A couple of weeks ago, I admitted that I don’t listen to podcasts because I’m not patient enough to devote the time they require.

In spite of that personal limitation, I recommended Marvin Stockwell’s Champions of the Lost Causes podcast.

Well, I had forgotten the perfect podcast for someone like me: the one by Memphis marketing guru John Malmo. 

His podcasts generally last no more than 90 seconds.  As Mr. Malmo says: “That’s long enough to say anything.”

Truth be told, he can tell us more about marketing in that period of time than most professors can in a semester.  After all, he has more than 50 years in advertising and marketing and is the don of the profession.

His Impressive Career

For many years, his nuggets of wisdom have been broadcast every Monday morning on WKNO-FM, creating several hundred “John Malmo Consulting Commentaries” podcasts.

His podcasts are about messaging, brands, people, grammar, customer service, signage, and of course advertising, and so much more.   He’s taken a pause but will be adding new episodes soon.

Mr. Malmo is a legend in his business.  His experience includes a stint as a Fuller Brush man and seven years in the newspaper business.  He moved to Memphis in 1938 – about the time Overton Park Shell opened, he says –  to take the sales promotion manager at E. L. Bruce Co. – back when Memphis was called hardwood capital of the world – and followed that with marketing jobs with the National Cotton Council and Gem, Inc. 

He founded John Malmo Advertising in 1967 and under his leadership, it became the largest agency in this part of the country.  He sold it in 1991 to Ward Archer & Associates and it became Archer Malmo Inc., where he is chairman emeritus. 

Clients and civic organizations recognized his work and either hired him or put him on their board to access his pro bono advice.  It’s a long list: past president of Memphis Advertising Federation and recipient of its awards; former director of American Association of Advertising Agencies; past chairman of Moore Tech College (and you’ve heard his distinctive voice on its commercials); former chairman of Memphis Park Commission; and former director of Memphis Symphony, Memphis Boys’ Clubs, Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, Opera Memphis, an Entrepreneurial Fellow of University of Memphis, and more.

Spinless

He wrote a column for The Commercial Appeal for 11 years and moved his commentaries at WKNO-FM.  His is author of the seminal business book, “When on the mountain there Is no tiger, Monkey Is King.” It is a compilation of “two-minute business pearls for everyone who works.”

He is a founding member of the Memphis Society of Entrepreneurs, which lists his thought on entrepreneurship: “Advice is available from every direction but at decision time, the true entrepreneur has only a mirror.”

A favorite quote of his for me: “I owe just so much to the opportunity to make every mistake possible.

In a world of spin, he is a refreshing, unvarnished source of straightforward commentary, which he proves with every podcast.

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