Jerry McGee's Last Word

Nov 19, 2007

Just after his recent and hilarious retirement roast, held at the Friar's Club in New York, Burtch remarked wryly to me, "They didn't even touch me."

And so it goes with this legendary, thick-skinned, gravel-voiced character, who is soon to retire from the advertising wars. He is truly the armadillo of advertising.

Yet while the advertising bigwigs who roasted him may not have "touched" him, they did indeed move him, because they all came armed with bouquets, as well as brickbats, for a guy who actually lives by the aphorism "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

This jaunty, WASP-o-matic man in tattersall shirt and bright pink tie, tightly wrapped in a Brooks Brothers blazer, belies a far less predictable man.

Having known him since our teenage years in Fairfield, Conn., I can say with some authority that Burtch, despite the occasional police chases, was an out-of-the-gate leader. We would follow him anywhere.

Once I was recruited by Burtch along with several of our rowdy, pimply-faced friends to a rumble in defense of a buddy who had been roughed up. The next day I asked Burtch how he alone had avoided getting arrested. He told me about his exit strategy. As a teenager, I had never heard the term. That's leadership.

It's odd when a lifelong friend becomes your boss. You get to see another side of the man. And make no mistake: Burtch has a lot of sides he does not show. As a boss, he is tough but fair. More than anything he loves new, innovative ideas. He is not shy about taking a risk and is the perfect example of the "lead, follow, or get out of the way" school of management.

Being in the trenches with Burtch is not for the faint of heart. Last summer he gave me the draft of a speech to the ANA called "I Wonder Why," his take on some thorny industry issues, garnered from recent events and his perspective gained during his career. I read it, gasped, and told him it needed to be rewritten. "It's too in-your-face, too critical, makes you look angry," I told him.

I then spent my vacation rewriting the same message in far more diplomatic prose. "Thanks," he said, "I really appreciate it." And he then proceeded to give the ANA his original speech without changing a word.

"A message they needed to hear," he told me later.

"Typical Burtch," I thought. Never one to back away from difficult issues, and always defending the industry.

He will soon retire to Florida or the West Coast, but we should invite him back often so we can hear the straight skinny from one of our best friends and critics.

I'm certainly proud to be his friend, and our industry can be proud of his leadership and legacy.

Jerry McGee, AAAA Executive VP

Salute to Burtch Drake Welcome Note
Q&A with Burtch Drake Part I
More Q&A with OBD part II
More Q&A with OBD part III
What's the O For?
Ahead of the Curve Part I
Ahead of the Curve Part II
OBD Camera Ready
Jerry McGee's Last Word