Sh-Boom

by Don Potter

  “We’re as strong in Japan as anyone,” I said.

  “Yes, we have more Japanese clients than any other shop, but the growth and security comes from taking US clients to a host of other countries. Dentsu and the other Japanese agencies have effectively shut us out when it comes to that, whereas American agencies have purchased European agencies and built strong office networks in the UK and throughout the continent. We were simply too late when we eyed expanding outside the US.”

  “In a tight market, we continue to pick up business in the States,” I said. “Not every client is looking for worldwide dominance.”

  “I have no complaints with what you’re doing and doubt if anyone could do a better job. But that may not be enough for Carlson Communications to weather the storm.”

  “Charlie, are you throwing in the towel?”

  “No, but I think we need to do something to try and establish a position in Europe before more time passes. That’s why I’m recommending that we pursue the purchase of PR firms in key European countries. It costs a lot less to scoop up PR agencies than ad agencies, since they tend to have fewer employees and their ownership is usually held by just a handful of people. Once we get a foothold in Europe through PR we can pursue doing something on the advertising side.”

  “And who will be heading up this venture?”

  Charlie pointed across the table to the woman sitting opposite me. “I thought your old pal Nancy Gates would be the appropriate person. You agree?”

  Nancy gifted me a fatal smile, not the barracuda one; it was more like one a cobra might give a cornered mouse.

  “If that’s what you want,” I said.”

  Nancy pounced on my less than enthusiastic response to the idea, which she had obviously sold to Charlie. “As you know, Carlson Public Relations is ranked significantly higher in our area of the communications business than you are on the ad side.”

  “You plan to turn Carlson Communications into a PR agency?”

  “That’s a little dramatic, Rob. You’re an important stockholder in the agency and this should make your stock more valuable. So get over whatever hurt feelings you have and help me make this happen.” Charlie did not want to be challenged.

  I did not look at Nancy as I left, but I knew she was staring at me. I sensed the heat between my shoulder blades.

  On the plane ride home I envisioned how nice it would be to return to the safety of my LA office, but it was no better there. Tommy Hayakawa, had a disturbing revelation to share with me. “The companies that wanted to come to the US have pretty much done so. Others will come along as part of a second wave but nothing like the sixties and early seventies.”

  “Why haven’t you talked to me about this before?” I asked as Brad Martin, the LA general manager, entered my office.

  “Brad and I discussed the situation and you have been busy with the other offices,” Tommy said.

  “Problem is our economy is lousy right now,” Brad added. “And Japanese management is conservative by nature. They’re waiting to see what happens before they will invest more money in US operations. That’s why our projected billings are down.”

  “When the marketplace is soft, it’s the time for smart agencies to convince clients to spend more and grab a bigger share of market. If you can’t do that, sell our other services. Sales promotion, PR – anything that helps clients sell their products during tough times.”

  “We’re trying.”

  “That’s not good enough.” The intercom rang and my secretary announced, “Miss Gates on line two, Mister Fleming.”

  I waved them to leave and picked up the phone. “Nancy, what a pleasant surprise. Are you in town?”

  “London and leaving for the continent in a couple of days. Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid and a few other stops before going home,” she said.

  “You on vacation?”

  “Hell, no. I’m here to gobble up some PR agencies for good ole Carlson Communications. Remember the meeting with Charlie?”

  “How’s it going, so far?”

  “I’m making real progress. How’s it going with you?”

  “Swell. Everything’s just swell.” I felt like a dunce. She was already off and running while I was trying to squeeze pennies out of existing clients, but I did not mention any of that since she would only throw back in my face.

  “Gotta hang up, just wanted to touch base with you. Cheerio.”

  I hung up and swallowed hard knowing that I had been out maneuvered by my nemesis. Rather than stew about it, I needed to have a win. And soon.

  35

  China employs a One Child Policy to control population. Forty million Americans tune in to watch Archie Bunker in the final episode of All in the Family. And Rob is part of big changes in the agency’s management.

  * * *

  When I got home Ginger was smiling. I hadn’t seen that for a while. Something was up.

  “The finalists are ready for you,” she said.

  “What am I a judge in a beauty contest?” I asked.

  “No silly. I’ve narrowed down the candidates for the Fleming family’s new abode.”

  “Abode sounds expensive.”

  “You deserve to live in a fine home,” Ginger said.

  “No, you deserve it just for putting up with me.”

  “Okay, mister smooth-talker, we are being picked up by the realtor at ten tomorrow. I expect it will take most of the day. If we agree on a property then Sherry, our real estate broker, will put in an offer right away.”

  “That’s moving awfully fast. Besides, I already have a golf date tomorrow.”

  “Cancel the golf. As for being too fast, I’ve been pushing to buy a house ever since we moved here. When you finally told me to start looking, I did.”

  “Why didn’t you say you were this far down the road?”

  “I didn’t want to bother you with the details until I conducted a thorough preliminary search. We are at the point where I need your input. Otherwise, I’ll make a decision and you’ll have to live with it, because I intend to be in our new home long before school starts in September.”

  Ginger was never this forceful and I wondered if the doctor had prescribed new meds but was not about to mention it. She never asked for much and I had delayed the home buying issue far too long. I would have shared her excitement if the agency’s financial situation was better. An overwhelming fear of the future was dominating my thinking at that moment.

  I resisted the instinct to fight my wife on this. Instead, I cancelled golf and made a personal promise to let the home buying adventure be as enjoyable as possible for all concerned.

  It was a little after 4PM when the realtor dropped us off at home. We had visited five homes with a half-hour stop for lunch. I was exhausted and it was a safe assumption that Ginger was too. To my surprise, she wanted to immediately sit down at the kitchen table and review the pros and cons of each house. My concern was the financial aspect of any proposed transaction, because the asking prices for these homes were far beyond what I anticipated.

  “Did you enjoy our little expedition?” Ginger asked.

  “Enjoy isn’t the word I would use, maybe interesting is a more appropriate description.”

  “That’s an adman’s way of avoiding telling the truth.”

  “You caught me.”

  “Let’s put it this way, did anything turn you on?”

  “I liked them all. Which one did you like best?”

  “This one is almost perfect,” she said pointing to the sales sheet for the most expensive property.

  “It was nice, but don’t you think it’s too pricey?”

  “I didn’t know you had a specific price in mind,” Ginger replied.

  “Let’s just say, I found all of them a real reach. We could have one of the finest houses in all of Pittsburgh for what these cost.”

  “We’re not in Pittsburgh. Housing is expensive in Los Angeles, but the market keep
s going up. Real estate here is a sound investment.”

  “I don’t want to be house poor.”

  “Are you trying to tell me we can’t afford a nice house in the right part of LA?”

  “I just feel that the ones we saw today represent too much of a stretch at this time.”

  “So you’d rather stay in this house and not move?”

  “I really love this place. Don’t you?” This was the opening I needed to delay making any decisions. I thought I had manipulated the situation adroitly.

  “Yes, I could be happy right where we are,” she said.

  “That works for me.”

  “I thought so. That’s why we’re going to put in an offer to buy this house,” Ginger said triumphantly.

  “In case you forgot, this is a rental.”

  “Of course, it has been; but the owners have decided to put it on the market. They’re willing to give us a good deal so as not to go through the hassle of listing it and all the other stuff that goes with selling property. Our realtor, Sherry, is theirs as well. Nothing could be easier.”

  I was boxed in. Ginger set me up and knew she had me, but I made one last try. “Do we have to move so fast?”

  “Let’s not miss out on this. I’ve been patient even though you keep putting off buying a house of our own. You don’t want to spend every weekend looking at houses, and then have to go through the horrors of moving. This house is the answer. Do this and we’ll both be happy.”

  “If that’s what you want, let’s do it.”

  Ginger jumped up from her chair and gave me a big hug. She made no attempt to hold back the tears. Her obvious joy made everything right. All that remained was talking with my financial guy about the details of how to buy the house and still be in the position to purchase more Carlson Communications stock that was being offered to me.

  “The only way to do this is sell some of the other stocks I put you in when you started following my financial planning program,” he said after my surrender to Ginger.

  “Well, make it happen.”

  “This will put you back in an overload position with the company stock,” he warned.

  “Carlson stock is my insurance policy for the future,” I reminded him.

  “You know how I feel about that. It may offer job security, but you know what they say about putting all your eggs in one basket.”

  “If you feel the house is a good value, I want to get this done for my wife. That’s my decision.”

  “What do you want to put down? Are you comfortable with twenty percent down on a thirty- year mortgage?”

  “Run the numbers for that and a lower down payment to see what the monthly payments will be. In the meantime, I’m going ahead with an offer.” I hung up the phone.

  The rest of the weekend was spent making offers and counter-offers until we had a deal at 6PM Sunday night. It all transpired so quickly that I was numb. The enormity of the decision did not hit me until I was in my office early Monday morning. I sat down with the Journal and a cup of coffee. My quiet time was interrupted by a call from Charlie O.

  “How are things out there this fine day?” he asked.

  “You sound awfully chipper,” I replied.

  “Actually, I am. Carlson Communications finally has a foothold in Europe with the controlling interest of a PR firm in London, with others on the way, thanks to Nancy Gates.”

  “She made this happen awfully fast.”

  “Talks have been going on for some time. The sneaky head of Carlson PR had Nancy working on this long before the Board gave its blessing to the project. It’s not the way I would like them to have done it, but we can’t argue with the results.”

  “We’ve all been played, Charlie. Especially you.”

  “I can live with it, because my PR nemesis is retiring the end of this year.”

  “And who’s going to head up Carlson Public Relations after he goes?”

  “Nancy Gates is a likely successor.”

