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The Insanity of Advertising: Memoirs of a Mad Man
In The Insanity of Memoirs of a Mad Man , Fred Goldberg gives us an unforgettable glimpse into the chaos, drama, and outright wackiness that fuels one of the most of loved and hated industries in the world. While Goldberg shares plenty of behind-the-scenes dirt on what it was like to craft ad campaigns for some corporate titans, he also doesn’t spare the mad men who worked alongside him. Many had outsize personalities and some were prone to jaw-dropping displays of ego and antics that would make Mad Men 's Don Draper and company blush. The Insanity of Memoirs of a Mad Man is the real story of mad men in a very mad world.
394 pages, Hardcover
First published December 10, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 20, 2020
This memoir by a former partner at a successful ad agency offers hundreds of glimpses into the advertising world but draws disappointingly few lessons from the author's experiences.
The relatively unstructured strings of anecdotes are often interesting and surprising and do help make the point that "the business is often a grind and a difficult to navigate," and that creative work for an agency is "a highly complicated and emotional process."
The emphasis is on what happened to the author over his accomplished career, but with little reflection about what meaning this might have for the reader.
On this forum the author himself gives the book five stars. I'd say he's about half right.
The relatively unstructured strings of anecdotes are often interesting and surprising and do help make the point that "the business is often a grind and a difficult to navigate," and that creative work for an agency is "a highly complicated and emotional process."
The emphasis is on what happened to the author over his accomplished career, but with little reflection about what meaning this might have for the reader.
On this forum the author himself gives the book five stars. I'd say he's about half right.
November 26, 2020
This book was a weird thing to read. I got it a couple years ago and put off reading it. I worked for Fred at Y&R in NYC, my first job in advertising, and he gave me some sage advice. He recommended I arrange to work for a guy who was a great trainer. I took Fred's advice and it really helped. Fred was a gruff guy, very direct and intense, but smart and I always recall him as the guy in the aviator glasses looking to fly. I worked for him on Rums of Puerto Rico and on Jell-O Pudding.
It was the first time I read a book where I knew someone, worked with someone or some situation in many chapters. I didn't expect that but it kept happening.
Our footsteps followed similar paths, albeit in different settings. We started in Y&RNY, worked on the Jell-O brand, moved from the stifling bureaucracy of NY advertising to a new coast with more entrepreneurial opportunities, he to LA, me to Caracas. We liked the entrepreneurial side of advertising. Took ownership in a growing company and then struck out on our own. So I empathize with his story and many of the situations are pretty familiar and ring true.
Fred does a good job of peeling back what the agency business was like using well known campaigns and products as reference points. He also speaks to a theme I embraced, which is: all the work is important, even the small ads that don't get wide distribution.
The myths that rise from famous campaigns are embellished and altered by outsiders and Fred attempts to correct the myth on a number of accounts. He's right to do so, but the myths are more real to other people. Like him I have had people tell me about my experiences, even though I was there and they weren't. No matter, their story is often more believable and repeated.
The revelations in the book are terrific and tell of the instant camaraderie needed to work as a team and how success can bind and fuel. The chemistry is volatile and can be lost easily.
I would have liked more observations about the system, lessons learned from the trenches, rather than just descriptions of events. There are some strong themes, like decision making by committee doesn't create bold action - trusting the right people - fighting for what you believe - corporate growth is the enemy to innovation - never pitch an existing account if it comes up for review, you are going to lose.
I like how he deals with abusive relationships particularly when he fires a client, an act our industry is usually afraid of doing. I recall doing it the first time myself and feeling like it was a breaking a taboo. It made our whole team feel good.
The prose can get repetitive, and it borders on apologetic and too much self-praise at times. He is a little petty with some people, dismissing them with little explanation. I worked with a few he is negative about and some positive about. I might mostly agree but on one do not. Chemistry doesn't always work.
The book is worth a read for anyone who wants to know what the world of advertising was like when it was in its heyday. Its goal was to be different and also to punish the differences.
