 "Age no bar in advertising")
But as I get ready to leave town in two days I know I'm taking more than I came with. And that means thanking a whole lot of people. So here we go.
Thank you Vivienne Westwood
For infecting me with what you very charmingly called stupid little dolly daydream.
I'll remember that I have two parts to myself.
One- my best self
The other - my ordinary self.
I'll be careful that my ordinary,consumerist,immediate gratification self doesn't shut up my better half…when my politicians talk to me.
I won't let them pander and cultivate my ordinary self with their prejudice.
I shall feed myself with authors and poets and museum visits. And I shall try not to forget more than I know.
And I shall feel good about what American writer Gore Vidal once told you.
That readers are more important than writers…and that the Nobel Society should recognise that.
So thank you for reminding me how heroic it is to pick up a book. How brave it is to be with a dead author instead of chatting up a bozo in a bar.
Thank you Alan Parker
I had no clue you came into films via advertising.
I had no clue that Madonna ( in the film Evita) gave you more trouble than the English weather in your entire career.
I loved the fact when you said that when you are writing a film you are already making it…in your head.
So when you direct it..it's almost like you are doing it for the second time. And that's why those movies come out even better, more organic and intimate.
There is this other thing you mentioned about storytelling that is so true for thirty-second writers like us.
Storytelling is not the ribbon around the box.
But the foundation on which the brand is perched.
If your story is not as beautiful as your brand.
Then hey, spare the brand.
Similarly if your brand is being wishy-washy and taking more than giving.
Then kill the story.
Be comfortable to kill early.
Enjoy the beauty of your failure
Nice.
I so needed to hear that. And more importantly to say it more often …
A creative process that doesn't give you chances to fail is like being in a marriage that doesn't give you a chance to speak.
I'm tempted to repeat your Charles Saatchi (one of the famous Saatchi brothers, the other being Maurice, both admen) jokes but I shall refrain.
Thank you Lou Reed.
I had the biggest crush on you in the early 90's when I heard you for the first time in my cousin's house in Zurich.
One song and I knew you were better than any one in my time.
I heard your band Velvet Underground on a loop that summer.
So to see you in the summer of 2013 was a dream come true.
You are still good.
You still have a drawl that makes your accent decadent even in the Riviera.
I will never forget your exact words to Tim Mellors (vice-chairman and worldwide creative head of ad network Grey) ..when you said,"There was no one near us."
To this day. If you took note by note, word by word, subject by subject my idea was essentially…what would happen if you had the lyrics of Tennessee Williams or William Burroughs (both writers) and you put them in a rock context. That was my idea. And I was trying to write to that.
Distillation.
I guess that's the word that makes all good writers, well, good writers.
So whether you write prose,fiction,films ,songs or a crummy brochure.
Learn to distill it till the words beg to stay.
So thank you all three of you.
My golden oldies. Thank you for making me feel that it's still possible for me
Thank you for making creativity a simple thing.
Something that we all can aspire to.
Whether we are fighting our governments.
Or our clients.
Thank you for taking away my fear of growing old.
Or being redundant
Thank you for showing me how to be the best at 72.
The author is national creative director - JWT India