Half His Present Repute - An American Story

Prologue November 1960Twentyoneyearold William Shepherd stretched then rubbed his tired iceblue eyes and brushed back a shock of dark hair He sat alone in the War Room of Young ampamp McCall Advertising watching the blackandwhite images flicker on the television screen To help stay awake he continued to whittle away at a piece of silver birch a habit he picked up from his father when he was very young The shavings fell into a crowded waste basket He stopped then looked unsatisfied for a long time at the figure of a woman he was carvingThe dimly lit room was surrounded by charts graphs and maps that covered all four walls The conference table was littered with more documents which a day earlier like the wallhangings would have been highly confidential and safely locked up But not tonightIt was a bit after 3 AM on the morning of November 9 1960 and he was exhausted Richard Nixon had just given what announcers considered to be a concession speech saying if the current trend continued John F Kennedy would be the next President of the United States Shepherd39s strategy had workedLess than a hundred days into his first job the precincttoprecinct messaging rollout he devised for his bosses and therefore for the Presidential campaign had worked True he had heard about the possibility of vote tampering by the Democratic machine so critical in Chicago but he had no way of knowing whether they were true or not So he comforted himself with his own contribution It was going to be an even longer night and probably well into the morning and beyond to be official but he knew it was over His guy had wonThere was no celebration at the agency His bosses were at the ballroom invited by the campaign No party for him Just a good sleep alone for the hours that remainedShepherd grabbed the small female figure he was whittling put it in his jacket pocket and walked down the hall and then up the back stairs keyed into his room and collapsed on the bed As he closed his eyes his mind wandered back over the past few months then wondered what lay aheadChapter Five Compromises amp8211 End of 1960four months into his jobquotDon39t compromise yourself You are all you39ve gotquot amp8211 Janis JoplinWilliam Shepherd nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited outside McCall39s office He wondered how his disclosure would be received He barely heard what Joanne was saying to him After what seemed to be the longest twenty minutes of his life the door opened and Herta Henry emerged Herta was second in charge of marketing services after McCall so it seemed normal that they would be in a meeting However when Henry passed by Shepherd she shot a laser at him Shepherd knew something was up especially when McCall asked him into the office in a stern voicequotWilliam let me cut right to the chase We are a family here and I pride myself on that Families share confidences and I am about to share one with you Let me say it a different way I39m going to trust you Among the wiz kids you have the most wiz Do you understand what I just saidquotShepherd nodded nervouslyquotGoodquotquotMr McCall I wanted to see you about something thatamp8230quotquotLet me explain something to you Willquot McCall said cutting him short quotThe normal profit margin at an agency is 15 of our commissions or fees We are owned by and owe our existence to Excelsior our holding company They share in our profits and they expect us to deliver at least 20 In some quarters when they are suffering they want 25 That is a lofty goal unrealistic using orthodox means The best way we know how to reach that goal is through unorthodox media buyingquotShepherd remained silent while McCall continuedquotYou probably don39t know this but the only people working here who are not on our payroll are the media buyersamp8230all of themamp8230network local print outdoor They are all on Excelsior39s tab I don39t love the situation but frankly there is not much I can do about it So I compromise I swallow my integrity with a dose of discretion for the sake of the agency39s survival I will fight that battle on another day when I know I can winquotBefore answering Shepherd took a good look at his mentor McCall39s face was a mask of pain Obviously what he had just told Shepherd bothered him deeply William chose his words carefullyquotWell Sir what about the Nielsen punch card situationquotMcCall stared at Shepherd for a long time He simply shook his head and leaned back in his chairquotSit down WilliamquotShepherd remained standingquotSometimes William we have to make small compromises for a greater good We have a wonderful environment here and we do outstanding work Do you know that Luke got an Effie for your idea about the outdoor board The one where you said about the crossword puzzle This is what people on the Metro are doing while you39re stuck in trafficquotquotNo I didn39t knowquotquotOf course not You were too busy working That39s another subject You need to make some friends here starting with Luke If you39re going to make it in Marketing you better make friends with the creative people The copywriters and art directors are the lifeblood of the agency It39s their work the public seesquotquotI know Sir but without our intelligence the right people would never see their workquotMcCall smiled quotYou39re learning son Do we have an understandingquotWith the knowledge that McCall had bested him Shepherd nodded then added quotBut I don39t have to like itquotMcCall walked William over to the door quotWell that39s the way it is Mr Shepherd until the two of us start our own agencyquot he finished facetiouslyquotOh one last thing I think you39ve had enough of buying Time to rotate you into media planning and strategy I think you39ll find that very interestingquotMcCall patted Shepherd on his back and sent him on his wayFeeling confused Shepherd went directly to the creative floor and sought out Luke Forrester who was chatting with a small group of associates at the momentquotHi Luke do you have a momentquotquotGuys meet our rising star Watch this man One day he might lead the flockquotThe group laughedquotNo guys I39m not kiddingquot Luke addedquotI just wanted to congratulate you on the Effiequot Will offeredLuke put his arm around William39s shoulders saying quotFollow mequotTogether they retreated to Luke39s office Above the desk were several rows of statues and plaques amp8212 at least two dozenquotWhich one do you think it isquot Luke Forrester askedquotJesus I don39t knowquot Shepherd respondedquotBelieve me there are times when I don39t know myselfquot Luke answeredquotSee these things are bullshit They don39t mean a thing Growing the client39s business doesn39t mean much either Can you guess what really mattersquotquotYou mean to youquot William respondedLuke nodded and continuedquotWhat matters is the problem What matters is what we have to figure out to solve the next problem I actually like it when a client rejects my work and sends me back to the drawing board amp8212 or more properlyamp8230typewriter That means he trusts me to come up with an even better solution and I get to solve an even tougher problem That my friend is what this business is all aboutquotLuke reached up to the highest shelf and removed one of the awards It was a gold block of three rectangles each one higher than the one beforequotDo you know what an Effie is given forquotWilliam shook his headquotIt39s for advertising effectiveness In other words good stuff that actually sells actually changes minds That39s why I do like this award But the truth is it39s only a short series of rectangles Here This is really yours anyway Keep it to remind yourself that it doesn39t really matter What matters is whatamp8230quotquotThe next problem to solvequot Shepherd answeredquotGood Now go slay some dragonsquotThe two shook hands then Shepherd left He went first to his room to drop the Effie off and pick up his whittling tools and the small figure he was working on during election night After buying a sandwich and soda at the cart he strolled over to the park for lunch and then some whittling Before he was done Dan passed by and stopped to see what he was doingquotWhat39s going onquot he startedquotNot muchquot Will answered quotGoing into planning this afternoonquotquotNo I mean what do you have therequotquotOh this Kensi Except it39s not I can39t seem to get it right no matter how many times I try I gave her one and she left I thought I would try to duplicate it but I can39t remember what to carvequotquotLet me see thatquot Dan offeredquotGod that39s amazing Is there anything you can39t doquotquotYeah keep a womanquot Will laughed ironicallyquotBut this is beautifulquotquotMaybe But it39s not herquotThen suddenly Will got up walked over to a public garbage can and dumped the small wooden figure and his whittling kit Turning to Dan he said quotI don39t know why I do this anyway I39m done Dan I39m going back to work I gotta get my head straightquotTogether the two returned to the agency Dan concerned about his friendHalf His Present Repute by Stephen Fajen is Available at AmazonPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Half His Present Repute - An American Story

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