Working in the Tenderloin, nary a day passes without a proposition. Spare a dime- buy this suitcase- donate to the homeless- buy a Street sheet- who am I kidding? I just wanna get high- do you have a lighter- I just need 35 cents for a ticket on Muni….you get a little jaded. Today I heard a new one. Two kids, walking toward Union Square – one holding a large package of cigarettes, the other a shoebox filled with those little plastic cups that Chinese restaurants use for chili sauce. Inside the cups orange and yellow wobbles. The guy quietly chanted to passersby, “Cigarette twenty-five cents! JELLO shot two dollars!”.
It is widely reported today that Conde Nast cancelled some popular magazines, Gourmet and Modern Bride. As I walked back to the office, after turning down the offer, I considered what it would have taken for me to say yes. A JELLO shot, afterall, is not enough to make a person noticeably drunk and I could have finished the late afternoon’s work, perhaps in better spirits- no worse than the guy in the far corner on his third 40 oz SUPER MEGA Energy RUSH. Trust was missing. Do I trust a stranger that it’s a JELLO shot.
Trust is the key to ad buys- now more than ever. It makes no difference whether you are an up-and-comer or an industry standard, those qualities don’t guarantee a result. The most important tool in your arsenal as magazine/newspaper professionals is trust- because it’s the buyer’s job on the line.
