Former CD Rowan Dean’s hilarious first novel ‘Corkscrewed’ set in the crazy London advertising world of the decadent 1980s a great holiday read
Looking for a great holiday read for yourself or an ad colleague? CB highly recommends ‘Corkscrewed’, the hilarious first novel by former creative director Rowan Dean.
After reading ‘Corkscrewed’, readers will realise those American ‘Mad Men’ of the 60s were absolute amateurs compared to their successors in London’s glam and decadent 1980s advertising scene, where young creatives competed fiercely with each other to satisfy their insatiable appetite for money, fame and self-gratification.
Narcissistic, paranoid and ferociously convinced of his own talent, a young ad man must battle the creative forces that swirl around him trying to steal his greatest ideas ~ particularly a spot called ‘Photobooth’ for Cicero Cigars, the agency’s most awarded acount.
A must read novel about the only decade that ever really mattered in advertising.
About the author: Rowan Dean’s career began as an advertising copywriter and creative director, making his rep in 80s London, where he won many major international advertising awards. Rowan was responsible for launching Foster’s Lager into the UK with his famous Paul Hogan campaign and later, at CDP, he co-wrote (with Garry Horner) the ‘Photobooth’ spot for Hamlet Cigars, voted “The best commercial of all time” at Cannes in 1997.
He returned to Australia in the 90s to launch his own successful TV production company Rowan Dean Films, making premium commercials, before returning agency side a decade later as ECD of Euro RSCG Partnership, Sydney.
Rowan is now a political commentator at Sky News and co-anchor of the Outsiders with Ross Cameron on Sky News Live.
He is also the Editor of The Spectator Australia, a leading political and cultural weekly magazine that is the sister publication of the UK Spectator, the oldest and most respected magazine in Britain. Rowan also has a weekly satirical column in the AFR Weekend and a weekly political column in Brisbane’s The Courier Mail. He also writes periodically for The Daily Telegraph.
He has written two other books, both of which are collections of his satirical columns: ‘Beyond Satire’ (Connor Court 2013) and ‘Way Beyond Satire’ (Wilkinson Publishing 2016).
Rowan was born in Canberra, educated in France, Germany, Britain and Australia, and speaks French and German.
5 Comments
The Michael Jordon of writing. Well done Rowan.
“A must read novel about the only decade that ever really mattered in advertising.”
The narcissist in the book….autobiographical then? Sounds like it.
self published?
@hi. Ghost written?
Photo booth was a frame by frame copy of a comedy sketch. So while it is a great ad, I think it’s a leap to say it was ‘written’ by anyone but the comedy show creators.