The Other Side of Advertising
by
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I didn’t even see it coming. Maybe I was stupid or naïve, but even almost forty years in the advertising business didn’t alert me to what was happening. Stupid? Naïve? Probably both. Or maybe I was just too busy doing my job to see what my job was doing to me. Because all of a sudden one day it hit me like a ton of old television commercials. I was out of the loop. Heading for a train wreck. And if there was any light at the end of the tunnel, it was probably the train. You’re out of the loop, pal, I thought, over and over again. Out of the loop. Period, end of report.
And the cheapest shot of all? It happened on my birthday. On my birthday, for crying out loud. My desk calendar still said "Monday, September 5." And Louise had wished me a "Happy Birthday" just a few hours ago. Pretty important birthday, too. Sixty-four years old and just a year to go. In a business that usually kills off its kids before they hit forty. One more year until I’d fool them all and hit sixty-five. And could retire. Maybe even start writing The Great American Novel. My business card still said "Wallace J. Gordon, Associate Creative Director/Copy Chief, Leslie Advertising, Greenville, South Carolina." That meant I had a good job with a good advertising agency. Not quite up to the best New York or Chicago agencies, but a lot better than most. And I was making a decent salary, with both a pension plan and a profit-sharing plan. Just the kind of deal you want when you’re a year away from sixty-five. Not enough for a life of luxury, but more than enough to keep the worry wolves at bay in the middle of the night. Only one problem: to collect, I still have to be with the agency when I hit sixty-five. A year from now. And I don’t think I’m going to make it. A year can be a lifetime when you’re out of the loop. And birthday or Copy Chief, I was definitely out of the loop. Suddenly, inexplicably, but out. Memos that used to be addressed to me were being addressed to someone else. Meetings that used to happen in my office were happening down the hall. High-level conferences that used to involve me were involving everybody but me. Everybody but me. Son of a bitch. How did this happen? Where did the truck come from? What was going on?
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About the Book
Think of THE OTHER SIDE OF ADVERTISING as TOM SAWYER meets THE HUCKSTERS. This memoir of almost 40 years in the advertising wars is an eye-opening new look at the world of advertising the way it is in the trenches. Trenches that knew all about downsizing and age discrimination long ago. Yes, advertising is a glamorous, exciting, rewarding, business, right? Of course, but it is also something else. Advertising is terrifying job insecurity . . . losing your livelihood at the drop of an account . . . working for a boss who can’t carry your typewriter. And in the author’s case it was something even worse: threatening a well-earned retirement only a year away. If he doesn’t get fired first. Will they or won’t they? That’s the story of one man’s life in advertising. The other side of it.
About the Author
For almost forty years Wallace J. ("Wally") Gordon wrote ads and commercials for advertising agencies from New York to Miami, Chicago to Greenville, and Minneapolis to Atlanta. For clients ranging from Coca-cola and Dodge to the local bank and supermarket. Although he didn’t get rich, it was a pretty good life. Most of the time it was even fun, but then there were the other times.