An advertising book that's not about advertising
Dear Students:
Read a book this summer.
{Read a ton of books if you can--nothing makes you a better person for a company to hire as its voice than having something inside your head your mouth can draw from}
Read this book of short stories:
This book will scare you.
The world run by measurers.
(my word, not his)
Measurers are people who say the things inside a person can be counted.
Measurers are people who want to replace individual thought & gut feeling with numbers.
This author has imagined the world we're headed for unless you guys stop it.
Read a book this summer.
{Read a ton of books if you can--nothing makes you a better person for a company to hire as its voice than having something inside your head your mouth can draw from}
Read this book of short stories:
This book will scare you.
The world run by measurers.
(my word, not his)
Measurers are people who say the things inside a person can be counted.
Measurers are people who want to replace individual thought & gut feeling with numbers.
This author has imagined the world we're headed for unless you guys stop it.
12 Comments:
It's a planner world.
I've been having secret rendezvous' with Jack Kerouac, Alan Gisnberg and EE Cummings all summer long.
Don't tell my wife.
HEADED for? We're already there. (When was the last time you had a client who didn't test/research/overthink every single piece of creative until it was as lifeless and empty as a moth in a spider web?)
I disagree that resisting measurers means resisting planners. Wouldn't planners, like any thoughtful people, want to work toward a world unlike the one the book suggests?
You need to read David Foster Wallace.
The book is called A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.
The piece about the Illinois State Fair and the title story are the best.
And if my recommendation doesn't make the time-investment seem worthwhile, it's 8 bucks on amazon. I'll even put a link right here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316925284/102-4478312-4138534?v=glance&n=283155
I remember Fenske once gave us an 'assignment' to go buy a record based on the album cover. It's still one of my favorite albums.
The reason the measurers are doing well is because the world is stable. Let's see how well those measurers do when there's a war, a world-changing technology or a gold rush.
Say you own an ice cream store. You proudly measure out one or two exact scoops for each customer. You take great care in your round, beautiful scoops. Then, a heat wave hits. A long line forms outside your ice creamery. Now, it is no longer about measuring the scoops. Now it is "get these damn customers in and out fast." On top of that, your employees are stealing ice cream because you are too busy to watch them.
I've been there, in that ice cream store. :-)
Please (PLEASE!) re-publish your 14 anti-laws. I have a whole department to inspire and I'd love to have that article, it's genius...and i can't find it anywhere...
THANKS
Chocolate Thunder the uncensored life and times of Darryl Dawkins.
This is starting to sound like Oprah's book club. We might be in man card violation here Mark.
Anti-laws can be found here: http://www.rm116.com/2005/03/fenskes_14_anti.html
Thanks for posting that, I didn't have a copy. That sucker's old.
Measurers are far more dangerous than that. Measurers create conformists, and conformists kill individual thought. They're the ones that create the bad products for which we must create bad strategies for bad clients that want bad ads: a woman must weigh a certain amount. Anyone over 30 is old. Marriage needs to happen by age 32 or there's something wrong with you. 1 dog, 2.5 kids, etc., etc., etc. If clients weren't the sort of overachieving business people that didn't live their lives by this shit, we'd be free to create art.
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