The most machiavellian person I have ever come across

Temporary work. Recently I have been doing a lot of media buying. It involves researching target publications in BRAD (lists all newspapers and magazines published in the United Kingdom) and ringing them all up to request a media pack (then ringing them back a few days later to ask where the packs are). I then work out the cost per thou (cost per thousand circulation - never go by the readership figures, which are always inflated). Then rank the publications in order of effectiveness according to the target audience you want to reach. Then Mitch Holmes (or whoever) totally ignores all this hard work and chooses the publications according to his “gut instinct”.

Jon Theobald, at the advertising agency we use, warned me that Mitch Homes could be erratic over his choice of publications. “Spread them all in front of him” he advised me, “newspapers as well as magazines. He always goes for the glossiest most colourful magazines, so make sure that anything glitzy is already listed on the schedule. That way you won’t get things hacked about too much. Anything you really want to advertise in keep back until the end and tell him it’s too expensive and he probably can’t afford it. He always swallows the bait and insists it goes on the schedule.”

Jon also advised me how to negotiate with the media sales reps: “They’re all sharks so you have to be careful. It’s no use me handling it straight off as they always go behind my back and ring the client up direct. So you ring them up first, act naïve, tell them what you are prepared to pay and don’t haggle. If they try to insists on rate card just laugh at them and put the phone down. Then when you’ve got the initial prices we’ll wade in at this end and play one mag off against another. We’ll get at least thirty per cent off plus our agency commission - which as you know we refund five per cent back to your company.”

Jon is easily the most machiavellian person I have ever come across.