it turns out, I was impressed with my own insight: that good work keeps clients and the work that some clients insist on you making, IE: the type of work they might do, often leads to losing them more quickly.
One of the reasons I started writing these ‘blags’ was to add some credibility and self confidence to an undervalued part of the healthcare agency world. In the best consumer agencies, creatives are valued highly, (sometimes too highly) but I felt that pharma creatives were often seen as a necessary evil and not as the centre-peice of any agency.
I mean, they should at least feel as though they are.
“Imagine if Gordon Ramsey just said, ok, whatever you think is best, we can serve that Dover Sole with chocolate sauce and a diet Coke in a can, no problem. He wouldn’t be Gordon Ramsey would he?”
It’s somewhat ironic then, given that one of my next blogs was about knowing nothing and how it can actually work for you.
Both these things can true at the same time: You can be an expert and know nothing, rather like being an Olympic runner who doesn’t know how football works. You just want to see what they do with the ball.
The less you know the better. explored how the secret weapon of the young creative is naiveté. When you don’t know the rules, you don’t even know you’re breaking them.
And speaking of breaking the rules what the hell happened to pitches took the form of a conversation between an invented agency and a prospective client. As I read this again, it felt ludicrous, both in content and to an extent the delivery, but all these client requests involving a new business pitch – albeit from multiple clients – were genuine. Our industry has become like an abused spouse who just takes it without complaining.
But sometimes pitching can be a pleasure.
By far my most well-read blog is the obtusely titled Eggs in the airing cupboard which is also probably my favourite. Like many of my earlier blogs it explores the differences between consumer and pharma creative but this documents the moment I realised I had fully transitioned to pharma.
Because this one was on a slightly more personal level. My mother eventually died of bowel cancer (in 2016) but she lived with Alzheimers for five years before that.
In consumer we can often sample the things we are selling, from cars to crisps or tech but nobody really wants to experience the grim realities of living with cystic fibrosis or retinal disease or diabetes.
But occasionally the streams cross and you find yourself pitching for an Alzheimers treatment, while at home you have a mother who doesn’t know who you are or where she is. And that can be an emotional experience to say the least.
“Like many families, you watch one of the most important figures in your family go from a sparkling, glamorous, larger than life character to a diminished old lady who sometimes doesn’t make sense any more and sits in the backseat on car journeys pointing out trees.”
And finally, keeping it personal – I remember this like it was yesterday. This next blog told the story of how I nearly got beaten to a pulp by a professional ex-boxer at the Whisky Bar in Hollywood.
But I won the utlimate battle, because I managed to wrangle what was a mildly amusing anecdote into a blog about brands in ‘How a brand can punch above its weight’.
Take that Gary Stretch!
(Standby for part 3.)
ollycaporn's blag 
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