Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
I’ve been working, often passionately, at the business of advertising for the more than a decade. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I now very much look forward to not thinking a stitch about it two days of the week: Saturday and Sunday.
Which brings me to Terry O’Reilly, a man I’ve worked with, admired, and even envied for his considerable and seemingly effortless talent. Terry is the host of a radio show called The Age of Persuasion, now in its 4th season on CBC Radio. The series takes listeners deep into the world of advertising, providing a well-researched and wonderfully quirky history of the business, as well as insights about a phenomenon that, according to Terry, drives culture, art, communications and politics.
Here’s the trouble:
It airs Saturdays. And it’s about the business of advertising. And now, despite my best efforts to cleanse the palate over the course of my weekend, I find myself going to considerable lengths to listen to The Age of Persuasion, putting off chores, laying down books. I’ve even made myself late for the gym, sitting parked in my car to hear the end of an episode on the art and science behind famous – and sometimes infamous – hits and misses.
Terry’s infectious. So is his enthusiastic fascination with the fragile, enduring and every evolving relationship between consumers an their best-loved brands. And though he’s told to my face this show is not written for guys like me, guys in “the biz,” I know he’s wrong about this.
The Age of Persuasion is precisely for people like me. Because what makes you great in this business of ours is falling in love with our history long enough to want to shape it. The great storied past that inspired me to care and learn, to dig deeper and wrestle ideas to the ground in the first place is what’s really on offer Saturday mornings at ten. And so, I find myself giving up a little of my weekend. Giving it to the very business I so look forward to retreating from at the end of the week. Giving myself over to the crazy, enduring wonder of it all in the hopes I’ll learn something new. Again.
Thanks Terry.
Jacoub Bondre
February 24, 2010 @ 11:35 am
Both my wife and myself LOVE this show and listen to it every weekend.
Joe Musicco
February 25, 2010 @ 1:40 pm
Agreed. Advertising could have no better resident historian than Terry. He’s the Alan Cross of the ad world.
If you really don’t want to wait until the weekend to listen to it though, CBC’s got a great iPhone app that will stream all of Age’s episodes anywhere (and anytime) you like.
Ameet
February 26, 2010 @ 10:02 am
I am interested in finding out where else do you go to learn more about the industry and its trending patterns?
Are there others that you also consult other than Terry O’Reilly?