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How Can You Eat That? We Don’t Even Like That In Japan!
Mikiro “Miki” Sato. He was the “factory guy” working in the Compton offices of Mazda Motors of America – Central. His employer was Toyo Kogyo, and he held the title of “Assistant to the President.”...
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Fast Times At FCB High
LA wasn’t Detroit, FCB wasn’t Campbell-Ewald, and Mazda wasn’t Chevy. That’s not a comparison of merits, but more a statement of fact. Like saying a book isn’t a spleen. But it was still auto...
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Adventures In Creativity Part II
Eliot “Calamity” Janeway. The Doomsday economist. When I got to FCB, he was the “face” of Mazda commercials. Janeway had been an economic advisor to a number of U.S. presidents, going as far back as...
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I Learn About International Trade
MITI. Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry. They called the shots in Japan when it came to manufacturing and international trade. Truth be told, MITI was happy when the U.S. imposed...
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We Go To The Mattresses
Mid-summer, 1978, was approaching. Something unimaginable happened! A lowly account executive (me…or I, to use better grammar) was asked to help develop the upcoming year’s marketing strategy. People...
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More Fine Dining
Almost as special and life enhancing as the free cars, were the free lunches…and dinners. You had the always popular media rep lunch, going to a fine restaurant that you would tell your in-laws about...
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Life Imitates Art!
Advertising is stressful, competitive, daunting, draining, exciting, and stimulating. It also tests the limits of your endurance, and is always just a hair’s breadth away from erupting into violence....
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Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!!!
New Orleans (every time you see this word in this post you should pronounce it in your head as Nawlins), the Big Easy, the Crescent City, was founded in 1718 by French settlers. It has become, for car...
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Hanging With The Rich And Famous
One of the great things about being in the ad biz, in addition to the free cars, was the opportunity to get lots of free stuff and meet famous people who would act like you were actually someone who...
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Rolling Coconuts and Footballs
In addition to getting free cars, another great thing about being in advertising is the opportunity to meet fascinating people at free dinners in fancy hotels. This was the case when an old friend of...
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I Leave Home
As in many other industries, ad agencies follow a certain protocol when poaching talent from another agency. Rather than use a “scorched earth” policy that leaves behind bad feelings, reputable...
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Terror In Tokyo!
Or for fans of Japanese Literature puns: がいじん ものがたり (Gaijin Monogatari) Yes, that is a giant spider (statue) terrifying residents of the Roppongi District of Tokyo. I will let you know later how I...
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