Robert Campbell blog

Keen students of high50 will have noticed that today we announced our list of high50′s 50 over 50. Compiled by high50, and voted on by the people via YouGov, the list reflects the 50 people over 50 that we feel most kick ass.

It’s not to be confused with the 50 OVER 50 MADMAN list that I have been compiling recently.

Tim Berners-Lee won. (What do you mean, who’s Tim Berners-Lee?)

If you’d like to see who the other 49 are, click here. 50 over 50. high50.

Meanwhile, if you do have any nominations for the 50 OVER 50 MADMEN list, stick ‘em in the comments section hereand I will continue to compile the list when I get back from my hols. (I am writing this post from an internet cafe in Mogadishu. Ah, the genius of the world wide web. Thanks, Tim.)

So, at the end of day one of 50 over 50 Madmen we have the following excellent nominations.

Wnek. Gosper and Pinnington. All of them madmen. All of them over 50.

Brian Child. Tim Lindsay, Jim Marshall, and the most elegant Mark Cramner.

Not forgetting the legendary Cornelius Trunchpole.

But wait a minute. Where are the Madwomen? At the risk of appearing ungallant, I shall nominate my top three  over 50 (just) Madwomen.

Mandy Pooler. Currently head of development at Kantar, Mandy is the archetypal ‘media woman.’ She was the first ever CEO of Mindshare, and has been Adwoman of the year. Deservedly so.

Stevie Spring.  CEO of Future Publishing, Stevie has also been MD of Young and Rubicam and CEO of Clear Channel. She is temporarily on loan to the world of publishing where she is doing an awesome job.

And last but not least, MT Rainey. Founder of CEO of the social mentoring network  Horses Mouth, MT is also chairwoman of digital agency Th_nk. Previously founder of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, MT is the is the most brilliant person I have ever worked with.

If you have anyone you would like to nominate for the high50 50 OVER 50 MADMEN list, don’t keep ‘em to yourself….

Those of you who are regular readers of high50 will know that we have been announcing our 50 over 50. high50’s incredibly subjective list of our favourite people over the age of fifty.

Bill Bernbach. 100 last week.

In conjunction with YouGov, we’ll be taking votes on the list. high50 will be announcing the ‘winners’ next week.

Currently it looks like Linton Kwesi Johnson and Nigella Lawson are going to come in ahead of Barak Obama. And Tom Ford is a strong contender too. He turns fifty at the end of this month. We are sooooo excited.

But a thought has occurred. Wouldn’t it be fun to do a 50 over 50 for UK advertising? ‘50 OVER 50 MADMEN.’ According to a recent IPA survey, only 5.6 per cent of people working in advertising are over fifty. So it might be hard to find that many! But we’re going to give it a go. So here’s how its going to work…

Over the next month we’ll be taking nominations for the list. Your nominations. Please leave them here in the comments section. Along with a short paragraph on why you have nominated the person in question.

Anyone over fifty is eligible. So long they’re still in fully engaged in the business. So, for instance, Mark Jarvis at 7 Stars who turned fifty on 4 August and has been desperately trying to keep it a secret, is definitely eligible. We might bung a few clients in too. So don’t hold back.

In a months time we’ll go through the list, and compile a top fifty. There may be prizes. For both the nominated and the nominators. There may be a party. We haven’t figured that out yet.

But there is no time to lose. (These people are over fifty. They may not be around for ever.) So send us your nominations now. Your favourite, most admired, most creative, most persuasive, most mischievous, most unsung, most fancied, most rich, most legendary people working in the ad business over the age of fifty.

They could be in the boardroom. They could be in the postroom. But are they going to be in high50’s ‘50 OVER 50 MADMEN’ ?

Meanwhile, for those of you who enjoy the advice of our toptipsforgirls community, here’s a vaguely relevant one. I am having sex with a person I work with who is twice my age, old enough to be my dad. I am in love with him but he is married, and will not leave his wife for me. What shall I do?

Roni Dutta

Yesterday we launched toptipsforgirls.com. The third of our ‘branded communities.’

Toptips is different from the other two – high50 and daddybegood – in as much as it’s the relaunch of an existing site, not a launch from scratch.

The site was originally conceived and built by the fabulous Kate Reardon, now editor of Tatler.

As you might imagine Kate’s diary is currently just a little too full to be doing both jobs. Consequently the site has been ‘off air’ for nearly four months.

We’ve hired Roni Dutta, the ex editor in chief of i village to get toptips back on its feet. It’s great to have Roni on board. So far we’ve just put back up the original site, but Roni’s plans for the site are ambitious. But today we’re holding our breath as we watch to see if the toptipsters will return.

24 hours in the numbers are looking good. Visitors to the site are flooding back. tweeters are tweeting.

Tipsters are leaving tips. And we’re delighted to report there’s huge enthusiasm for ‘Hello Girls,’ the Toptipsforgirls.com win a Wonderbra competition.

There are over 30,000 tips already on the site and we’re gathering new ones by the hour.

The tips range from the sensible and useful. Like ‘How do I make my black Labrador nice and shiny?

http://www.toptipsforgirls.com/tip/how_to_make_my_black_labradors_coat_shine_/21461

Through to much racier stuff like ‘How to be good in bed when you’re not on top’

http://www.toptipsforgirls.com/tip/how_can_a_girl_be_good_in_bed_when_on_the_bottom_/21425

And how to spy on your boyfriend’s phone.  (Also useful if you work for News International.)

http://www.toptipsforgirls.com/tip/how_to_spy_on_my_boyfriends_phone_have_looked_a_few_times_and_there
_have_been_texts_that_could_be_cheating_but_nothing_definite_meant_to_be_marrying_next_year_
scared_im_being_paranoid_/11221

So if you’ve five minutes to spare, sign up at toptipsforgirls.com and leave a toptip.

Who knows, you might even win a Wonderbra.

As I drive into work I listen to the Today
programme. This morning there was an item concerning a recent government initiative
to get the over 50s to reduce their alcohol consumption. The government has
suggested we cut down to one unit a day.

Read More »

People ask me why did I stop writing the (Beta) blog? I guess the answer is I needed a little rest. I am, after all, aged 52. But now we’re back.

high50, the first of our ‘branded communities’ is nearly two weeks old. You may have read about it. Today high50 goes live with its most exciting bit of content yet. Diana at 50. (She would have been 50 on the 1st of July.)

Read More »

We were lucky enough to have our friends Kumi Naidoo (the executive director of Greenpeace International) and Jochen Zeitz (the CEO of Puma) speak about the role  business can play in creating a better world at a recent Good (Beta) evening. For those of you who weren’t able to be there, we thought we’d publish it here. It makes inspiring watching.

Robert made this commercial for Virgin Atlantic with Malcolm McLaren back in 1999./ A most enjoyable day on set. A tragic loss. The end of an era.

We’re on our way back from Washington. Our
client there is a philanthropic organization called Humanity United.

One of their projects is the formation of a
coalition called ATEST. (The alliance to end slavery and trafficking.) Read More »

You could say January has been a bit of a PR shocker for (Beta).

First we incur the wrath of the swinging mums at mumsnet.

Then Larissa at Campaign awards us Turkey of the Week for our Louise and Jamie ad for Thomas Cook. Read More »