Definitely, Maybe : Probably, Yes

One of my favourite rom-coms was on the other night; Definitely, Maybe.

Unusual plot, great performances from excellent actors & a wonderful soundtrack. Or maybe it's because it is about a divorced advertising executive with a daughter, who works on the Quaker account.

When I first came to Moscow I foolishly went to a St.Andrews dinner.  If I had wanted to hang around with Scottish people drinking cheap whisky I never would have left Edinburgh.  But I was sitting next to a charming lady.  Or at least she was charming until she asked for my CV.  It turned out that what she was asking was where had I worked before.  When I mentioned Y&R she exploded with joy.  She was Bridget from Quaker, my first serious client.  And boy was she serious.  Especially considering that her brands included Sugar Puffs, the honey monster.

But after having children & living in Kuala Lumpur she had chilled out considerably.  She had also stopped dyeing her hair blonde so she wasn't as striking as before.

I was now presented with the opportunity to ask her the media/marketing question that had kept the famous Y&R media department perplexed for many years; did she fancy Greg Turzynski...?

"Oh, he was gorgeous" she replied, confirming our long held suspicion about the effectiveness of using long half-Polish TV directors to attract the consumer to our brand.

I had always felt guilty about Quaker as when Bridget buggered off to Malaysia we lost the account.  I thought it was my tardy approach to competitive reports.  But Greg told me years later it might have had something to do with him calling the new Marketing Director an idiot in the middle of their marketing department.

I had also been party to the crime of spending £5 Million on launching Quaker Feast of Flakes.  Have you heard of it...? I didn't think so.  Again Greg consoled my youthful guilt by telling me the story of the Milka launch in the UK.

Apparently Kraft spent considerably more trying to get Brits to migrate from Cadbury.  However all our research suggested that the purple cow wouldn't be productive in Britain.  For Brits purple was Cadbury & had been for generations.  Y&R suggested a humorous campaign making fun of the ridiculous purple cow.

The Germans were undeterred & insisted that Y&R use their proud lilac bovine in a serious way.  After considerable money was spent the post-buy analysis came through; "What's with the purple cow?" would be a good summary.

Kraft finally gave up & bought Cadbury in 2010.