Steffan Postaer is the always busy chief creative officer over at Euro RSCG in Chicago who is also a novelist just in case you didn’t know. I just finised reading his latest book, The Happy Soul Industry. Is it a literary masterpiece like Denis Johnson’s, Tree Of Smoke? No, but I was totally entertained.
The plot centers around the Almighty hiring an ad agency to promote heaven and the concept of “goodness” to the world. In case you didn’t know, Postaer has been struggling with his own spirituality and how that works with a business that is about selling a product at all cost and perhaps, without little benefit to the consumer.
What’s with creatives getting a conscious? Is that what Bogusky’s Diet Book is all about? Guilt for pushing Burger King’s quasi-food products on millions of consumers? Maybe things were easier back in the Mad Men days when creatives just chased away needling internal voices with a stiff glass of whisky.
In any case, Steffan’s book is a fast and enjoyable beach read. As you head into Labor Day, I suggest picking up a copy. You’ll smirk at the insider jargon and jokes for sure. Get it now. The book is always better than the movie and Postaer said he has big plans for the title:
“I’ve fantasized every angle,” he admits, sharing his vision of a young Tom Hanks as the lead advertising character, Vernon Knight, CEO of a hip Los Angeles agency, a shop he says is a “quirky version of a Chiat/Day.”