A Bridge Too Far

William Goldman also adapted Cornelius Ryan's book - A Bridge Too Far.

It is the true story of one of Britain's more embarrassing military disasters. The plan was too complicated and relied on every element working for it to succeed. Miss one bridge & the operation collapses. Which is what happened at Arnhem.

A friend once told me that his client at Procter was an ex-Marine. He would compare media planning to a battlefield. If the enemy has 100 Ratings a week, we buy 200. If they increase to 200 we go up to 300. You get the picture. It's not pretty but it's pretty successful. Complicated plans can be brilliant but they also have more parts to go wrong. Over the longer term simple plans which keep the enemy (competiton) in mind are the most effective & efficient.

Some plans try to be clever & fail like Operation Market Garden (the Bridge Too Far). But Procter is the Red Army of media. They set a target, Berlin say, and they just keep going straight ahead until they reach the Reichstag.