Well, dear readers, I am pleased to report that I am in a pretty chipper mood on account of the fact that today marks the beginning of my “birthday week” celebrations (just in case you were thinking of showering me with pressies).
Anyway, it all kicks off this lunchtime – well it is Friday after all – with my esteemed bosses promising to foot the bill for a slap-up lunch and free-flowing drinks. To be fair, I have earned it, I have been working like a dog for months.
Mind you, I doubt if it will be able to rival the celebrations over at ad industry trade rag Campaign, whose 50th birthday has been dominating its own coverage since September 10.
Now, at the risk of going against my own instincts – told you I was in a good mood – I have actually quite enjoyed some of their coverage, although with nearly 40 stories and counting – including a mass photo shoot of agency luvvies and countless “best of” articles (parts 1 and 2) – it does bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “making a meal of it”.
But the best, so far at least, has to be an article entitled “Campaign turns 50: Confident, punchy and famous – just like the industry it serves” in which its esteemed global editor in chief gives us a rip-roaring account of the magazine’s transformation from “a classically awful trade magazine”, into a world changing business title.
Yes, dear readers, back in 1968, with the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the Prague and Paris riots in full swing, “the young and ambitious entrepreneur Michael Heseltine and his brilliant business partner Lindsay Masters” made the planet a much happier place by relaunching World Press News. The rest, as they say, is history.
And, now, with a global audience “nudging three million” surely it’s only a matter of time before the Pulitzer Prize judges come knocking…
