Judging a book by its first page

You know you’re on to a winner in adland when you get a mention on the first page of a best-selling paperback about the industry.

The annual Marketing Week Effectiveness Awards, launched last year and due to take place on October 17 this year, got an honorary mention in ‘e’ – a tale of backstabbing folk at fictional advertising agency Miller Shanks.

Author Matt Beaumont’s biography boasts he has been “fired by some of London’s leading ad agencies” – and, on this irreverent evidence, it’s not hard to see why.

You can almost hear some of The Diary’s more cynical and cantankerous readers saying that it’s nice to see the magazine featuring in a work of fiction for once – instead of the other way round!