Ken Roman on one of the original Mad Men

Not a day goes by when Ken Roman doesn't get asked about Mad Men. This video is his response and below is a review of his book by Drayton Bird.




If youre interested in perhaps the most influential advertising man ever which you surely should be - read The King of Madison Avenue, by Ken Roman.




Few people knew David Ogilvy better than Ken, a former Chairman and CEO of the Ogilvy Group who worked with him for 26 years, and spent several more researching this book, which you can get from Amazon.




You cannot divorce the nature of a man from his achievements. Anyone interested in what made Ogilvy tick - his oddities (quite a few), his failures, his weaknesses, his strengths, his worries, his ambitions, his likes, his hates - will find them here. (He once said to me, by the way, I may not be a good lover, but Im a damn good hater.)

I devoured half the book at a sitting. Besides being well-written it tells me all the things I wanted to know that Davids autobiography - Blood, Brains and Beer - didnt. That curiously impersonal book disappointed many people, because it dished absolutely no dirt whatsoever.




Drayton Bird




Some of the many great reviews about the book. See them all at Amazon.




'Roman has written a fine book on his former boss. He has a gem of a subject and, as well as a fund of anecdotes, he provides a clear-eyed, unsentimental portrait of a brilliant tyrant' --John Gapper, Financial Times




'Kenneth Roman offers an entertaining and admiring portrait of the legendary figure' --BusinessWeek, Rating: 4 stars




'Lively writing and an affectionate yet honest tone make this an astonishingly charming and informative biography' --Publishers Weekly

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Mad Men
• ken roman
• david ogilvy
• biography
• Madison Avenue

[robbwindow]

Thanks great video Drayton, thanks for the invite to the Mr Men art gallery too about six months ago.