The Insanity of Advertising ─ Memoirs of a Mad Man

The Insanity of Advertising delivers a surprising, inside look at unbelievable and sometimes astonishing happenings in the ad business. Not tittle-tattle but real, absolutely truthful, on the ground intel from an executive who saw it all happening right before his eyes, from Madison Avenue to San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

These are the advertising people and their clients, at times crazy, some crazy all the time. There’s a week spent with John Wayne shooting commercials the Duke didn’t want to be shooting. The untold story behind Steve Jobs and the infamous ?1984” Macintosh commercial that aired on the Super Bowl. What it was like working with Michael Dell as Dell Computers mushroomed from $100 million to $30+ billion.

The insights and anecdotes drawn from thirty years working with advertising legends like Jay Chiat and Lee Clow and entrepreneurs Larry Ellison, Les Crane, Don Kingsborough, Joseph E. Levine, and many others. It’s an entertaining and fun read, and along the way there are important lessons about the strategies and management in the ad biz ? though it may be hard to believe that the business of advertising has survived and can still be called a business.

Fred S. Goldberg founded Goldberg Moser O’Neill, a highly successful agency that grew to $500 million in billings, with clients that included Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Kia Motors, and Electronic Arts.

Born in Chicago, he was raised in Great Neck, New York, and graduated from the University of Vermont and earned a MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU. He worked as Marketing Research Director at P. Ballantine & Sons before entering advertising in 1967, starting as a Marketing Executive at Young & Rubicam in New York. He quickly rose to become the youngest Senior VP in the firm’s history. In 1977, he relocated to Los Angeles to handle the Gallo wine account, soon becoming General Manager. He left to join Chiat/Day Los Angeles in 1982 to manage the Apple Computer account, and was part of the ground-breaking ?1984” Macintosh computer ad that aired during the Super Bowl. After serving as President of the San Francisco office, COO of Chiat/Day overall, and a board director, he opened his own agency in 1990.

Goldberg Moser O’Neill was sold to IPG in 1996, and Fred retired in 2000. He continues to serve on several company boards and works with a number of non-profit organizations. He lives with his wife Jeri and dog Camy in Marin County, California. This is his first book.