BBC4 showed and is showing a biography of David Ogilvy - “the father of advertising.”

It is quite a story as Ogilvy was approaching 40 when he set-up his ground breaking and highly successful agency Ogilvy and Mather.  Within a few years he had Shell, Lever Brothers and Rolls Royce as accounts.  Billings were over $100m after 10 years in business.

Ogilvy’s career was built upon a number of disparate experiences that he drew upon, from AGA cooker door to door salesman to farmer in Amish country.

If you have time it is well worth finding out about this media icon, even if the biography just creates a greater a enigmatic view of Ogilvy for you.

Another series of The Apprentice: another set of banal self-serving and deluded individuals for this”reality TV” dross:

“I rate myself as the best salesperson in Europe.” Jenny

“There’s nobody at my age who has achieved what I have.”  Lindi

“If I am faced with a situation that may cause mere mortals to quake, I don’t.” Reaf

“I haven’t failed at anything.” - Nicholas de Lacy-Brown before he got kicked off The Apprentice last night.

Compare with a true entrepreneurial hero:

“We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough.  We detest office politicians, toadies, bullies and pompous asses. We abhor ruthlessness.  The way up our ladder is open to everybody.  In promoting people to top jobs, we are influenced as much by their character as anything else”.

David Ogilvy who built from scratch a worldwide leader in advertising: Ogilvy and Mather.

Crain’s Manchester Business has its 40 under 40 coming up and is looking for nominations.

Just go to the website.

They certainly do, prospective clients need to be aware of how they present themselves.

A few months ago I pitched to a design agency in Old Trafford that in a word were rude. And in another word aggressive.

I was forced to present in half an hour and it was more like an interrogation than an exchange of information and views. I did not get it: I told them their brief was too narrow and unworkable and they should expand their target press.

Only a few months down the line and they seem to have sacked their PR and are going to combine the role with an in-house account exec who I assume will be a client handler and get all the PR they need as long as the person can write press releases according to an advert I have come across.

I believe this is an underestimation of what PRs do and so they will miss out on opportunities, but also doing it on the cheap will be selling themselves short.

Still, when I got a thank you note for attending the pitch saying that “I would be put on file” I knew it confirmed I had a lucky escape.

In a competitive world we override our instincts, we really need to listen to them more. On the reverse side those hiring suppliers should think about they present themselves it is all part of their PR and how they come across might determine the supplier they deserve.

It is not the name of a new bar that Manchester needs so badly.

But the perennial PR problem: justifying spend.  It all comes from PR being so hard to quantify.  How do you measure raised profile, greater understanding of what your client does, reputation being enhanced?

You can’t unless you have a big research budget, so anything but blue chip clients will be unable to gage the benefits accurately.

There are leads, which is where many businesses judge their PR.  It is wrong to base any judgement solely on this premise.  I have had clients that have more than covered their PR spend with new clients derived from PR.  You also have new clients where PR has played a par, but this has not been identified or noted.

The solution?

Answers on a postcard or in the comments please.

It is pretty frightening stuff.  How many links could I get to such stories about impending economic doom today?

I have even seen the odds for a Great Depression like outcome, the worst economic climate since the war and an early 90s type recession.  Of course we might get through it  with passing alarm as in the late 90s with the Asian collapse.

WPP has remained upbeat: 17% increase in margins for PR in 2007.  Sir Martin Sorrell chief executive of the marketing monster that is WPP said in PR week: “I can’t recall a time when PR has been as strong.”

My humble outlook seems to echo that as far as I can see Martin.

Just posturing on his part?  I think he means it.

So if we have a slide in our economic fortunes what will happen PR wise?

It might be a mixture of losing and gaining business.  Some budgets withdrawn, other companies coming into play, using marketing and PR to maintain sales in hard times.

I feel as though things are in slow mo.  What can I do?  Keep outgoings low.  Check.  Have a mixture of accounts from many industries.  Check.  Do not rely on one big client.  Check.

I point my ship into the storm and use an anchor for balance.

You have to say only The Sun could come up with that description of the McCartney / Mills divorce saga.

On a PR note - what a disaster!

Heather has not learnt anything by her rant on GMTV (pictured)  and how her undignified behaviour had damaged her and she decided to try again outside court.  If she did not succeed first time then she must have done for many people this time.

Confused, to say the least, messages about being a champion of the environment, animals rights, charities and against waste then she comes out with:  ”Beatrice (her daughter) only gets £35,000 a year. And so she obviously is meant to travel B class while her father travels A class - but obviously I will pay for that.”

The indignity of it all for the toddler!  Get the therapist and no NHS ones.  This is a half Beatle.

And Sir Paul, he kept his mouth shut, listened to his team, and kept his dignity intact.

When she sacked her PR person for refusing to take his advise,  she saved herself money, which she harped on about at length in regards to falling out with her legal team, and lost her reputation.

But a little common sense, self-awareness and class would have done.

Another sad story in the world of business publishing: Business 550 is no longer being published.

I cannot believe that is 4 business titles with a North West presence that have gone in the last 18 months.

I have been having stories published by editors Steve (Stephen) Wright and then Brett Mathews for near on 5 years. So I am very appreciative of their help during this time.

I wish everyone who was at the magazine that they get a new satisfying job position quickly.

It is all about bottom line, isn’t it?

Well yes it is. If you demonstrate a return for a client that is greater than the spend then they will probably continue to use you, especially if you factor in all the other benefits.

Yet, it can be about the feel good factor, which is a horrible term but apt here.

I placed a client on TV the other day talking about a business subject that has benefit to his practise. Yet, the thing he mentioned that pleased him was that his young son was so impressed he asked him for his autograph. For those of us not good enough to make Jimmy Page jealous or knock Petrov out of the Man City team it is a result.

Sometimes, and at the risk of being fluffy, raising a smile or making someone’s day is a return in itself.

BBC 4 is showing some really interesting programmes on advertising (repeated on BBC 2).

Mad Men is being hailed in critical circles as a brilliant drama exposing the glamour and the seedier side of the advertising business in early 60s New York.  It also shows the transition from consumers taking admen and their work at face value to having to be more creative and honing their art to really communicate with their audience - just think how creative you have to be to catch someone’s attention these days.

The history of advertising documentaries that follow the industry from the 50s to the present are insightful and really hold your attention.  How the ads worked, why some great ideas actually resulted in a drop in sales - Strand cigarettes - and how an industry that started with many chancers  - not all - reached a peak in the 80s with Saatchi and Saatchi thinking they were so powerful they could buy the Midland Bank.

In the manner of Points of View: well  done BBC