Wednesday, June 15, 2016

My new gig.


A few years ago, two former colleagues --both copywriters--started a new online enterprise called ADWEAK. It was a satirical news page spoofing the insanity of the advertising business.

Because it was brash and brutally honest and because they cleverly used a stock photo of a fat, hairy swimmer as the editor of this fictitious magazine, many folks in the industry mistakenly assumed I was behind the venture.

I can't tell you how many phone calls and e-mails I had to field denying my authorship.

On the one hand it was flattering because their shit was really funny. On the other hand, I was still a staff guy at Chiat/Day with a rash of political problems that weren't being helped by this weekly sedition.

It wasn't me then, but it could be me now.

ADWEAK has evolved and is no longer a full blown website. Now it is a Twitter feed with more than 20 thousand followers. That's a lot of exposure. And it's well earned. Because these guys continue to crank out premium material, though when pushed they will readily admit they steal ideas and inspiration from right here at RoundSeventeen.

But that's the beauty of satirizing the ad industry -- it's a target rich environment. Like shooting flatfish in a barrel.

Whether it's fat, drunk CEO's pawing the underlings or complaining about "Those Fuckin' Jews".

Or it's double-talking planners who couldn't strategize their way out of a paper bag.

Or, it's just Pepsi.

This deep well of nonsense, incompetence and monumental greed will never run dry.

And so it is with great pleasure that I am announcing my plan to throw in with the ADWEAK staff. I've just been named a Junior Correspondent and look forward to making my anonymous contributions to their twitter feed.

And I must say it's off to a good start.

On just the second day of the job, one of my tweets was liked by Lee Clow, which according to the editors of ADWEAK, has never happened in their 10 year online history.


In case you're wondering, the ADWEAK gig pays the same as the RoundSeventeen gig -- nothing.

So I'll still be available for all your chest-beating manifesto/ anthem/banner/page takeover needs.

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