BOOK REVIEW: Sell!
This is a collection of great tales rather than a definitive history of every advertising agency or campaign. And it is much better this way.
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Sell! Tall tales from the legends of New Zealand advertising
by Hazel Phillips
Penguin
RRP $45
This is more than a book about ads.
That’s not just because former NBR journalist Hazel Phillips knows her subject matter well – it’s because great ads give insight into the social climate of any particular place or time.
SELL! is a modern history of New Zealand through an advertising lens. Among the comings and goings of big agencies, it discusses women’s rights, alcohol promotion and standards of decency and taste.
It is a collection of great tales rather than a definitive history of every agency or campaign. And it is much better this way.
The book begins in 1903. Back then Wellington was the hub for ad land (as it would continue to be until the 1990s).
It quickly fast forwards to the 1960s – which is really where it should have began – and from here launches into the world of agency walkouts, long lunches and power plays.
Highlights include:
- Sir Bob Harvey’s account of his start-up MacHarman advertising and his “domestic violence sort of friendship” with Norman Kirk.
- Former TBWA\Whybin chief executive David Walden’s yarn about of the lengths he’d go through to ensure his clients saw perfect print ads delivered to their letterbox.
- Assignment co-founder Kim Thorp’s recollection of how Saatchi & Saatchi came up with their iconic meerkats campaign.
At 320 pages there is a lot of content to get through, but the narrative is light and it feels fast-paced. The story does not always follow chronologically – interwoven through the “history” are pull-out boxes which disrupt the narrative at times.
For an industry that loves to talk about itself, it’s surprising there has not been a work like this sooner.
Ad geeks and Kiwi history nuts will enjoy this book.
Victoria Young
Fri, 07 Jun 2013
Fri, 07 Jun 2013
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BOOK REVIEW: Sell!
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