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Chapter 2

Chapter 2

For someone in his forties, Marcus was in good shape. He was late to taking up disciplined exercise, only joining a gym at 45, but like any new convert he was evangelical about spinning and the treadmill. While he felt that he was in his 20s, his face provided evidence for the prosecution – it was framed by hair silver at the temples and several lines had etched themselves across his forehead. Nevertheless, the young women of the office still remarked that he was fit. For his age.

Marcus Gray worked in advertising. In his mind, he likened himself to a fictional Madman of Madison Avenue. In reality, times had changed even before his graduate trainee days were over.

True, when he started at an agency bizarrely called BZDWBBA in the late 1980s, virtually everyone smoked in the office. The media and the creative departments competed with each other to generate the heaviest blue clouds. It was also true that long lunches were the highlight of the day. Indeed, most of the day was lunch. For the media planners and buyers, that meant numerous courses at L'Escargot or Langans, with the finest wines courtesy of the magazine or tv sales people. For the writers and art directors, their preoccupation was usually liquid only. Occasionally a film production company or model agency would seek to be preferred by offering lunch, but such invitations were a distraction from the serious business of using alcohol to inspire great work.

Marcus had a vivid recollection of the senior copywriter from those days. As he hurried through Regents Park in the morning, he'd frequently see him on a bench relaxing with a copy of Campaign. Rather than the magazine being opened flat, it was neatly formed into a cylinder to conceal a bottle of vodka. And thus the writer readied himself for the rigors of the day ahead. Once, the same writer found himself mid-morning taking the lift with the MD.

'You should've been here at 9am' challenged the boss.

'Why, did something happen?' was the puzzled response.

Somehow, the creative concepts were award-winning and the 'suits' like Marcus seemed to co-exist relatively harmoniously with the writers and art directors. Working in advertising had some of the glamour associated with previous decades, but the brightest graduates were already being seduced by the City. However, with a desire to do something other than follow his friends, that meant Marcus travelling to a WC rather than an EC postcode.

Over the years, Marcus moved onwards and upwards. From trainee account executive at his first agency, he switched to DDBO as Account Exec. Then Account Manager at Blue, before the same role at TCCP. An account directorship came with his move to Cain and Able. During this period, the advertising landscape shifted. So called Full Service agencies gave way to a new breed of separate creative 'houses' and media independents. Concurrently, the recession of the early 1990s sounded the death knell of the drinking culture. Competition for creative jobs either squeezed out the mavericks or conditioned their behaviour.

At the turn of the century, Marcus was approached by Mal Gold, the former executive creative director at DDBO. He was teaming up with account planner, Lizzie Swift, and copywriter Justin Ward. Also involved were Dominic Bogdanoff, who'd made a name for himself in Sales Promotion and Maggie Frost, one of the '30 under 30 in PR' to watch. The idea was to set up a one-stop-shop for creative services. It would be independent of the large groups – principally to maintain integrity. That is, until an American or French group might offer the right sort of gold-lined inducement.

Start-up finance was in place and several client companies were ready to put their faith in Mal's new enterprise. It would be called Gold Etc. Marcus' role was to be head of client services, charged with setting up an account management team as the business grew. He didn't hesitate to jump on board. When the century clocked up its first decade, the agency had established a portfolio of top brands – from cosmetics and beauty products to prestigious car marques and several respected financial clients.