The annual 40 under 40 list from the Worcester Business Journal has be released and we should all be proud to say that advertising has gotten a little play.
Thirty-five year old Derek Beahn is an account manager at Smith & Jones in Sturbridge. His recently brought home the Hopland ShoKaWah Casino for the agency. Besides having worked for the Massachusetts shop for ten years, he also spearheads Smith & Jones’ annual CreateAthon, where the agency donates time to help nonprofit organizations.
When asked who he most admired, Derek said David Ogilvy. Ogilvy, as we all know, basically invented direct advertising. He’s a god. Little Beahn here seems two hundred percent lovely, while Ogilvy was a bit of a bad ass. Rumor has it that a letter of apology still hangs in Martin Sorrell’s office as an example of one of the few times David ever apologized to anyone. Ogilvy sent it to him after calling Sorrell an “odious little shit” in the press during WPP’s attempted hostile takeover. David was later quotes as saying:
“When he tried to take over our company I would liked to have killed him. But it was not legal. I wish I had known him 40 years ago. I like him enormously now.”
Maybe Sorrell grows on you? Nah, I’m still a Levy fan.