LOS ANGELES — When I was 21, after getting fired from the radio station I was selling advertising time for—badly—I started my own advertising agency.
I got the record and plant store chain account after hanging out with the owners for months and gaining their trust.
For the high-end audio chain account, I created copy that said what the principals thought needed to be said about them.
I got the guitar store chain account by telling them how they could advertise in media they never thought of and create new customers (their “first guitar” sales went up 350% that Christmas season).
I got another client by appealing to his interest in sports celebrities and humor, getting the Steelers quarterback who never played in four years in the NFL—just stood all day on the sidelines—to endorse his foot-pad manufacturing company.
Got my biggest client—a big user of radio advertising—by writing a jingle that he loved and became the company’s most recognizable branding feature for years to come.
