How about a John Webster Day?
Better still, how about a Glen Cocker Day? – in honour of the days when
the creative circle was a bunch of creative people who got together with
the slenderest of pretexts. Get together – non partisan lies – get
trolleyed.
I regret not taking Glen up on his offer to visit at his studio/retreat
at kawhia, where he was an accomplished painter. Does anyone remember
Glen’s mad red rimmed coke bottle glasses and huge lizard hands and
fingernails? Might have been the hallucinogens…
The only ads I know he made (for sure) were the ones for the push bikes
(can’t remember brand-avanti), ‘parently he convinced is old mucker from
Liverpool Alexi Sayle to come down and reprise his ‘ullo john got a new
motor’ ballad for the campaign. In the next issue of our mag we’re
talking to Roy from Meares Taine (Gruppe?) who gave me my first ever
‘proper job’ in the biz – he showed me a double-head of the brilliant
Mel Smith / Gryff Rhys Jones campaign for Steinlager and I was sold – by
the ad and by Roy’s incredible excitement for the work. It is a thrill
to be in the company of people who just care so damn much.
Who are the mad, the bad and dangerous to know in advertising now?
Question – Is there a bohemian ideal in advertising now – or is it just
business?
David MacGregor
Founder / Creative Director
14 Comments
All that coke rimming and double-heading with other men.David, is this a clumsy attempt to come out?
David, since it appears you have a bit of time on your hands – what with the stunning success of the Family Health Diary – can you please write for me a retail headline for a 40×7. I have 10 Fridge freezers, 5 microwaves, 9 Apple iPods, and a free trip to the Gold Coast to give away.You have till the end of the day. GO!!
Got a brand new Morrison, a brand new 10-speed Morrison. I think.
I had a Panther BMX. But the mower shop had painted it red and put ‘Motorguard’ stickers on it. I suspect they stole it. I only worked this out in my late teens when I realised my prized possession was branded with a tool companies stickers. I really wanted a PK Ripper, they had rectangle shaped frames. My first bike was a Tomahawk, it had 3 gears but I’m positive they just made the bike harder to turn the pedal. The gear shift was carefully placed on the cross bar so it could easily rip off a nut when you rode into a chain blocking a driveway at University park. Thanks for your time.
You are a creative director and a founder you of all people should know the best ideas are simple not long winded like your post
I had a Raleigh Rodeo. It was painted a stupid pinky-red colour. My Dad wrapped it up and stuck it on the porch for my birthday. I was lucky because we had a ‘rule’ that us kids weren’t allowed bikes until we turned 10. I turned eight and scored my first ride two years early. My sisters and bro were spitting tacks. When I pulled off the wrapping paper I was so disappointed it wasn’t a BMX that I started crying and went into a strop. I think I was foaming at the mouth. Tool. I can still remember the look of shock and sadness on my father’s face. I’m pretty sure I heard his heart break too. Kids can be real cocks sometimes.I ended up riding it all day, every day. When the car show rolled into town, me and my bro went and filled our bags with as many stickers as we could. The most common was Motorguard ’cause they sponsored the NZ Rally. We both turned our bikes into rally ‘cars’ with corrugated cardboard and 5 tonnes of Motorguard stickers. Our wheels could hardly turn because of all the resistance from the stickers. It took us about two days to complete the transformation. We were sick of it within an hour. I repeatedly took it off-road and went through about a thousand spokes and 17 new rims before my old man finally caved and bought me a wicked chromed Supermax II. He shouldn’t have though ’cause I was a little cunt. I ended up sticking a carrier on the front of it for delivering my papers. I really wanted to look like Elliot off E.T. but in actual fact it just meant I cracked the tips of my forks about three times and made the old git fork out for more forks. Any money I made from spreading the news was far outstripped by buying new forks. That’s how I learnt to be highly skilled in false economy. Just another frayed string to my limp economic bow.
How about a Ben Pegler Day?
I have befriended a mole who became involved with a gazelle and together they are giving birth to a shrew.True story.
To Pus Baster:Sorry luvvy, no.You’ll have to stay with your current beeach.MacGregor
Pus, Second thoughts,You’ll have to remain the bitch. It assume, as you pefer to preserve your identity, you wear a little rubber mask as you experience your un-named delights.MacG
Stop badgering me about the shrew, bear. So sick of woodland creatures right now…
I had a Panther BMX bike too, and I really wanted a RedLine. Remember Stu Thomson? He was my RedLine hero, him and the freestyle team. It was a bit tricky being a girl racer though – every time I biked to the BMX track at Barry’s Point Road, guys in cars would pass me yelling, “BMX BUNNY!!!!”
I had an HMX. I wanted to marry it. It was yellow and had nothing but pads and a chain break. One of the greatest days of my life was when I discovered that if you jammed a just juice carton between the front nobblie tyre and the forks it turned your bike into a MOTORBIKE. No shit. I invented that.
As the dearly departed Glen Cocker’s daughter (who works in PR, not advertising) I have to say that there is no way I can imagine him blogging or anything so technical. It’s been a decade since he died, but I think his ego would have loved a Glen Cocker day and demanded why no one arranged one earlier!