Page 11 - Forbes - Asia (October 2019)

ly be sent to each guest, along with the information that Forbes’ special events also acquired a reputation for
another such cup with the same inscription would hang in spectacular excitement and imagination. For example,
the brownstone’s wine cellar, entitling the guest to come by Forbes celebrated its 70th anniversary at MSF’s New Jersey
anytime to try the wine. It was a good Scottish offer: No one home. Guests still remember the 70 bagpipers marching
ever dropped by, because, as my father liked to say, no one down a hill, seemingly coming out of the mists of the near-
wanted to appear to “be a lush.” by woods. Scores of helicopters had ferried in the corporate
One of the most powerful weapons to woo advertisers moguls. It’s no surprise that the largest chopper belonged
was to entertain influencers and advertising decision mak- to Donald Trump.
ers aboard The Highlander. Just about every weekday eve- Such events didn’t meet with universal approbation. To
ning a group of 80 or so guests, hosted by our salespeople, some outsiders these affairs looked like wasteful extravagance.
would cruise around Manhattan. After the event each guest But, in fact, they were the opposite: They helped create Forbes’
would soon receive a diploma-like certificate designating powerful global image. Even today many businesspeople and
him or her as an Honorary Captain of The Highlander. No entertainers regard landing on the cover of Forbes as the ulti-
competitor could match that. Every few years a new, bigger mate proof of their achievements. Talk about branding!
and more eye-popping version of the vessel was built. Pop I mentioned at the beginning how my father would have
pored over the designs and furnishings with the kind of in- taken to today’s new media world like a duck to water. He
tense care that Steve Jobs gave his Apple devices. Amazing- would also be a perfect fit in other ways. He was a very
ly, the business gained by this use of The Highlander vastly generous and compassionate man, giving away considerable
exceeded the expense until the economic crisis of 2008, and sums of money to many causes—including then-unfash-
then we eventually sold her. ionable ones, such as prisoner-rehabilitation efforts—and
Pop was always looking to do marketing in imaginative individuals (in a great number of cases, the recipient never
ways. For instance, in the 1960s Mao Zedong issued countless knew who their benefactor was). But he would have no
copies of a little red book called Sayings of Chairman Mao, truck with bad business practices. He believed, as did his
which the Chinese people were expected to possess and wave father, that the ultimate purpose of business is, indeed, to
at public rallies. In response my father issued The Sayings produce happiness, not to pile up money. F
of Chairman Malcolm, its cover colored in money
green and gold and its pages filled with many of his
pithy aphorisms. To give it a good-selling send-off,
he dedicated it not to a person or two but to some
5,000 friends, family members, relatives, business
associates and influential advertising decision mak-
ers. That’s right—a big chunk of the book was taken
up in listing all of those names. Now, who wouldn’t
keep—or, better yet, buy and distribute—a book
dedicated to him- or herself? Needless to say, while
his volume never matched Mao’s forced distribution
levels, it did rather well in the free marketplace.
This playful creativity and marketing was also
displayed in several land-development projects
Forbes had at a massive Colorado ranch we had
purchased. These ventures required putting in nu-
merous roads. What to call them? Again, the names
of important businesspeople, children, grandchil-
dren, in-laws, friends and company colleagues were
chosen. Lucky designees received via the mail a
sturdy and nicely designed street sign with their
name on it, along with a letter announcing this
honor and a map of where “their” road was located.

Introducing
What’s Ahead,
the new podcast hosted
by Steve Forbes.
GLEN DAVIS Subscribe now on iTunes MSF in front of the old Forbes building. To everyone’s consternation, he loved

or GooglePlay Store.
riding motorcycles around NYC.

OCTOBER 2019 FORBES ASIA | 9