Today we’re talking to Tom Hamling, a freelance creative director/copywriter and collector of vinyl. Specifically vinyl that showcases bad singing by our favorite celebrities. He created the ultimate in coffee table books. No way you sit on a couch and not want to flip through this photographic journey that is akin to reading the National Enquirer.
You’re book, Celebrity Vinyl, is about to get a re-release. How many of those musicians got a second release?
All of them did, I suppose. Hence their coke-induced notions of becoming rock stars.
If you had to run Celebrity Vinyl by your worst ad client for approval, would it have turned out differently?
When you write a book, there are no bad clients. That’s one of the reasons you write a book.
Banksy was quoted as saying, “The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.” How true or false does this ring in your opinion?
Ouch. I suppose it’s our goal to make sure that isn’t true.
How did publishing your first book compare to producing your first TV spot?
My first TV spot included a week-long boondoggle in Vancouver.
My first book included a “75% Off” table at Urban Outfitters.
Push.
Do you think the background of an ad person makes it easier to kick out a book or is there no advantage?
No advantage. If you want to write a book on something, write it.
Burt and many more are inside
When it came to working on your own book, were you at all encouraged by the success of other ad peeps?
Never thought about it. This book was a break from advertising.
What feels better, a reader telling you how much they love your book or a consumer telling you how much they like your ad?
Are either of them paid escorts?
Tom Hamling
