186: Here's his name so you can curse him

Mark Fenske has had my attention for a very long time

In abouts 1993 the writer, creative director, one-time owner of the production company The Bomb Factory, director of an MTV Music Awards “Video of the Year,” and VCU Adcenter professor Mark Fenske wrote a print ad I can still recite verbatim.

Wake me from a dead sleep and I will mutter:

If you’re going to punctuate a chin-first tumble to the bottom of any of our 24 double black diamonds with a slushmouth epithet, sling it at the go-fast desperado above who carved the first one in 1936.

Of course, we can’t forget Steve Luker’s dynamic art direction. These layouts give Helmut Krone a run for his money. But I think it’s the writing, Mamet-like in its provocation, which begs our attention.

Punctuate.

Slushmouth epithet.

Go-fast desperado.

Try to get an AI to write like this. Lord knows I’ve tried. And failed.

Roughly the same time I first encountered his writing I met the man. My friend Robb Burnham (

WACSO

) brought me into a project to promote Mark’s upcoming appearance with the Minneapolis Ad Fed.

This is pre-Internet. The age of fax machines.

So, on behalf of the Ad Fed, we sent every agency in town a ten page fax. The first nine pages were blank. The tenth said, “You’ll need the previous pages for all the notes you’ll take when Mark Fenske speaks.”

Mark gave a presentation on all of the ideas he’d presented which had been killed. And why. We took lots of notes.

My favorite was a fully-produced TV spot. Imagine a large scale wedding in full swing. The Best Man stands to give a toast, the audience quiets, then he begins proposing marriage to the woman seated next to him. The crowd holds its breath.

We see her mouth the word, “No.”

The camera holds for a delicious moment. An announcer’s voice synchs with animated type:

“Wine is life.”

The Gallo logo appears.

Apparently the Gallo family did not appreciate such realism. We thought it was genius.

Or consider Mark’s first foray into directing music videos—“Right Now” for Van Halen—which won three awards at the 1992 MTV Awards.

He also said, “Ads is Art.”

And sometimes it’s even true.

I heard tell he once cautioned, “I get my words from God, so don’t make me change any of them.”

Very likely also true.

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🤔 🤖 I can’t promise you an AI will ever be able to write like Fenske. I hope not. But we can give it a try this fall if you register for my AI for Artists and Entrepreneurs course at MCAD.

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