REVIEW: A bare-bones look at the industry to tickle your funny bone

BBDO Guerrero Ortega Manila E: by Matt Beaumont. Publisher: Harper Collins. Time was when every advertising copywriter kept a dog-eared manuscript in the bottom drawer - writing ads being but a mere detour on the path to literary greatness. But for every Salman Rushdie (who toiled at London's Charles Barker Agency) or Fay Weldon (who paid the rent with lines like "naughty ... but nice"), there were of course hundreds of miserable hacks who failed. Then again, there's Alan Parker and Ridley Scott - who both got their start at CDP. BBDO London seems to have also been particularly good at getting people to seek alternative careers, with CDs Peter Mayle running off to Provence and Andrew Niccol winning an Oscar for the screenplay of a little film called The Truman Show. The question is, can we now add the name Matt Beaumont to this glittering cast? A few may remember him as the joint CD of Saatchis Hong Kong in the early '90s, although his monicker at that time was, I think, Matthew Theokritoff. I think the annoying answer - at least to any of his contemporaries who may have harboured similar ambitions - is yes. 'e.' is a novel about life in an ad agency, told with an insider's eye for detail. Written entirely as a set of emails, it makes it relevant for the office-going masses. He sticks in fair old dollops of advertising lore to bring the audience along with him. From the well-worn: "Q: How many account directors does it take to change a lightbulb? A: How many does the client want it to take?", to the description of head of client services as a title that "impresses at cocktail parties where there are no advertising people present". The plot revolves around a pitch for Coca-Cola by the UK office of an imaginary but highly believable agency called Miller Shanks. Naturally, there are interwoven plots of creative teams shooting commercials in Mauritius with a cast of page three girls; an Asian transvestite caught in a compromising position in the ECD's office and an email system that unpredictably CCs the entire global network on sensitive internal memos. This inspires just about everyone in the network to live up to the motto of their last network meeting in Waikiki: "10,000 Bodies, One Mind." As each gets copied on the latest on the Coke pitch, they can't resist putting in their own vital contributions. Consider this little gem from the Helsinki MD, Pertti Vanhelden. "I am having last-minute brainstorms with my teams and we have some crazy-mad ideas that maybe we can incorporate: (like) Coke baseball caps and bombing jackets to give a youthful, 'rock band' look ..." Hong Kong makes an appearance, when the CEO of that office writes: "I've been working the Asia-Pacific circuit for 13 years now and feel I have achieved all I can. It is time for a switch back to Europe and I hear on the grapevine there is a search for a new CEO in Bucharest ... Did I mention my wife is one-eighth Hungarian?'" Both emails are, of course, exactly the sort of stuff that flies round any multinational network. And the format is perfect for showing people saying completely opposite things in the space of a couple of minutes; and backstabbing each other with bcc's and forwards. It's all so uncomfortably real. There's even a very funny website for this fictitious shop (www. Millershanks.com) where you can download the sequel (yes, there's one already). Perfect for reading on your next trip to that global conference.

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