At The End Of The Day

Not So Quiet On the Western Font..

The creative team got together after work and screened the movie Helvetica last night. One of the striking things was the passion being thrown out by all who were interviewed. It was the kind of intensity reserved military conflicts or religious beliefs. Religion might be the best word to describe what typeface holds in the lives of the David Carsons and Massimo Vignellis of the world. Not everyone sees eye to eye.

Post-movie we went out for some drinks and darts. A piece of advice: Don’t ever walk in front of a dartboard when Ed “Iron Cannon” Zelinsky is tossing the spears. It’s one thing to be stabbed in the back, but an entirely different matter to walk through life with the wind whistling through your skull.

A divine PR campaign

Pope John Paul II is the most recognized individual in modern times. That's because he was the most traveled Pope in the 2000-year history of the Christian faith.

Fluent in eight languages, his globe-trotting made him the most impressive and influential ambassador of peace and love the world has ever know.

His papacy was an ongoing PR campaign unmatched by anything the advertising industry could ever muster or sustain.

Enter Pope Benedict XVI and an even more aggressive PR campaign. Radical Islam and Pope Benedict XVI couldn't be further apart on practically every issue. In the face of this, he has displayed courage and insight in playing to this difficult crowd. Even moderate Muslin communities tell him he is an unwelcome guest.

His recent visit to Turkey was in ways more impressive than all of John Paul II trips combined. The Pope is accustomed to being received by loving and adoring masses. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Istanbul to huge protests and death threats. Ultimately, his trip proved to be a (qualified) success.

Picking up where his predecessor left off, Pope Benedict XVI is continuing the most crucial PR campaign of the modern era--preaching coexistence, cooperation, reciprocity, tolerance and peace.

Let's hope he's a good PR man.