Ex-Ogilvy adman George Tannenbaum on how to market yourself on LinkedIn

George Tannenbaum chose to quit his job at Ogilvy after spending the last 5 years as copy chief and executive creative director at the agency. He worked at Ogilvy between 1999 and 2004 as senior partner and group creative director. Given the circumstances with the coronavirus pandemic, this is not necessarily the best time to quit a job, but Tannenbaum displays confidence in his own skill and is busy using LinkedIn to further his cause as a freelance copywriter.

Tannenbaum has over two decades of experience in the world of advertising. He has worked with Ogilvy, R/GA, Publicis, Lowe, Draft FCB and more. His wit can be seen in the LinkedIn bio itself. While most people choose to display their awards and accolades in this 'About Me' section.

The rest of his LinkedIn bio follows a similar format, speaking about his achievements in a crisp and clear style; not too long, but getting the message across. He has also uploaded a set of creatives to grab potential clients' attention - these creatives contain bold black words on a stark white background. All of the creative work directs readers towards his site georgetannenbaum.com where he displays his past work experience and the ads he has worked on. Most of them are easy to read and do not employ complex words in a bid to sound intelligent, but are effective in driving the point home, acting as a recommendation section for future work. Don't miss his signature 'tongue-in-cheek' humour that cracks jokes when least expected.

He has a wealth of experience in the field of copy writing, no doubt, but the last time he was in the news, it was for unsavoury reasons. He wrote a piece titled "60 thoughts from a career in advertising" of which, the following was one of the points.

After public outcry over the language used, Tannenbaum used his blog to issue a public apology. He mentioned that he did not intend for his language to be misconstrued and did not suggest that women should stick to knitting. He clarified that he was using the idiom 'stick to your knitting' - which in the English language means keep your head down, concentrate and work hard.

"Try to understand context. The posts this was excerpted from were never intended as advice. (If you read my piece or saw it as it was intended, as a speech, you'd have known that.) These were things I've learned through my long and relatively unblemished years. Mentioning younger people or women was in reference to me, a 60-year-old man striving to be something I'm not. It was meant to be, and I believe this would have been clear if the entire piece were read, not a portion selected, self-deprecating," he wrote in the post.