gibberish

Imagine “trying to emulate the glory days”. What a waste of time. Far better to pretend they never happened and go back to producing the kind of insipid, uninspiring and unimaginative pap that Scotland produced ad nauseam in the sixties and early seventies until the Advertising Enlightenment that was Halls gave this country, and Edinburgh in particular, a reputation it still trades on to this day.

What’s that you say Rob?

Oh yes, you’re quite right, sorry I forgot.

That’s exactly what you’re doing.

So, jolly well done.

I don’t think I have ever met you Rob, but I am currently out to grass, playing the same field I’ve always played. Enjoying life, doing what I’ve always done. Trying to give good ideas to good people. (I’ve hopefully left all the clients who just want shite behind.) I consider your rant a bit ageist. Who says that people like Adrian Jeffrey, and Pete Mill, and Guy Gumm, and Gerry Farrell, and Will Atkinson, all quite mature chaps I admit, are not still producing work to be proud of? At least Hall Advertising, The Leith Agency and Faulds (RIP) can hold their heads up and say that they always did their bit by employing and encouraging the next generation of writers and art directors, something seriously lacking in 90% of other agencies over the last 30 0r so years. How many great people did Smarts send out into our tough world and survive. I’m proud to have played a small part in dozens of talented people’s lives who’ve gone on to great advertising jobs all over the world. Just because you’re “saff aff the boarder” doesn’t mean you’re entitled to take cheap shots at us who’ve kept the flag flying up here. What do you mean by “sort Scotland out?”
Do you have some magic potion to reverse the trend of marketing people who see bright lights shining all the way up from The Big L. It’s sad to hear an ex-Scot and someone who never had the wonderful experience of working at Hall’s presume so much.
Maybe you should’ve kept your gob shut.

Mr Morrice needs to say something contentious to get him noticed. He’s the Jimmy Saville of Advertising. People wondering ‘is he still there, what exactly does he do now?’ or ‘what’s the old codger saying now!’. Harmless stuff but if I was an ex Halls chap, I’d be sleeping easy. He’s from Aberdeen.

“The big agencies are just paying lip service to new disciplines and have not really embraced areas such a digital and direct marketing.”

Union wins Gold at American Design Awards for Caledonian Brewery website.
Union wins Best International Campaign for S&N at UK Direct Mail Awards.
Union wins Best IFA Campaign for Scottish Life at Money Marketing Awards.
Union wins 3 year contract for VisitScotland direct marketing against WAVV & Navigator.
Union wins place on Scottish Widows roster for below-the-line work.
Union work for NHS Lothian wins award at Communicators in Business Awards.
Union wins IPA Gold for Organ Donation campaign based on PR and field marketing.

I can’t speak for the other agencies – but if we’re only ‘paying lip service’ then I hate to think what would happen if we took it seriously. You didn’t really mean that Rob, did you?

Rob deserves credit for leading the way in integrated thinking in Scotland – I remember him doing this way before the rest of us. But the world has moved on.

What fun….

I’m surprised that Rob thinks of direct marketing as a ‘new discipline’.

I’m not so surprised that everyone (apart from Mike) is up on their high horses about the observation that Scotland’s agencies need fresh ideas and approaches. Whatever Hall’s was good at in the days long before the internet, surely nobody would advocate that the skills and techniques of that time would be the right ones to build a marketing agency round now.

We may all look back fondly on the days when massive audiences were receptive to advertising and easy to find. Those days, like Hall’s, have gone. So we either adapt, squeeze whatever we can out of our fading skills or find something else do do with our talents.

I never worked at Halls but the vast majority of people I’ve been lucky enough to work with honed their skills there or at one of the many offshoots. I’m wracking my brain to think of someone tutored by Rob that has left a mark on how our world operates now. Maybe he could tell us, or a journalist.

I’m enjoying this thread.

And it’s made me realise that great work isn’t and never has been done by ‘young’ people.

Wrong adjective.

It’s actually done by ‘youthful’ people.

Irrespective of age.

With passion. (See above.)

Preferably before a nice lunch, or after an afternoon nap.

“I SAID: AFTER THEIR AFTERNOON NAP DEAR!”

Oh never mind.

I didn’t work at Halls either, but the legacy of the place was carried forwards by those who started other agencies, whose people in turn started other agencies.

Smarts is not a greatly respected agency. Not because they don’t come from this lineage , but because their work is seldom fresh, challenging and stuffed full of production values. My opinion.

Having a few racehorses, a couple of houses and a reputation for speaking your mind doesn’t necessarily equate with success.

