Advertising with us

The billboard pleads 'advertise with us', and a local business may well go for it. The space is though on the opposite side of the street at a dual carriageway, and the pedestrians passing must amount to no more than a couple of dozen daily.

I'm an advertising geek - it is my job to teach it, to be an advocate for it, but also to be one of it's best friends. I can't be a best friend in the way the world's best agency CEOs or creative geniuses can, or any number of the greats working in the ad industry can. But I am there when advertising needs me, when it needs me to stand it's corner, fight it's battles and pick it up when it's down. But I also tell this friend when it's not doing well. Not quite bring it's harshest critic, but just being honest.

It's almost sad to see a billboard needing an advertiser. Like Billy Crystal's radio ad-sales character says in 'City Slickers', 'when it comes down to it, I sell air' as without him, there's no ad revenue, no income, no nothing. So the photo is just of a bit of paper in search of a client's words and pictures, that's all it is. Advertising space. While the space may not achieve the objective, I'm rooting for it. That's what friends are for.