Craig McNamara writes

Bigger sizes and smaller prices for my two previous children's books – plus a new book also featuring fun animal illustrations by noted Hamm's Bear illustrator (and my father-in-law) Bill Stein.  Preview and order via craigmwriter.com or here .

Recently, I was re-reading  Wake Me When It’s Funny , 1  the 1995 memoir by Garry Marshall , famed sitcom creator/producer ( Happy Days ,  The Odd Couple ,  Mork & Mindy ) and movie director ( Pretty Woman ,  The Flamingo Kid ,  Beaches ). Along with anecdotes from shows and films throughout his career, Marshall dispenses little bits of pragmatic advice on working – and surviving – in show business.  But I’ve found his advice often applicable to working – and surviving – in advertising, too. Especially when it comes to recording voices for commercials and videos.   Tip #1:  "Host" the recording session “I want everyone to get along while they're working because I hate tension while I'm working,” Marshall wrote. “One way to do this is to make each person feel as if he's one of the most important players on the team.” That’s why Michael Eisner, former Paramount and Disney CEO, said that "Garry Marshall doesn't direct a movie. He hosts a mov...

An interesting error I've seen made more than once in this business:  In emails or memos that reference the tactic of "guerrilla marketing" – eschewing traditional media for unconventional, attention-getting, and relatively cheaper message placements – the unknowing writer has misspelled it as  gorilla  marketing.   That, ironically, brings to mind the old "800-pound gorilla" designation for the biggest, most powerful brand in a given industry – one whose advertising budgets dwarfed their competitors' miniscule marketing dollars and thus had little for need for the cleverness of guerrilla advertising.   The term, incidentally, was coined by author Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book,  Guerrilla Marketing . He based it, of course, on the concept of guerrilla warfare, i.e, small independent groups using ambush, surprise, and mobility to effectively battle against larger forces.    Going back one step further, guerrilla is derived from the Spanish w...

In the movie biz, it's first-time filmmakers making films about first-time filmmakers. In the ad world, it's people escaping ad agencies to publish novels about people trapped in ad agencies. I've already covered one of those -- and there's still a few more to get to, including this one by (as if I had to tell you) a former copywriter, Joshua Ferris. But what can I tell you about "Then We Came To The End" that you probably haven't already read in the numerous year-end lists that picked it as one of the best books of 2007?  I will admit to being a bit surprised by the accolades, but I did enjoy the book. Its run-on, chatty, stream-of-consciousness style perfectly captured the industry mind-set, the oddball charaters that people agencies and the pointless turf wars.  But in many ways, it's a pretty universal workplace cynicism that's been mined in both movies ("Office Space") and TV ("The Office") in recent years.  Strange a...

"I think advertising's had it.  I don't think people believe in it anymore.  I think it's a waste of money.  I'm not even sure it's moral." So opines one character (in a new business presentation no less) in Jack Dillon's 1972 novel, "The Advertising Man."  Though set a decade later than AMC's "Mad Men" series, it covers a lot of the same territory, including creative turf wars, double-dealing management and marital discord in the Connecticut suburbs.  And lots and lots of creative angst by people who are convinced they're last line of defense against creeping mediocrity, even as battle fatigue is taking its toll.   (Some things never change.) Written with empathy and perceptiveness about day-to-day ad agency life (few big explosions, lots of little implosions) -- which isn't surprising, since the author was a V.P./creative management supervisor at legendary creative powerhouse Doyle Dane Bernbach.