Funny Business: Moguls, Mobsters, Megastars, and the Mad, Mad World of the Ad Game

Taking a journey that begins in the 1960s, Rosenshine regales readers with more than 60 stories of the movers, shakers and madmen of the advertising industry. The longtime CEO of ad agency BBDO and architect of parent Omnicom Group, the world's largest marketing communications company, Rosenshine recounts early days as a nervous account man and his transformation into respected company head, treated with fawning deference by many, yet all the time at the mercy of his unpredictable clients. Included are an audition where Bob Newhart was deemed not funny, the night Frank Sinatra ogled Rosenshine's wife, the time Michael Jackson's hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial, and a number of hairy (and scary) presentations that succeed or fail based on his clients' inscrutable whims. Dilemmas abound: How do you choose the right men's scents for shaving cream? How do you come up with a winning slogan minutes away from presentation time? How do you negotiate with star power that wants to break your bank? And how embarrassing is it to be caught with an American Airlines luggage tag on your attache case as you meet with your client, Delta Airlines? Rosenshine is a slick purveyor of humor and wisdom, and his portrait of the ad game is crafted with wit and confidence.