He is entitled to his views , but I think there is more than a little envy tainting his remarks.

In Rob’s defense, people from Aberdeen are prone to ‘Foot in mouth’ disease.

For example: The Rolling Stones lyric “Hey, you, get off’a my cloud”, is often heard as “Hey, McLeod, get off’a ma ewe”

OMG! And he said it in that industry ‘bible’ – THE DRUM, ENGLAND. It’s the final nail in the coffin for Scottish Advertising. Clear your desks and empty your drawers. We’re ruined!

Alternatively, I’ll just get back to the Government Ageism brief that’s currently inspiring lots fresh and provocative work on our creative floor and such innovative use of media to boot.

I suggest all you old boys like Farrell and Coulter step away from your keyboards, lie back in your bath chairs, pull your tartan rugs snugly over your ageing thighs, and peruse your LARGE PRINT copies of ‘Digital Marketing for Dummies’.

Pete, that’s a bit unfair.

On Falkirk.

From your extensive photo library Mark, can you post one of Rob M I need it to throw my darts at. Also I have no idea what he looks like – thankfully.

ooh zane,get you, your back`s obviously out of spasm. Happy to wheel you along Porty prom if you`re still not back on your feet though.

And there was me thinking finesse was a girl from Finland.

Victor, aren’t you ex-smarts/Robs best mate?

You Scots – and others – sure get heated up over pithy little rivalries and people who have an opinion.

Just get on with it and forget about your petty rivalries. You’ll sleep better at night, do better work, have more relaxed relationships and dare I say it, have time for brushing your awful, diseased teeth.

As an ex Halls employee (account manager) from back then who moved on from advertising to web things in 1997, I truly appreciate a lot of what I learned from the people – creative or otherwise – I worked with. I still work with some of them/you, and have developed a network of newer, perhaps more net savvy people as required, some of whom I’ve come across from older contacts. I’m probably doing (like Mike Coulter) more web stuff than a lot of the rest of you, but a grounding in a “hot house environment” (quote from Roy’s interview with me) meant a lot.

So to say “… and have not really embraced areas such a digital and direct marketing” doesn’t go down well here.

Rob, where’s your Blog, Flickr, LinkedIn account?

I’ve taken a leaf out of Zane Radcliffe’s book and changed my name to something that sounds more like an adman – It’s Eldon Tyrell from here on in.

Zane’s really Gerry Farrell’s lovechild – or so you’d think after Gerry’s butt licking response to Zane’s comment.

I was rather amused that amidst a raft of relatively sensible postings from the old Halls guard, Gerry should be so vitriolic. Don’t worry, Gerry, your status as the tallest dwarf in Scottish advertising remains intact. Your comment on B2B seals it. If I was you I’d go fishing a bit more often – you might catch a new idea. But first you’d have to break the habit of a lifetime and bypass the pond in your garden.

Ian McAteer made me larf. Look to him for Halls envy – not me. At least when I blagged the Scottish Ad awards – which wasn’t difficult – I owned up to it.

And Victor lives up to his well earned reputation as the Court Jester of Scottish Marketing.

To those of you who did work for Halls and are still toiling to make a living in a desperate market, I apologise. I was exaggerating to make a point. A PR ploy I’ve used to great effect over the years.

And to those who spotted that the timing co-incided with a development in my own career, don’t congratulate yourselves – even Victor could have spotted that. Well, maybe not.

Bye bye chaps. That’s the last you’ll be hearing from me. Bring on the good riddance responses – I won’t be reading them.

This is the REAL fake (if you follow) Eldon Tyrell, not “Rob” above or the person using my pseudonym (“I’ve taken a leaf out …”). Beware of imposters …

@markgorman: assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups and your assumption strengthens the sentiment.

i’m not confused. i’m bored.

Hi Colin. How you doin?

mark your a prick rob is ment to be your friend and your just fucking him about. while you are all on this site complaining abou rob and his way ov work he is out makin his bussiness ten times more of a sucess than you all will come arcoss in your nothing jobs. instead of goin on about how you hate him why dont you look at him then look at yourselves and think” whos more of a sucsess” and we all know the answer but instead of admitting it you just rant on this stupid site !!!!

apology not accepted poof

mark,
you seem to not be able to stop talking about rob morice :O, uu must be in love with him but are so jealous he isnt gay that uu are trying to take all of your emotions out by saying nasty things about him,
either that or you have got nothing else to do with you sad sad life,

x

yeah im sure my dad has no clue what hes talking about right enough:
http://www.iasb2b.com/2428