Credit: Paul Catmur
A satirical recount of former Cannes juror and New Zealand creative Paul Catmur's experiences in the ad industry has been released as a novel on Amazon.
'The Gutter Bar' follows Ben Putney, a president of the Cannes Lions jury who is struggling to balance family problems and revelations around the ad industry.
Founding partner of Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu, Paul Catmur, has spent more than 30 years working in the ad industry.
He held previous experience as the executive creative director of George Patterson Y&R and executive creative director at DDB NZ.
He has also contributed to a number of news columns, including his podcast Truth and Soul inc.
"I worked in advertising for thirty odd years and I met some wonderful people as colleagues, clients and hangers-on, many of whom I am lucky enough to still count as friends," Catmur said.
"However, wonderful people do not always make for the best stories, and in the book I have tended to focus on the rogues, loveable or not.
"The characters in the book are not exaggerated, they are condensed.
"Their traits are squashed down into bite-sized chunks and their behaviour becomes stronger to make a point. But they are based on real people or, in most cases, amalgams of them.
"Just about everything within the book about the industry I have experienced. The ambition, the duplicity, the manipulation, and, of course, the fun."
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