Come on up baby, check out my award

When the diary heard that author Sophie Kinsella wanted to talk to it about “chicklit”, images of cocoa-coated deep-fried drumsticks came nauseatingly to mind. As the Diary’s gorge steadily rose, however, a colleague explained – chicklit means “a book advertised widely in London Underground stations”. Kinsella is writing one of the aforementioned novels – called Can You Keep it Secret? – for publication next year, and she phoned the Diary to ask the name of a suitable industry award to place on the desk of a marketing director character.

Ever loyal to its paymasters, the Diary recommended a Marketing Week Effectiveness Award, something any marketing director worth his salt would want to fondle as he (or she) dreamed of romantic conquests.

This is the second such novel to come to the Diary’s attention in recent weeks (who can forget Sarah Rayner’s saucy masterpiece? (MW November 14)), which leads the Diary to think that marketing may be getting sexier. Or could it be that a lot of what goes on in the marketing world is pure fiction?