FOR several years, this columnist was urged to write a marketing book that would show the latest marketing thinking. My distinguished mentors in advertising and print media did not want me simply to condense all my columns but to write a completely new book.

I put off this request because of my busy working, studying, research and consulting schedule. I was learning new things. I was also trying to think through the revolutionary impact on the marketplace and making new practice of new technologies.

Buckling down to the task of writing is a sort of horror, to be put off until the last possible minute. An infinitely complicated and pointless ritual, much like the contortions a baseball pitcher frequently goes through before he finally cocks his arm and actually starts the pitching motion, is often involved. Time moves on, and so does the pointless ritual, until the last moment can no longer be postponed.

When I was asked to make a review of advertising guru Greg B. Macabenta’s book How To Make A Benta, not only was it a privilege to read but it sparked my interest to put my ideas together and pursue what was left hanging on the wall.

Here is the master of his craft, talking—not writing—informally, freely and cogently, about his craft, skills, ideas, notions and ideals. So what was Greg’s content? That is where his substance comes out. Spiced with intimate, insider anecdotes, How To Make A Benta is a virtual history of Philippine advertising over the past half century. It is a valuable resource for students of advertising and enjoyable reading for industry veterans.

Punning his own surname for the title of the book (Macabenta literally means “to make a sale”), Greg’s provocative insights and thoughtful prescriptions will guide executives who face the challenges of powerful customers, difficult clients, global forces and new technologies. I find his book omnivorously curious, constantly witty and unfailingly wise.

He confessed his own romance with an industry, which he has invested the best years of his life. Campaigns he created include Milo “Olympic Energy,” Nescafé “Great Cities of the World,” Milkmaid “Grow Tall Little Man,” Instant Nido “World’s Number One Child,” the Wells Fargo ATM Remittance Account launch that won the 1996 Gold Effie for the most effective non-English campaign in the US, and the brilliant combination of TV advertising and community outreach that helped gain a 27-percent volume growth for San Miguel Beer in the US.

Greg is an example of that rare creature—the well-rounded individual. All he wanted was creative work at AMA. It was the late Tony de Joya who placed him on account management. He was promoted to the presidency, the first creative director to be made head of a major agency. Many others from the creative ranks would follow after that.

Greg doffs his hat to Tony de Joya: “He did a lot for Philippine and Asian advertising. In 1997, at the Asian Advertising Congress in Manila, he was singled out for honors by the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations, the regional organization that he almost singlehandedly organized and led in its infancy,” he said in his book.

Greg believes he owes Tony so much more. The latter often acknowledged Greg’s decisions and respect intervened between them. “When I insisted on resigning our second largest account because I felt that the client was oppressively treating our people, he told me I was crazy, stormed out of the room, and then called me on the phone a day later to tell me to go ahead anyway.”

“If I can’t back up my president on a matter like this, what kind of a chairman am I?” declared Tony. And then he added: “Just remember, Greg. We’re not in business to resign accounts.”

Greg’s book is a perfect mirror reflecting his thought, not a ‘yes’ man but seems to work on the sense—the sense of whole phrases, sentences, paragraphs. Take his titles for instance. He writes, sings, directs, strategizes and many more. The result is winning one of America’s most coveted advertising awards, a Gold Effie.

Greg’s name is synonymous with advertising. Or better ask, who the heck is Greg Macabenta? Yes, Virginia, you can’t talk Philippine advertising without talking about Greg Macabenta and vice versa. He’s the man.

Ask anyone who must have learned anything from Greg’s rich experience which might help others aspiring to succeed in the communications industry to get there faster with less frustration and, perhaps, somewhat better results.

You feel there is genuine advertising in his veins. Many consider him a “legend in his own time.” That creative hotshot often operates in a pressure cooker. Staying on top means delivering the goods on not just some occasions, but on most occasions. It’s not easy, and not everybody can do it consistently and with excellence.

That touches one of the questions this columnist wanted to ask him. Do you think writing ad copy is more difficult than writing other kinds of factual copy?

I hope you experience the opportunity to read Greg’s book and the pressure—to do the work. May you do it splendidly.

Bubuwit Squeaks

‘NOT YOUR AD’

ONE agency is claiming credit to have booked a multinational tech product ad in a business section’s paper. The editor checked their advertising department and found out that the placement came from another major agency.

This notorious agency person sends emails to the section editor and a tech editor of the same paper still claiming the ad placement. Will the real agency please step forward and come out in the open to stop this other agency’s illusion?