On the wondrous wizardry of PR

 

My daughter was cleaning out her room the other day. 

That alone is cause for celebration. If one were to neglect the fact that she chose to do it at 2 in the morning. With the hallway light on. And shattering the darkness in my bedroom, thanks to a partial glass wall my architect thought would be a nice touch. 

She found the sheet of adhesive stickers (pictured above) that I had given her some 20 plus years ago. 

Those in the business will recognize images from the iconic Chiat/Day campaigns of the past, including Apple's 1984, The Taco Bell Chihuahua (RIP Ginger), Sony PlayStation and Levis. I'm thinking Lee Clow had these made in the late 90's, when the agency was arguably at its finest. We were doing great work-- and let's be honest, it's advertising, so great is a relative descriptor -- firing on all cylinders and riding the crest of that sweet early internet money. Mmmmm, no budgetary limits.

You could argue that spending company money on self promoting stickers, not to mention T-shirts, the oversized foam core posters, and various other swag displaying the company's work, was indulgent. And an exercise in narcissistic navel-gazing. 

But you'd be wrong. 

Because in clear eyed hindsight, and a new perspective gained by watching the political shenanigans of the past 5 years, it's obvious there was a method to all this freewheeling spending.

It was all about building buzz and controlling the narrative. It was major league Public Relations. And I had a front row seat to watch its magical machinations, executed by the finest PR team in all of advertising.

Not to detract from the brilliance of my creative colleagues at the time, but there was an unseen reason why Chiat/Day was always being talked about. And winning awards. And generating growth through the acquisition of new business. And that reason was PR. 

A lion's share of the credit goes to my friend Jeremy Miller (currently working his magic at McCann), who, together with Lee and Bob Kuperman, orchestrated the behind-the-scenes scaffolding that was part and parcel of every campaign that made its way into pop culture. 

I'm not sharing any recipes for the secret sauce here. Agencies, and for that matter Clients, know about PR, they just haven't exercised the imagination it takes to master it. Nor, sadly, are they willing to make the investment. And make no mistake, that's what it is. Because done right, PR can pay dividends. See Apple. See The Kardashians. See (unfortunately) Trump.

Upon even more hindsight, there's no more obvious demonstration of the power of the free press than this blog. 

Started more than 12 years ago, and worming its way into the morning routine of fellow disgruntled advertising creatives, I can safely and immodestly say RoundSeventeen and its steady stream of irrelevant "content" and puff pieces, has helped distinguish me from the hordes of other freelance copywriters and accounted for the bulk of the revenue that went towards tomahawk steaks, two college tuitions, and my prized 2015 Audi S5.

It even paved the way for my return to the corporate world. Who in their right mind would hire a washed up 44 year old copywriter, whose best days are way, way behind him?