Roy Park, Jr has published a new edition of Sons in the Shadow: Surviving The Family business as An SOB, a book about his business career including stints as CEO of Park Communications Inc. and Park Outdoor.  Here’s an excerpt from the book where he talks about what he learned when he handled out of home accounts for J. Walter Thompson, the New York ad agency:

“What they did see was my creative flare, so they put me in creative. Ironically, my first assignment was creating billboard copy for the The Ford Motor Dealers Association, among others. I learned at the outset, the magic rule for outdoor advertising copy: say whatever it is, you have to say in seven words or less, or your message isn’t worth conveying, let alone being a message people want to read. The general philosophy at J Walter Thompson was that if you couldn’t come up with your key selling point, the message you wanted to drive home in a headline or a TV or radio commercial in seven words or less, you didn’t have a handle on what you are we’re trying to sell.”

Sons in the Shadow: Surviving The Family business as An SOB is on sale at Amazon.

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