Dr Mumbo

From the crazy photographic memory of Rose Herceg…

Some of Dr Mumbo’s favourite people are strategists – they usually have an entertaining and original point of view.

So Dr Mumbo was delighted to see a column on the home page of AdNews from WPP’s chief strategy officer Rose Herceg.

In the short article, Herceg makes something of a leap, linking a US Supreme Court Justice’s observations about pornography with the difficulties in defining trust:

Herceg in AdNews

By an amazing coincidence, the same observation has been made before, in a book about… wait for it… trust. According to David A Shore, in The Trust Prescription for Healthcare:

David Shore’s book on trust

Which is, no doubt, all a coincidence.

And here’s another coincidence.  Rosemary Herceg made what was presumably an unwelcome appearance on The ABC’s Media Watch program back in 2002.

In those days a trend forecaster with her own agency Pophouse, Herceg had a column in BRW magazine.

But the ABC TV show noticed an interesting trend. On a number of occasions, the observations she used in her column were remarkably close to those that had previously appeared in the US magazine Fast Company.

There was this example:

‘Today if you want to catch the wave of the future, you have to start surfing a lot closer to the Fringe.’ – Fast Company Magazine

‘If you want to catch the wave of the future, you have to start surfing a lot closer to the fringe.’ – Rosemary Herceg, BRW

And this one…

‘…they created the Scion brand from the ground up, starting with the actual silver-coated badge that appears on every car and ending with a cutting edge Web site that screams youth and exuberance.’ – Fast Company Magazine

‘… they created the Scion brand from the ground up, starting with the silver-coated badge that appears on every car and ending with a cutting edge Web site (www.scion.com) that screams youth and exuberance.’ – Rosemary Herceg, BRW

Media Watch used lots of unpleasantly judgmental phrases like “theft” and “pinched”. Even, unpleasantly, “plagiarism” and “rip offs”

After the ABC revealed a copy of a BRW column where almost all of the text had first appeared in Fast Company, Rosemary’s writing career with BRW came to a rapid halt. Then editor (and now Ten’s chief spinner) Neil Shoebridge told Media Watch: “‘Rosemary was dismissed as a columnist for BRW as soon as I could get her on the phone.”

Luckily, at the time, she was able to give Media Watch a completely reasonable explanation: “I have to tell you I have a crazy photographic memory.”

Fifteen years on, Dr Mumbo wonders if we’re any closer to a cure for a crazy photographic memory.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.