What a pity the world of marketing communications isn’t a bit more rock and roll.

"Not THE Tony Murray surely!"

Surely if the Eagles can patch up their legendary differences for a world tour and a double CD, then Huet and Timmins could get back together and revisit some of their more hummable bathroom ads from the late 1990’s?

And whose heart wouldn’t miss a beat at the prospect of seeing Rob Kay, Derek Linsley and Frank Casey back together on stage, pitching for another bit of Airfix business, and trying to recapture the indefinable magic of the Brunning beat of yesteryear?

Even those agencies that trundle-on in guises other than their most-celebrated line-up needn’t be omitted from this nostalgic revelry – just as Deep Purple returned with their classic “mark II” roster (vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Richie Blackmore), what’s to stop JWT Manc acceding to fan demand with a one-off “Asda price” gig (“Ladies and gentlemen together on stage for one last time: Mike “Bazza” Barrington, Steve “Johno” Johnson, Simon “Teflon” Howitt and Geoff “The Count” Spellar….”)?

"Paul who?"

Ah, such is the stuff of the dreams…

The reality is that egos in the “marcomms” (God, how I hate that word!) world dwarf those of their rock and roll counterparts. There will never be a Staniforth-Williams comeback gig, nor will a new generation ever see a cut-price recession-friendly Quadrant Advertising take to the road once more with its retro-style of Soviet-sourced car advertising (“Go on buy a Lada – they’re not quite as shit as everyone says they are and we won’t tell anyone and that’s a promise!”)

Riven, driven, but seldom forgiven..

A driven man, is Mr Brookes

All of which brings us to “driven”, the BDH tribute band (“BDain’t”?) set up by disaffected and dismissed members of Manc’s mightiest agency. They seem to be making no secret of their intention to raid the client list of their one-time employer, TBWA Manchester (formerly, of course BDH) and indeed their start-up client, Westland, is a direct swipe from the coffers of Didsbury’s finest.

“Well let’s just see what happens next,” said Nick Brookes, one of the start-up’s managing partners, when quizzed by How-Do about the prospects of more accounts being liberated from the-hand-that-formerly-fed. Well Nick, I would guess, litigation, saber-rattling, mutual recrimination and an extended period of sniping is the traditional course of action from here on in (if in any doubt, all participants would do well to Google “Communiqué” and “Vertigo” for a detailed route map.)

When the Boat Goes Out…

In truth, BDH has been long overdue a breakaway. For a long time its senior management had a lingering resentment about the amount of cash trousered by former top brass like Bryn Butler and Arnold Sindle when the agency first took the Omnicom shilling back in the early nineties. One time MD, Roger “psycho” Ward was once tipped (by me at least) as “Didsbury Boy Most Likely To” but he inherited his own stack of cash and went off to make pies for a living (well, bought Mr Sam’s Chop House, but you know what I mean.)

I do wonder if another of Driven’s founders, Nick Brookes, was correct when he told How-Do: "We think this is a good time to bring something new and compelling to the market. There is clearly an opportunity to offer something that combines the vitality of a new born, with the reassurance of proven big brand experience at the highest level.”

One of the new success stories

As has the much-vaunted credit crunch which has already seen a number of (admittedly possibly marginal) organizations (G)capitulating to the inevitable and, ominously, only the Big Issue in the North announcing expansion plans.

I wonder if once, a couple of years back, messrs Drury, Brookes, Griffiths and Lear, whilst huddled in a back office of the Church ticking off the “pros and cons” on their shall-we-shan’t-we business plan, heard the receding sound of a foghorn on the Ship Canal…and got the faint sense that the gangplank was up and they were no longer on the manifest. I hope not.

Still, anything can happen in the wacky world of marcomms. Why only this week, I found myself agreeing with TBWA’s current chief executive, Robert Harwood-Matthews when he said of the Roses Awards in the pages of the MEN: “Last year it was rubbish.”

In truth, RHM, the Roses lost its way once it was no longer administered from the North of England and its long-standing tradition of allowing ad agencies and design agencies to compete was undermined for short-sighted “commercial” reasons. Add to that the cost-cutting that has seen investment slipping from 18k for Phil Jupitus to host the 2000 event to ₤3.50, a packet of salt and vinegar crisps and his bus fare home to the nobody that hosted the 2007 event. Now if only somebody would launch some decent awards for the North West, say around April 24…

Who you gonna call? No bugger, apparently…

A bum deal?

Oy Cain’s beer blokeys – I don’t know how much you paid Peter Blake to design your limited edition label, but you wuz robbed. You may call it a “striking Union Jack motif”. I’d call it…eh..a Union Jack.

Name and shame time now – go on, who can tell us the name of the agency responsible for promoting Manchester City Council’s Budgetary distinctly lukewarm line, which got slightly fewer calls than even “The Magazine’s” ad department?

Blake's 08

Finally, fie on Roger Borrell, editor of Lancashire Life, who this week blithely trotted out a How-Do Wrap that actually commented on a story on the site. Where was the self-serving hobby-horsery we’ve come to expect? I trust normal service will be resumed shortly.

Tony Murray is one of the leading North West marcomms journalist based within Beijing’s Third Ring Road. You can email him on tonymurray37@hotmail.com and tell him how much you miss him. Or not.

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