The UK’s telegraph has released a list to end all political lists or close to it anyway. The newspaper has complied a roster of the 50 most influential men people of Margaret Thatcher’s era. The Iron Lady’s eleven years in office came with many players on both sides including list makers: Francois Mitterrand, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ian Gow and Ronald Reagan. The advertising industry has also been included due to the mandatory inclusion of Maurice Saatchi who developed the campaigns for Thatcher’s election victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987 elections. He was made a Conservative Peer in 1996 and became Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2005.
The Saatchi poster debuting the iconic slogan “Labour Isn’t Working” was judged by the staff at Campaign to be the best of the century. It changed the tenor of political advertising in the UK forever more. After that, the Saatchi shop was set in gold to blaze its way across the 80s with flashy owners, Maurice and Charles, at the wheel. The agency became an incubator of hot talent that included Martin Sorell, which allowed them to pick up new clients and dole out hot creative. They rolled on. They were untouchable, made acquisitions and felt so much like money that the brothers Saatchi even tried to buy a bank at one point. From The Times:
“Last weekend, it was reported that Saatchi had earlier this month discussed merging with Midland Bank P.L.C., Britain’s fourth-largest commercial bank. Midland spurned the overture, saying the notion lacked ”commercial or strategic logic.”
Totally, yeah. In a coup the boys were ousted in 1995 and M&C Saatchi was born. You know this story. You know it’s a bit more complicated from the beginning and the middle to the finale, but it’s like legend. You gotta tell it again and again, even if you already know how the story ends.