“Crazy Eddie”
I met “Eddie” back in ’93 back while interning at DDB Needham. Ed was this crazy copywriter who always on “something else.” Not something else as in, “where’s happy hour?” but something else as in, “What’s next?”
One day Ed sits me down and tells about me about something else called “the internet” and how everyone will have it someday and no business or consumer would be able to function without it. It was in cyberspace (wherever that was). He said that in 20 years the post office would go belly-up because something else called “email” would replace letters, postcards, stamps, and most paper communications. And if the USPS didn’t collapse completely it would be streamlined to compete with FedEx, UPS, and Airborne Express for freight customers.
Now you have to keep in mind that it’s 1993: Cellphones are the size of water bottles and beepers are still cool. Almost no one in my neighborhood owns a computer and I have no clue what cyberspace is. Plus, stamps were still 29 cents. Ed was coming off like some burnt-out yuppie that did too much blow in the ‘80s. So I just nodded my head and hoped I’d be off the day he shows up armed and in fatigues.
Later he adds that maybe a couple generations from now (again, circa 1993), America will become a 4-class society: (1) Those who provide product, content and information for the multinationals that will control technology, the internet, and by default, most of society (2) Those who can repair, program, and operate computers along with our hi-tech world’s infrastructure. (3) Manual laborers (truck drivers, service and hospitality workers, etc.) (4) Poor people. In Ed’s world, the poor and manual laborers are permanently at the bottom because information and training will be too valuable or expensive for the “analogued masses.” (Like I said, he was always on something else.)
So it’s been 12 years since that conversation and let’s see how crazy Ed did: The Post Office has been losing money since about ‘98 and a book of first-class stamps now costs more than a music CD. Information and internet-related technology have spread faster than AIDS in Africa. And these days, if you’re not computer-literate/tech-savvy, you’re lucky if you can work your home appliances let alone get a decent job. That leaves poor folks and manual laborers. Well, college tuition and quality job training’s skyrocketed; plus corporations have manipulated globalism and outsourcing to the point that all the good blue-collar jobs are going oversees thus creating a mob of working poor from coast to coast stateside. And of course poverty is on the rise. (Okay, so his predictions need some tweaking… but Ed did better than Miss Cleo and Dionne’s Psychic Friends.)
And where’s Ed now? He’s either working for the Trilateral Commission or sitting in a Utah cave fortified with strippers waiting for Armageddon. But whatever he’s doing, I’m sure he’s thinking about something else.
One day Ed sits me down and tells about me about something else called “the internet” and how everyone will have it someday and no business or consumer would be able to function without it. It was in cyberspace (wherever that was). He said that in 20 years the post office would go belly-up because something else called “email” would replace letters, postcards, stamps, and most paper communications. And if the USPS didn’t collapse completely it would be streamlined to compete with FedEx, UPS, and Airborne Express for freight customers.
Now you have to keep in mind that it’s 1993: Cellphones are the size of water bottles and beepers are still cool. Almost no one in my neighborhood owns a computer and I have no clue what cyberspace is. Plus, stamps were still 29 cents. Ed was coming off like some burnt-out yuppie that did too much blow in the ‘80s. So I just nodded my head and hoped I’d be off the day he shows up armed and in fatigues.
Later he adds that maybe a couple generations from now (again, circa 1993), America will become a 4-class society: (1) Those who provide product, content and information for the multinationals that will control technology, the internet, and by default, most of society (2) Those who can repair, program, and operate computers along with our hi-tech world’s infrastructure. (3) Manual laborers (truck drivers, service and hospitality workers, etc.) (4) Poor people. In Ed’s world, the poor and manual laborers are permanently at the bottom because information and training will be too valuable or expensive for the “analogued masses.” (Like I said, he was always on something else.)
So it’s been 12 years since that conversation and let’s see how crazy Ed did: The Post Office has been losing money since about ‘98 and a book of first-class stamps now costs more than a music CD. Information and internet-related technology have spread faster than AIDS in Africa. And these days, if you’re not computer-literate/tech-savvy, you’re lucky if you can work your home appliances let alone get a decent job. That leaves poor folks and manual laborers. Well, college tuition and quality job training’s skyrocketed; plus corporations have manipulated globalism and outsourcing to the point that all the good blue-collar jobs are going oversees thus creating a mob of working poor from coast to coast stateside. And of course poverty is on the rise. (Okay, so his predictions need some tweaking… but Ed did better than Miss Cleo and Dionne’s Psychic Friends.)
