My job, in advertising, for the past fifty-years, has been to identify which media my clients should spend their advertising money with.
My role would be to meet people who would sell me their wares with the hope that I would spend my clients’ money with them. This would often involve leaving their newspaper or magazine with me. Some were great: Punch was always a welcome addition to my reading list; Woman’s Weekly (although “famed for its knitting”), less so (I’m more a crochet man myself); leaving a copy of Vogue was a complete waste of time for me – although it did solve the problem of a particularly wobbly dining table.
Because, like my dad before me, I specialised on the business-to-business aspect of my clients’ activities, I would get given some very odd (but relevant for their field) magazines.
Commercial Rabbit (if you’re vegetarian, stop reading here) was the most comedic name I ever came across (and put ads in). It was aimed at people breeding rabbits commercially (the clue’s in the title), not bunnies who had an entrepreneurial streak.
Tunnels and Tunnelling (so good they named it twice) was one I thought was aimed at Great Escape fans – not, as it was, construction engineers. Every month, there’d be a new pick glued onto the front cover. It wasn’t quite the same feeling I got when Shoot! would produce its annual league ladder.
I was very diligent as a young lad in advertising and would often take work home. Although, my train carriage became unnecessarily busy when I revealed the latest copy of Plastics & Rubber Weekly.
Micky's Up blog 
Reckon we missed a trick in 1986 Mike. We should have advertised the Gilt-Edged Bond in Commercial Rabbit!
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Hi Micky,
Another enjoyable reminisce from you. It seems it is not only a “sadistic “PE master that we had in common. 44years ago I started my first career which was selling space for Benn Brothers Ltd late of Fleet Street. The journal in question was Cabinet Maker and Retail Furnisher their oldest weekly publication. On day one the light flashed on my telephone module in the classified department. At the instigation of my new colleagues I answered it: ” Mr Muldoon of Muldoon and company here” resounded a Scottish voice, ” You have probably heard of our company’s cabinet furniture” I replied in the affirmative , enthusiastically lying ( as recently trained. ) ” Then you will know we are also a major coffin manufacturer. That part of the business has taken a downturn and we thought we would buy some advertising in your magazine to sell our new range to the retail trade. ” No I did not see it coming and professionally sold him several pages. It was not until he started inputting creative ideas which included scantily clad models standing by the coffins with the headline “Fed up with the cost of dying?” that I realised all was not right. The sound of suppressed giggling from across the office which was also audible in my earpiece hastened the end of the call with an upward flip of the switch extinguishing both the the telephone light and my dreams of £125 commission….. Happy days Mickey ,Happy Halcyon 1980s days.. Thank you once again for your blog which is a wonderful tonic for the chuckle muscles
Kind regards
John Constance
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Ha ha. Thanks, John. One of the few “trade and technical “ (when did it become B2B?) or not book ads in. Fleet Street was home from home for me. First job, at McCanns, was , twice a day, to ravel to Fleet Street to collect vouchers for our clients. I acquired a fantastic knowledge of regional press. They were mainly based in Fleet Street.
I progressed to buying ads for the recruitment part of McCanns (then called Universal McCann). I still work near there and love going down those roads and remembering all the local media. So glad you enjoy the ramblings. Thank you for taking time to say so. Mike
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