Power of the spoken word

Diary has this week decided to make a break with tradition and run a quote of the week slot. Charlie Scott, chief executive at Saatchi & Saatchi plc (or Cordiant as it is now to be known), said on the appointment of Al Prendegrast as executive vice-president of human resources worldwide: “In the advertising business, people are our most important asset.”

Forgive us, but isn’t that what Messrs Saatchi, Saatchi, Kershaw, Muirhead and Sinclair are claiming in their counteraction against their former employer?

Presumably Prendegrast, brought in from Mastercard International, will be responsible for building the morale of the group’s most important assets.