It was the first time I read a book where I knew someone, worked with someone or some situation in many chapters. I didn't expect that but it kept happening.
Our footsteps followed similar paths, albeit in different settings. We started in Y&RNY, worked on the Jell-O brand, moved from the stifling bureaucracy of NY advertising to a new coast with more entrepreneurial opportunities, he to LA, me to Caracas. We liked the entrepreneurial side of advertising. Took ownership in a growing company and then struck out on our own. So I empathize with his story and many of the situations are pretty familiar and ring true.
Fred does a good job of peeling back what the agency business was like using well known campaigns and products as reference points. He also speaks to a theme I embraced, which is: all the work is important, even the small ads that don't get wide distribution.
The myths that rise from famous campaigns are embellished and altered by outsiders and Fred attempts to correct the myth on a number of accounts. He's right to do so, but the myths are more real to other people. Like him I have had people tell me about my experiences, even though I was there and they weren't. No matter, their story is often more believable and repeated.
The revelations in the book are terrific and tell of the instant camaraderie needed to work as a team and how success can bind and fuel. The chemistry is volatile and can be lost easily.
I would have liked more observations about the system, lessons learned from the trenches, rather than just descriptions of events. There are some strong themes, like decision making by committee doesn't create bold action - trusting the right people - fighting for what you believe - corporate growth is the enemy to innovation - never pitch an existing account if it comes up for review, you are going to lose.
I like how he deals with abusive relationships particularly when he fires a client, an act our industry is usually afraid of doing. I recall doing it the first time myself and feeling like it was a breaking a taboo. It made our whole team feel good.
The prose can get repetitive, and it borders on apologetic and too much self-praise at times. He is a little petty with some people, dismissing them with little explanation. I worked with a few he is negative about and some positive about. I might mostly agree but on one do not. Chemistry doesn't always work.
The book is worth a read for anyone who wants to know what the world of advertising was like when it was in its heyday. Its goal was to be different and also to punish the differences.
September 3, 2018
One of the best looks at the internal workings of the advertising world of the 60s-80s from the guy who brought the world the famous Big Brother Macintosh commercial of 1984.
July 7, 2017
If you are in advertising you must read this book. In this business everything has changed and nothing has changed. After reading Fred's memories of life at Chiat Day, Y&R and GMO, I am absolutely convinced of this statement. This is a no punches held account of what it is like to be in this crazy business. While I sometimes think Fred embellishes his own legend at times and strokes his own ego - what the fuck - this is an ego business. And this is the kind of ego I would have loved to work for. An account guy who is passionate to a fault about the work. I know from experience that without that - you will do shit. I love the story of how he grabbed a client's tie and how he said FUCK YOU to a client. He was also great friends with clients and goes over those friendships in often painful detail. He gives some great insight on Apples' famous 1984 ad and was one of the first people to ever meet Teddy Ruxpin. And surprise -- he couldn't stand the idiots we all meet in this game. So much so it became a philosophy on how to build an agency....SMART PEOPLE ABOVE ALL ELSE. Hiring is the most important aspect of any agency and a really stupid link can fuck up everything. His symbol for this obsession was a clown with a line drawn through it's head -- NO CLOWNS -- GENIUS. Best of all this book is about the politics, the lunches, the dinners, the fucked up stuff that happens with client turnover and agency turnover -- THE MERGERS, THE BUYOUTS...THE SHIT. Hell, it is not just for agency people -- especially account people -- THIS BOOK SHOULD BE READ BY CLIENTS. ADVERTISING WORKS -- and if you take some chances your rewards can be incredible -- SO TAKE A CHANCE ON THIS BOOK. AND THEN DO SOME INCREDIBLE WORK.
August 1, 2014
I will attempt to finish, but it is a rambling and tedious account of mostly unremarkable work tales, absent any style of writing. While this information might have been interesting to Mr Goldberg's coworkers of the day, I've yet to read anything worthy of publishing. An effective editor might have been able to help.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews