John Farquhar's magic
By: Louise Marsland
Celebrating his 80th birthday yesterday, Thursday, 10 April 2008, and 60 years in the advertising industry, the indomitable John Farquhar has promised to keep the industry on his toes while he is still alive. He has no plans to retire; he loves his work so much, it's become his ‘hobby'.
“While I'm alive I'll get up your noses. Nothing gets up my butt more than crap advertising,” he held forth from the podium at his birthday cocktail function at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg last night.
And of course, being Farquhar, he just can't leave it there - he had the stage after all... “All creatives are interested in is prancing across the stage to collect awards.”
Apparently the only guy old enough to remember Farks when he wasn't grumpy and when Harry Herber had hair, industry commentator Chris Brewer was the laugh-a-minute MC. Speaking from the heart and as slick as Dave Bullard on a podium, Brewer had the audience in stitches with his vignettes of Farquhar and the industry, recounting Farquhar's talent to spot a ‘double-DD cup'.
“We live in the time of ‘gimmie, gimmie, gimmie' and people who haven't any time. But John Farquhar is someone who has never asked for anything in return for helping you. All you have to do is ask... and then stand back and listen for 30 minutes!
“He's someone who is in the office at 6am every day and covers every function he can. He'll be at every function 15 minutes early and leave three hours before the end.”
In introducing the special magic show laid on for Farquhar, Brewer explained that magicians were one of Farks' favourite things... along with advertising, Jameson, travelling and big tits!
At the celebration, organised by Owlhurst Communications, over R50 000 worth of travel vouchers were handed over to Farquhar as well as a cheque to his charity of choice, Boy's Town. There were in total over 50 creative and media agencies, design companies, media owners, PR companies and individuals who made financial contibutions. The three biggest contributors were Primedia Publishing, Oracle Airtime Sales and Primedia Unlimited.
See also:
More by Louise Marsland
More...ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Louise Marsland is editor and editorial director of Bizcommunity.com, Africa’s leading provider of daily media, marketing, and advertising news and information. She is also the South African joint-coordinator and founder of the Trade, Association, Business Publication International (TABPI) Editor’s Chapter. She has recently also been appointed to head up the Magazine Publishers’ Association of South Africa (MPASA) Business-to-business Media Sub-committee. A journalist with 21 years’ experience, Marsland started in daily newspapers in South Africa in the 1980s and has specialised in media strategy and B2B and online media in the last decade, editing and launching publications in the main in the marketing and FMCG retail market, both print and online. She recently researched the sustainability of the B2B media sector for her Masters in Commerce degree: Strategy & Organisational Dynamics, through the Leadership Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is currently researching a book in her field and develops training programmes in the B2B media sector; and marketing communications arena in knowledge management from a media perspective. Contact her on:
editor@bizcommunity.com.
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