Jerry Della Femina om det roligaste man kan göra med kläderna på

Han har sagt att "reklam är det roligaste man kan göra med kläderna på" och levt efter mottot "att bra reklam får människor att antingen skratta eller gråta". Jerry Della Femina kom från ingenstans (Brooklyn) och landade 1961 som ung copywriter på reklamgatan Madison Avenue i New York. Han arbetade för Ted Bates & Co innan i ett par år, innan han 1967 grundade egna byrån Della Femina Travisano & Partners. Han kvalade enkelt in på den lista som Advertising Age har sammanställt över de hundra med inflytelserika reklammakarna, och varför New York Magazine kallat honom för "(m)adman" förstår du nog om du läser denna anekdot:

"Everything has to be at the last second. The most fun I've had was writing a campaign in a taxicab on my way to the client because he said, 'It's gotta be ready,' and you know that's the ultimate pressure. I never would have the body copy ready. And this client always said he wanted the body copy. And I remember once he said he was gonna fire us. The client was Fuji Film. And the client said he was gonna fire us if I didn't have the body copy ready and my partner and I were sitting there and I read him the headline, I didn't have the body copy, and he said, 'That's great, that?'s wonderful, he said, 'What's the body copy?' I picked up a blank piece of paper, it was blank, and I started reading the non-existent copy. And it was – I must say this and my partner said so too – it was brilliant copy. I was making it up as I was going along. And I read a full, I mean read an ad that was so, so good and when it was over the client said, 'That's just great! Can I see it?' And I said, 'No, no, we´re gonna have it, we'll have it for you.' I was holding a blank piece of paper and my partner was shaking his head and the meeting was over and he said, 'I can't believe you did that,' and I said, 'I can't believe I did that.' I just had, I actually read him probably one of the best ads I had ever written. And my partner said to me, 'Do you remember what you said?' And I said, 'No, I haven't the slightest idea.' And I never could rewrite it. I tried, and the second time I showed him the paper, the client said that it sounded much better before. Never got it. But the adrenalin, the excitement of having to make it up right there, including having to read him the coupon on the ad."