  “You get rid of your nemesis and I’m left with mine.”

  “Look at it this way, more stock will be available for you to buy and the European connection can be good for the agency overall.”

  “But I’m not sure just how good this will be for me.” I did not mention that my ability to buy company stock was cut back due to buying the house.

  “You’ve always been a team player. Remember, I’ll be hanging up my spikes one day soon.”

  “And I move into your spot?”

  “There’s no one else in the race.”

  “What about Nancy?”

  “PR does not run Carlson Communications.”

  I knew Charlie did not want to fully admit he had been blindsided. He was making the best of the situation and looking toward to the day when he could cash in his chips and move to Florida. But I was still in the thick of the battle and knew that PR, Nancy Gates in particular, while supposedly on our side could be more foe than friend.

  “All right, Charlie. I hear ya. Bye.” I hung up.

  The escrow process was underway and we expected to close before Memorial Day. It was a new experience for me. I was buying my first house, fifteen or more years later than most married couples. Meanwhile I had a surprise call from Nancy. She was flying into LA and wanted to meet me.

  Nancy was seated at a table in the far corner of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel dining room where she appeared to be engrossed in the Wall Street Journal while sipping a cup of coffee. She did not look up until I said, “Any news worth discussing this morning?”

  “Not in the outside world, but plenty is going on in our little empire,” she replied.

  “That’s what counts.”

  “If the rest of the agency was doing as well as Carlson Public Relations we’d all be getting big bonus checks. Do you want to hear about what we’re doing domestically or in Europe?”

  “Both, so fire away.”

  “Europe is far more interesting. In the weeks ahead, we’re going to be inking the deal with Spain’s largest public relations agency. They are tight with the government in Madrid and handle, among other things, the tourism business as well as the country’s airline, Iberia. Spain is looking for an agency to take care of their US advertising for both their airline and travel accounts. These multi-million dollar accounts are ours for the taking once we have the merger in place.”

  “Terrific.”

  “I help you, you help me.”

  “How?”

  “You know, my boss is planning to retire at the end of the year,” Nancy said.

  “It’s not a secret.”

  “I want his job.”

  “That’s no secret either.”

  “I’m the perfect candidate. But, David Jennings is the favorite of some of the Pittsburgh old timers who don’t want a woman running the most profitable part of the agency.”

  “Uh huh.” It took all my strength to listen instead of reacting.

  “That’s why I need to be able to count on your vote.”

  “What’s in it for me?”

  “You sure don’t beat around the bush.”

  “I’m just being direct.”

  “Some team player.”

  “My prime objective is always to make Carlson Communications a top tier ad agency.”

  “Our public relations operation is already in the top tier.

  “You never let us forget that, but there’s more to the agency than PR.”

  “Not for me.”

  “That’s the problem. When we act as totally separate entities we lose the power of integrated marketing.”

  “We can put on a happy face when needed.”

  “We need to work together all the time. We did it together out here and talked about doing it agency-wide, but personal agendas got in the way.”

  “Okay, what do you want?”

  “What are you willing to give me?” There was no reason to show my cards until I saw hers.


  “We can work out something.”

  “When you’re ready let me know.” I left, went to my office and called Charlie O.

  “She’s a cunning one, that Nancy,” Charlie said. “Fly out and we’ll kick this around. Go red-eye and I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Thanks, Charlie.”

  The rest of the day was quiet, for an advertising agency, and I was clearing up things to go home and pack when Pete Erskine called and blurted out, “Charlie O’s dead.”

  “He can’t be. I was just on my way to Pittsburgh to meet with him. What happened?”

  “Charlie was walking over to the Duquesne Club for lunch when he grabbed his chest and keeled over. The medics came and rushed him over to Allegheny General, but he was already gone.”

  “I can’t believe it. He was only what, sixty-two?”

  “And I’m the one with the bad ticker,” Pete said. “I wanted you to hear it from me, not some secretary. The plane ride will give you time to think about what you want to do now that Rob Fleming is the new CEO.”

  “Everything’s happening too fast.”

  “Someone will meet you at the airport and drive you in for an emergency Board meeting first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Thanks.” I hung up and drove home, although I have no recollection of the ride. I walked through the front door, poured myself a stiff drink, sat down and wept. I had lost an important part of me. Fate fulfilled my dreams and made me the new CEO of Carlson Communications, and I was quite alone.

  36

  AC/DC releases Highway to Hell. The Sony Walkman TV goes on sale in Japan. Gasoline jumps to 86 cents a gallon at the pump. And Rob starts the job of running the agency.

  * * *

  I flew to Pittsburgh a different man, a man who needed the support of another man, a wiser man, someone who trusted me to continue where Charlie left off. That could only be one person: Mister Carlson himself, who would certainly be in town for the funeral. He was first and the rest of the players would be contacted when I was ready. We met at the company’s private suite in the Duquesne Club.