Taking Time Out for lonely hearts ads

Giles Lury, director of communications at The Value Engineers, is a classical marketing man – he has written a book called Brandwatching.

The tome discusses how the brands consumers use say a lot about their personality. He illustrates this with a “lonely hearts” ad from Time Out magazine’s Talking Hearts section which says: “Hermes scarf-wearing lady sought by attractive, intelligent, sensitive man, 34, for relationship.”

A press release about Lury’s book describes the author as a: “Murphy’s drinking, Toyota driving, Lego watch wearing, Tesco shopping (and Chelsea supporting) father of four.”

The Diary thinks this description leaves out a revealing facet of Lury’s personality. A more complete version might read: “Chelsea supporting and Time Out Talking Hearts reading father of four”.