Anyone with a passing interest in horse racing will be aware that this was Cheltenham week – although not a massive fan myself, I have very fond memories of the festival from the days of being a guest of GMTV. I also remember walking around Cheltenham in just short sleeves on several occasions, so the weather is a little late in turning this year.
Those were great days to be working with GMTV. In addition to lovely long lunches (where beer and wine may have been taken), we played football matches at Premier League grounds (ironic that I played on far more top-class pitches after I had given up playing than I ever managed when I was in my prime) and they threw the best parties in New York and Hong Kong. The New York events in particular were legendary – US toy executives looked on with envy as 100 or so Brits were picked up by stretch limos from the toy building and whisked off to mystery destinations like Carnegie Hall to be entertained and plied with copious quantities of food and drink.
GMTV had a sizeable marketing budget and by golly they were determined to spend it. What a contrast with today: many of the big TV channels, streaming platforms and entertainment giants appear to be in the grip of over-zealous bean counters, and have developed ‘short arms, long pockets’ syndrome (in some cases, the arms are so short they resemble a particularly challenged Tyrannosaurus Rex). This reluctance to spend especially manifests itself at a trade level. Securing trade marketing spend can be like pulling teeth (whereas GMTV used to claim their annual trade ad spend back on their expenses, as they considered it too trivial to bother putting it through the system). Many don’t exhibit properly at trade shows. Launch events, parties and other opportunities to entertain clients are a rarity. Even lunches (proper lunches I mean) are few and far between. Just like Amazon at a supplier level, the new media and licensing giants don’t seem quite as interested in forging close personal bonds with their trade clients and media partners as their historical counterparts. Everyone knew Clive, Mike and Simon at GMTV: like Kylie, Madonna or Elvis, even if you said just their first names, most people in the toy community would know who you were referring to. That personal touch seems like another era.
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