Article January 31, 2011 Issue

Breakthrough opportunities

David Foote

Back in the days when Life, Look, The Saturday Evening Post, and other mass consumer magazines were going down like bowling pins under the impact of TV and a recession, I was an advertising designer working for a promotional agency in Philadelphia. As is normally the case, I worked or helped on most of the accounts. One of those was the parent company for many cigar brands on the market. Specifically I worked on a premium catalog depicting washing machines, kitchen utensils, vacuum cleaners, and other household goods, all of which could be purchased for a varying number of cigar wrappers. It looked harmless, and it consumed only a fraction of my time. 

God, ever-present Love, is here, now; that He guides, governs, and shows us how to go

However, as the recession deepened, we lost much business, and I found myself with little to do except for the cigar account. It was one thing, though, to occasionally help on this account, but quite another to be responsible for its promotional support. So I explained to the chief executive that I was a Christian Scientist, and asked if I could be moved to another account, as I didn’t want to take responsibility for a tobacco product. He appreciated my motive but explained that, with the loss of business, there was only one other account that he could try me on—but that the particular account required much more experience. He kindly let me try anyway, but it wasn’t long before I realized that I was in over my head.

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