I turned 60 today. Thirty six of those 60 years have been spent in The Belly of the Beast, churning out ads.
While the plot lines of this business are as well-worn as an old married couple’s arguments (clients are tasteless/account people are spineless/creatives are clueless), the vocabulary used to express it has changed. Here are 20 terms and names in common use in ad agencies when I started which are no more, thanks to technology, death and consultants:
Bullpen
Hot type
Interlock
Letraset
Copy contact
Pica
Double truck
17.65
Moviola
Steenbeck
3/4 inch
Slop print
Kabel/Windsor/Avant-Garde/Bookman
Laminate
Overhead
Burke opening
Spec (as a verb)
:45
Above the Line/Below the Line
Elbert Budin
Want to know what these terms mean and too lazy to google them all? Go to seidensays.com, my agency’s blog, for the full rundown.
Belly of the Beast 