- Fri Dec 15, 2023 7:00 pm
#59473
A thought which has rattling around my head since Day One of the phone-hacking crime scene, but which I have not discussed before...
Many years ago and when the press was in black and white, (except for pre-press four-colour ads which would set you back over 100 thousand GPB a pop in the Sun, but that's off-topic), I used to buy media.
Lots of it and for lots of money. TV was dull but press was a contact sport. Great fun.
It was basically a boys' club. Plan it in the morning - buy it in the afternoon. The pivotal moment there being "lunch" which involved gallons of beer, a spag bol and bottle or two. Having a grappa and an espresso was not entirely essential but seemed to fortify the few remaining hours of the afternoon.
Then we got mobile phones. This meant that the lunchtime quire of Post-It notes evolved in to voice mails. See where we are going?
Of course, sales directors sit in with editors in wide-ranging management meetings. Always did, will always do so.
So, that begs the question; knowing that our phones would be backed up with messages, would they have broken in to see what their competitors' offers were? Not just for that night's paper, but for campaigns lasting perhaps several months or even annual deals?
Potentially, anyone who has ever advertised in the national press would be impacted by such a scandal - from incontinence pants to the COI. We are talking billions.