I am nothing if not on the cutting, nay, bleeding edge of all things pop culture and advertising related. (The previous sentence was foreshadowing, by the way.) Which is why I’m now giving you a review of a book that was published in August 2008. (See how that foreshadowing worked? Sweet.)

The book in question is “The Happy Soul Industry” by Steffan Postaer. Fellow ad geeks will recognize Steffan as the current Chairman and Chief Creative Officer at Euro RSCG in Chicago, the man behind Altoids’ “The Curiously Strong Mint” campaign during his tenure at Leo Burnett, and the scion of ad legend Larry Postaer from RPA. He’s also commented on this blog a time or two. So, THSI comes with quite a pedigree, assuming it’s about advertising.

Which it is not. At least not in the way you think.

You see, THSI is a novel. It says so right on the cover. It’s a story. A narrative. A work of fiction. And while the cynics among us might argue that advertising is nothing but works of fiction, this particular work of fiction does not pretend to give nascent copywriters or designers insight into how to craft a respectable ad.

Instead, THSI is the tale of how the greatest client of all – God – decides that the only way to attract people back to the flock is to, you guessed it, advertise. Seems the Bible has become a bit long in the tooth given all the shiny accoutrements of modern life, and the Lord needs a little more sizzle to convince folks that being good is pretty great.

To execute this new marketing direction, God sends an angel, David (not that David), to Los Angeles to hire the hottest ad shop in the land. And since this is a novel, said agency does not have the name “Crispin” in it anywhere. But I digress.

The main storyline follows David as he meets with agency folks, falls for a new biz shark from a rival, NYC agency and generally mucks up the Lord’s plans. Side stories involve a sleaztacular account guy and a CD with a penchant for recreational pharmacology.

All in all, it’s a brisk, enjoyable read populated by some interesting characters who could pass for real people – angelic overtones excluded, of course. The advertising bits are, as you would expect, spot on. And the overall theme of marketing God, morality and goodness is a pretty nifty idea for a book, even if certain churches and whole denominations have been advertising for years.

I have only two real quibbles with the book. First, the ending. I’ll try not to spoil it here. Nor will I claim that it spoils the story. But it is a bit weak. The book feels like the prose version of a screenplay. Which is not surprising given the author’s own admission that his people are shopping the film rights to Hollywood people and that he’s already written the script. That film-like structure isn’t the problem, though. It’s that at the end, the protagonist, David, is a weak hero who ultimately doesn’t get himself out of the jam he’s created. Maybe, as someone who’s also studied screenwriting (Anyone want to buy a spec script for spiritual thriller? Call me.), I’m just more attuned to the structure of classic storytelling, but I think the ending leaves the reader wanting a bit more.

My second issue with the book is how it represents the underlying concepts of God, the universe and everything. Though based on the basic fundamentals of Christian theology – there’s a God in heaven, an afterlife, angels, etc. – the book then turns those ideas on their collective head. God is a woman. God is only the god of our universe and answers to a committee (worst clients ever, I’m sure). Jesus is not who he claimed to be. Yadda yadda.

Now, I don’t know what the author’s personal religious beliefs are. Although I assume that if he wants the Cubs to win the World Series some day that he must have some sort of prayer life. (I’m here all week, try the veal.) And these deviations from standard dogma aren’t particularly shocking. In fact, they’re quite tame compared to, say, the movie “Dogma.” The problem is that it’s distracting and unnecessary. For people, myself included, who attempt to adhere to the tenets of the Bible, it’s just, well, a little irritating. It seemed to be change for the sake of change. I wasn’t particularly offended. I just didn’t see the point.

In the end, I’m recommending this book. And not just because the author could get me blackballed from the industry. (Ha ha! Too late!) While I don’t think it’s quite as deep as perhaps the author hoped – although the user-centric blog at the official website got pretty heavy pretty quickly – it does do a good job of being fun and thought provoking at the same time.

Besides, couldn’t you use a nice little aperitif before “Mad Men” returns?

Later,

Fox