And where’s Ed now? He’s either working for the Trilateral Commission or sitting in a Utah cave fortified with strippers waiting for Armageddon. But whatever he’s doing, I’m sure he’s thinking about something else.
Here’s another reason why he became my mentor:
During my internship, I put together a portfolio and showed it to Ed. (Again, copywriters are hired by their portfolio or “book”—ads they’ve done throughout their career. My portfolio was mostly “spec”—speculative ideas I was capable of developing given the chance to work on more real clients.)
So I hand him my book thinking, “Soon as he sees my brilliance I’m hired.” But once he cracked it open, Ed’s head went down and he blew through it like a coked-up accountant at 11:30 p.m. on April 14th. All he did for 5 minutes straight was shake his head disagreeably and mumble, “no” as he flipped thru pages. No. Page flip. No… Page flip. Nope, nope, nope… Flip, flip, flip.
Now I’m sitting there completely dejected. This new-world-order geek has just ruined my career before it’s even started. He looks up and asks, “What do you want to do?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want to do ads or do you want to build brands?”
Next, he sits me down and spits game:
“Look, if you want to make $800 a week cranking ads for soap and gym shoes, you can. You’re good enough that you’ll figure out what you don’t already know and you can make a nice living on cute puns and clever taglines. But can you build a brand? That’s where the money and power is.”
“Brands? What’s a ‘brand’?”
Almost every week for the rest of my internship Ed taught me about brands and marketing. (Lynette taught me about branding but I was more interested in doing cool ads so I just snoozed thru her brand lecture.) He also taught me about budgets. Strategy. Manipulation… He was on some Machiavelli/Sun Tzu trip, but as I quickly learned, so was everyone else; he was just more honest about it. He got me thinking and scheming. And on one level or another, I’ve been scheming ever since. And that’s why he became my mentor.
There’s ‘good crazy’ and there’s ‘bad crazy’. Ed was good crazy. Good crazy people can teach you a lot. They tend to see things differently and take chances others won’t. Plus, they tend to ignore constructs, and are seldom afraid to tell the truth (or at least their version of it), which means they’re liable to help people that others won’t.
So, you’re good crazy go mentor or start a mentorship program. (And if you’re bad crazy, go seek help.)
So I hand him my book thinking, “Soon as he sees my brilliance I’m hired.” But once he cracked it open, Ed’s head went down and he blew through it like a coked-up accountant at 11:30 p.m. on April 14th. All he did for 5 minutes straight was shake his head disagreeably and mumble, “no” as he flipped thru pages. No. Page flip. No… Page flip. Nope, nope, nope… Flip, flip, flip.
Now I’m sitting there completely dejected. This new-world-order geek has just ruined my career before it’s even started. He looks up and asks, “What do you want to do?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want to do ads or do you want to build brands?”
Next, he sits me down and spits game:
“Look, if you want to make $800 a week cranking ads for soap and gym shoes, you can. You’re good enough that you’ll figure out what you don’t already know and you can make a nice living on cute puns and clever taglines. But can you build a brand? That’s where the money and power is.”
“Brands? What’s a ‘brand’?”
Almost every week for the rest of my internship Ed taught me about brands and marketing. (Lynette taught me about branding but I was more interested in doing cool ads so I just snoozed thru her brand lecture.) He also taught me about budgets. Strategy. Manipulation… He was on some Machiavelli/Sun Tzu trip, but as I quickly learned, so was everyone else; he was just more honest about it. He got me thinking and scheming. And on one level or another, I’ve been scheming ever since. And that’s why he became my mentor.
There’s ‘good crazy’ and there’s ‘bad crazy’. Ed was good crazy. Good crazy people can teach you a lot. They tend to see things differently and take chances others won’t. Plus, they tend to ignore constructs, and are seldom afraid to tell the truth (or at least their version of it), which means they’re liable to help people that others won’t.
So, you’re good crazy go mentor or start a mentorship program. (And if you’re bad crazy, go seek help.)
