Dial 213 for jerk. (satire in advertising agencies)

Economist (US), The, June, 1990

HUMILITY, self-deprecation and forgiveness are rare in most businesses and unheard of in advertising. But now, in the kindly 1990s, even admen are learning to love each other. Or maybe not.

A year ago Mr Martin Sorrell's WPP Group bid for the Ogilvy Group, which is based around the Ogilvy & Mather agency. "The idea of being taken over by that odious litle jerk gives me the creeps," declared Mr David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, from his retirement chateau in France.

While even Mr Sorrell's wife would have difficulty claiming that he was tall, many at WPP resented by Mr Ogilvy's description--particularly as "jerk" was rumoured to have been a polite form of what he actually said. Nevertheless, Mr Sorrell captured Ogilvy, making WPP the...

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