In Praise of the Crown

It may seem odd that a few days after our American Independence Day, a day I spent in Independence, CA, I write of Jolly Ole England, but I am nothing if not contrarian.

Several days ago, famous Brit, Sir John Hegarty, founder of BBH, gave a wide ranging interview on the state of advertising. Broken. Ill-informed. And completely out of touch with the times. In short, he likened it to the state of Mississippi.

Hegarty has gravitas.

And though I, and other Yankee bloggers, have been saying the same things for years, when Hegarty speaks people listen. It might have something to do with his immense body of work. Or, perhaps more likely, it has more to do with his erudite annunciation and his $300 shirts.

Hegarty bemoans the bean counting.

"Too many people leading our industry are accountants, and I think for a creative industry that’s a tragedy."

Hegarty ponders the demise of TV.

“I think the industry has lost faith in TV. I think it has lost faith in the big, bold idea. I think it has lost its courage and I’m deeply upset by that."

And finally, Hegarty takes his shot against the onslaught of digital.

"In our industry we’ve become obsessed with technology, in doing so, it has lost faith a little bit in the value of that big idea."

Of course when I make similar statements they are clearly with a more regional dialect. And with far less eloquence.

"I got your social media, right here."

Last week, while on vacation, if you call sleeping on the ground, slathering on bug spray and storing food in a bear box a vacation, I reposted some old stories from the archive. Including one on the nature of digital advertising. Imagine my surprise to come home and find out that piece racked up thousands of hits.

Turns out, Dave Trott, another Brit, who I will affectionately refer to as the poor man's John Hegarty, only because he hasn't been knighted, yet, tweeted that story and sent it all over the Motherland, Great Britain. 

One tweet led to a retweet (something you losers here in the Colonies never do) and suddenly I've got new followers and a band of Brits spreading the good Roundseventeen word across the European continent.

If you haven't read Dave's blog, you should. He's a remarkable writer and tells some terrific stories. And I'm not just saying that so that he'll continue to evangelize on my behalf. Oh who am I kidding, of course I am.

More importantly however, I get to claim, at least on one occasion, that I got the Trott's…

…Seal of Approval.

I've been wanting to use that joke for the longest time. Oh it's good to be back.

I'll be here all week.