Week Notes // 9th October

Much of this week was taken up by a meeting in New York on Tuesday. So as with last week, which saw the preparation for the session draw to a close, there isn’t a huge amount to write about this week. As anticipated, it was brilliant to meet some colleagues in the flesh.

I managed to sneak an afternoon in New York, venturing from the office in the Financial District uptown to MOMA where there was an Ed Ruscha exhibition alongside the collection. New York has changed a great deal since my last visit. Legalisation of Cannabis means it now has a very specific aroma. Like London, you get the sense that much of the footfall that might have existed pre COVID has gone. There were lots of vacant shops in the part of SoHo that I got to visit or shops being used as temporary art galleries or creative spaces. Got to check out McNally Jackson and Malbon. Ate at The Odeon and Blue Smoke.

Was reminded of the difference between advertising in the UK and the US. Especially jarring was the pharma advertising. The list of side-effects often vast and more serious than the conditions the products are designed to resolve. Come for the thinning hair and stay for the internal bleeding, organ failure and itchy scalp.

Travel provided good opportunity for reading - ploughed throughThe Fence which really is a wonderful magazine. The lovechild of the LRB and Private Eye. Watched some bad films on the plane.

Need to get some of the notes contained in my note book out and into something resembling a long-form blog post. A number of ideas emerging from a series of scribbles. Most interesting and provocative has been the ‘what is the future of advertising agencies’ question prompted by the latest issue of Campaign.