Madboy

My Journey from Adboy to Adman

By: Richard Kirshenbaum

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

A thrilling and irreverent memoir about the transformation of the advertising business from the 1980s to today. Richard Kirshenbaum was born to sell. Raised in a family of Long Island strivers, this future advertising titan was just a few years old when his grandfather first taught him that a Cadillac is more than a car, and that if you can’t have a Trinitron you might as well not watch TV. He had no connections when he came to Madison Avenue, but he possessed an outrageous sense of humor that would make him a millionaire.

In 1987, at the age of 26, Richard put his savings on the line to launch his own agency with partner Jonathan Bond, and within a year, had transformed it from a no-name firm into the go-to house for cutting-edge work. Kirshenbaum and Bond pioneered guerilla marketing by purchasing ad space on fruit, spray-painting slogans on the sidewalk, and hiring actors to order the Hennessy martini in nightclubs. They were the bad boys of Madison Avenue—a firm where a skateboarding employee once bowled over an important client—but backed up their madness with results. Packed with business insight, marketing wisdom, and a cast of characters ranging from Princess Diana to Ed McMahon, this memoir is as bold, as breathtaking, and as delightful as Richard himself.

©2011 Richard Kirshenbaum (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A shimmering piece of work, in which the flash illuminates the creative act." (Kirkus Reviews)

"With Madboy, Richie Kirshenbaum puts it all together in one great book on advertising. How it should be done. How he did it. And isn't it great fun." (Jerry Della Femina)

"Madboy is the tell-all story of the modern ad world, crammed full of humor, wit, revealing anecdotes, and accurate portrayals of advertising's most colorful characters. Richard Kirshenbaum is Long G'Island's Don Draper." (James Patterson)

Game-Changer in charge. 🍇

This audio book brought back so many great memories.

I worked at K&B back in 1992 (SoHo office, next to Richard and Jon). I was only there for a year and helped Kiki Kendrick get the “drinks trolley” moved through the finance office, and anything else she needed. She taught me a lot about how advertising actually works.

It was especially nice hearing the back stories to so many of the campaigns and getting ‘off the radar’ glimpses into these tales, and the thought process behind the wild culture of K&B. After leaving K&B, I set up my own Fifth Ave. design firm. [ 8grape.com ]

I did wish there were more emphasis in this book, placed on the great business insight and idea generation, although there were still plenty of great biz take-a-ways to glean.

It is a great story book with copious coloring, in a true to form, NYC style, and obvious linguistic expertise from a modern day master.

Breuk Iversen