Red Hot and Dutch - what was that all about then?

Naked people. It seemed to sell my satellite hardware quite well. I had finished a one year contract with Murdoch to market Sky in its first year; the job was to get a million dishes on the streets so people would start buying them in the stores. I carried on with the hardware side of the business, finding that one particular black box was selling like crazy, it brought in Filmnet, a channel from Belgium. It took me six months to discover that apart from more up to date movies than Sky, it also showed a hard core movie twice a week. They closed it down and I launched Red Hot to ensure the ongoing sales. It was of course, the first hard core porn station in Europe. A lively couple of years.

Amsterdam calling Gordo

That's Life.

So did this then trigger the bankruptcy? (See I've done a bit of research)

Yes, I went down for about £100k, PAYE and VAT really.

So how did someone with your reputation as a roué, raconteur and all round bon vivant handle life as a bankrupt?

Soberly, it was a hard period, which culminated in me being kicked near to death in the street. A bed-sit in Fallowfield and two years of being in a daze. But, the one thing that never leaves you is sales skills, of which I have plenty. You can always get back up if you have those.

So were you Manchester's answer to Jeffrey Barnard in those days?

Hmm. Quite possibly, but going skint doesn't do you any harm, I have come to realise that the only important thing in life is being able to buy your round in the pub of a Friday night.

I read about you getting a bit of a hiding and becoming the stuff of medical textbooks. Were you really a hero stepping in to protect a fair maiden or was your past catching up with you?

It was as simple as that, a young girl was getting a good hiding on Oxford Road, I stepped in, then four of his pals decided to join in. I lost.

Would you do the same again?

I looked like the elephant man, but fortunately my good looks have returned. But, yes, as I am stupid and I would do the same again.

So, you're broke, you're facing reconstructive surgery and you're living in Fallowfield - any one of the three is enough to push most people to the edge - what was your lowest moment?

Having to borrow money off my daughter to pay the electric.

When did you realize there was a corner there to be turned?

It's a bit deep this, but I was actually suffering from depression, life was grey for a couple of years. I didn't realise I had a problem until I had spent two years bumbling about.

What was the first step to re-building things?

The clouds parted when I was selling companies web sites; the whole thing about being able to communicate and publish without out print overheads showed me a future for publishing myself online without needing huge capital.

What did you do the first day your bankruptcy was lifted?

Sat down at three o'clock and had a pint of Guinness, then went home and had a nice roast shoulder of lamb. Twenty years ago I would have woken up in Rio.

Last negative question - what would you advise anyone going through the same kind of shit?

Three things: Never give up, never give up and never give up!

So now you've made the transition from bankrupt porn baron elephant man to e-commerce entrepreneur. How did you do that?

Great sales skills, good story telling and humility, honesty and, knowing the value of readers.

Humility? That's not a word usually found in sentences about Mark Garner - unless preceded by the term "not much"...

Quite! The correct answer is understanding the value of being able to communicate with tens of thousands of people, gaining their trust then giving great advice, once I have a reader, I don't take the Mickey out of him or her by selling them crap.

How did the "Confidential" concept come to you and how did it evolve? Did you have problems getting backing, bearing in mind the bankruptcy?

Getting back in business with bankruptcy hanging over you is like fighting with one arm tied behind your back: difficult but not impossible. Confidential was born out of seeing that it was possible to use my knowledge about food and wine to create a blog on steroids. It hit the right note from day one; it keeps getting better, but the business model is the same as regional papers without the print and distribution costs.

Can you briefly explain the financial thinking behind Confidential?

Currently, it is very similar to The Metro model; it's free to air, we get our money from advertising and marketing SME's. Now we have Liverpool and Leeds open, I expect the readership to climb to 300,000, at that level you get onto the radar of the chunky advertisers and at that point we turn into a big cash cow - 'cos our costs won't climb in proportion.

So how do you protect it? What's to stop bigger players with bigger budget and an off-line presence buggering you?

Currently, the big boys don't get it at all. We are five years ahead of them in our strategy. It is hugely difficult to replicate our tone of voice, at the same time no one can write about food and booze with the same authority as we do. We will get competition, but there is plenty of room for more players. In the meantime, we keep going from strength to strength

Do you think you can brand "confidential" so that it will be seen as the original and see off any newbies?

Yes. I have been approached by people in Cape Town, Dubai and Shanghai who want to licence Confidential. I think the brand is there now.

You have Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. What's next?

Cardiff and Dublin under our ownership, with Newcastle as well.

You've been quoted as saying Confidential is the largest non-broadcast medium in the North. How do you justify that?

I actually said by the end of this year. We will have 300,000 readers in the North West and West Yorkshire. Our closest rival is the MEN which keeps making mistakes and bleeding readership.

We keep growing by 8% per month. The MEN’s strategy is wrong, confused. Can you imagine Murdoch bringing in consultants to tell him how to run his business? They have some great writers, but don't lead them properly. I’d bring in youth, an editor who is growing with the Net and throw out the cat gets stuck up tree crap. More national and international news, and take a close look at what the online strategy is. Print that you throw away at the end of the day will die over the next ten years, the key is the internet.

Let's talk a bit about your alter ego. How did that come about?

Gordo? I believed that the key to gaining ABC1 readership was to write about food. To review restaurants, I started thinking that I needed a 'character' and invented Gordo, intending for no-one to know who he was. Gordo then got a life of his own. He is a bit like Les Patterson

How much of you is Gordo?

About twenty five percent. I think, but about 100% at two o'clock this morning...

Where did the name come from?

My sales director when I worked for Murdoch was sent to Mexico on holiday. A big guy at 21 stone, he was being called “Gordo” by the kids on the beach. When he asked the hotel manager what Gordo meant, he replied: “fat bastard”.

Without getting all psychological here, is “Gordo: Mark Garner without the two years in a Fallowfield bedsit and having to borrow the leccy money from his daughter?"

No. He is very much a character who is meant to add readability to my own reviews. Writing about food is a black art, you need to entertain. He is, I hope, on the vanguard of a push against PC, tongue in cheek but knowledgeable about food and booze. Confidential would not have taken off as well as it did without him.

What is Mark Garner's exit strategy?

I am uncertain that I would want to sell to be honest at this stage, a strategic sale of a significant minority might be useful, but I do bloody love going to work at the moment. If I got enough to buy a premier cru Bordeaux estate, that may get me excited,

Okay if you look up "chequered career” in any reputable dictionary, there's not only a picture of you but gsm directions to your house, so what do you regret?

Not a lot really. I was offered a good sum by the aforementioned porn Baron to sell Red Hot which I refused, that was probably a mistake, but without all the grief that led on from Red Hot I wouldn't be the person I am today and I do enjoy being me these days. So the real answer is absolutely fuck all.

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Comments (5)

1  By Andy Egan , on 18-03-2008 16:11 Serves you right for asking! Can't fault the man for honesty!  Well done Gordo! when all around you are falling.. a good bottle of Bordeaux is always the answer!Cheers Report