AdLand Suit is Dan Shute, a Board Account Director at Delaney Lund Knox Warren, a top ten London Advertising Agency. This is where I write about the life of a Suit - which can include pretty much anything. Delaney's didn't know I was doing this, but they do now. They still don't agree with everything I say though. They'd also probably rather I swore less.

Monday 30 November 2009

So - Here I Am


Well. There it is. ALS's enormous (literally, rather than figuratively) head. ALS's face. ALS's rather large, if slightly nervous, grin.

Except my name isn't really AdLand Suit. That would have been a coincidence too far.

No. My name's Dan Shute, and I'm a Board Account Director at Delaney Lund Knox Warren. (Which, interestingly, is an agency that garnered precisely zero votes when we did a 'Where Does ALS Work?' poll, many moons ago.)

So, that's that. You know who I am. Secret's out. I guess the main question to answer now is 'What's next?' - so here we go.

Essentially, nothing will change. My employers haven't known about ALS until now, but the fact that they now do isn't going to change the things I write, or the way I write about them. I believe in the importance of what I've been doing here as much if not more than I did when I started this blog, and I definitely believe in the importance of the role Suits have to play more than ever. So why would I stop?

One of the joys of blogging and twitter is that you're only as entertaining, interesting or engaging as the ideas that you have and the words that you write - job titles or celebrity status hold no real truck, you stand or fall on the quality of the words you write, and the relevance and power of what you're writing or tweeting about. For whatever reason, a lot of people have come to care about what I write here, and have come to enjoy reading it. I'm incredibly proud of the number of people who read my nonsense, and who care enough to comment and share it. So why would I change?

Furthermore, as I've tried to point out in the past, this isn't an anonymous blog so much as a pseudonymous blog. AdLand Suit is not a character - he's not Dave Knockles, as brilliant as Dave Knockles undoubtedly is. AdLand Suit is me, writing in my voice, sharing my views, on things that I care about, and things that I think are important. The only difference now is that you know my real name. AdLand Suit is still here, and he's still writing. So why would anything else change?

And that's that. All that remains for me to say is thank you to the small number of people that have helped me keep this a (kind of) secret up 'til now, and that I remain in awe at the amount of goodwill, collaboration and, ultimately, cash for a good cause this blog and its accompanying (and much more sweary) twitter feed has generated - you're all fucking awesome, and Elika and I will be in the Perseverance on Lamb's Conduit Street this Wednesday evening (December 2nd) from 8.30pm, if anyone (or indeed everyone) fancies stopping by. First round's on me.

Oh, and you absolutely have to keep contributing here. Marie Curie is still an awesome cause, and we've already made a fantastic amount of money, but if each of you donate a couple of quid (or even a solitary quid, if that's all you can afford), then we'll have done a brilliant thing. I'll do a proper post on the donation at the end of the week, rather than try and wrap it up in this.

I'll see you all at the bar. Cheers.

27 comments:

@3djamie said...

So I was right all along, you are Lloyd..

Unknown said...

so...your name ISN'T Linda? Can I still call you Linda?

Unknown said...

Twitter is hilarious. But this blog is superb- I quote it lots. Keep going, please, -wil be interesting to witness the shifts in tone, content etc. Well done re Marie Curie

Anonymous said...

Who are Delaney Lund Knox Warren?

Rubber Republic said...

Hello Dan! The suspense was killing me. Great blog and nice idea to raise some cash for Marie Curie. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

God forgot to draw you any eyes.

Anonymous said...

And you were a £300 an hour hooker with that face?

Anonymous said...

I always thought you were really Amelia Torode

Dave Knockles said...

Woah! What's all this 'character' stuff?

I mean, I am a character. In fact, I'm a right character! But I'm not a character.

I'm Dave Knockles. And I AM THE CLIENT!

http://iamtheclient.blogspot.com/

snoxishere said...

Lamb's Conduit Street? FFS! I'm in Soho on Wednesday....

Anonymous said...

you ARE Amelia Torode, right?

William said...

Dan, congratulations.
I've been spreading the word like California wildfire to drum up some more cash from some fellow overpaid (sense the irony) suits.
See you Wednesday - The Perseverance is almost my local pub, my office is on Northington Street.
Will (@VenturaBoulevrd)

Unknown said...

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. From the first time you wrote a post for AdGrads I always thought "That must be Dan"

Anonymous said...

@michael it's easy to say that after the big reveal :)

real men write long copy said...

That's a smashing face you've got there.
I'll do my darnedest to be there tomorrow. Mrs RMWLC is at bible study (no, really) so I'm trying to get a babysitter. Anyone here good with babies? Let me know.

Unknown said...

@anonymous: Sure, you're right. And of course i was never completely sure. But I think Dan is the only suit in London I know. So due to a lack of alternatives I always had him in mind when reading AdlandSuit's stuff. Additionally it helps when you have both of them as a Facebook-Friend ;)

Anonymous said...

yep, I thought you were Amelia Torode as well

Silvia said...

!! That was unexpected. I just thought you were some random. Hello again X

Cat said...

Nicely done sir

AdLand Suit said...

Thanks for the kind comments - and whilst I was, officially, a £300 hooker with that face, that's £300 in total, over a period of 2 and a half years, which I think we can all agree makes much more sense.

Tom, you can call me whatever you want - you're paying the bills, after all.

And Sylvia - hello! It's been ages. Hopefully see you soon - and more posts, please. xx

AdLand Suit said...

PS Michael - I kind of knew that you knew. But not saying anything to anyone was one of the KEY elements of my 'keeping it a secret' strategy.

Bitchbag said...

Michael Mcintyre crossed between Chinese immigrants. Grand smile, grander blog.

Lush it.

Amelia T said...

FFS - I was a Suit for 1 year back in 1997 and soon realized that I was rubbish at it, so not sure how I feel that people thought that I was AdLandSuit

Dan is a much better swearer than I could ever dream to be.

I doff my hat to him

Will said...

I won't be about. Bugger. Have a good time mate. Well done on the big reveal.

Unknown said...

Hey AdLand (as I will always call you). Congrats on coming out as someone with a head. Are you SURE you're not Amelia Torode? I've never seen you both in the same room at the same time...

Anonymous said...

You guys are always called "Dan". By "you guys" I don't mean advertising account people, I mean wankers.

AdLand Suit said...

Erm, ok. That's nice. Thanks for stopping by.