This week, reverse psychology's the name of the game for our ad man on the inside:

Big Marketing Man
Eric Blumstein* is staring at me over the top of his Diet Coke (no fruit) and telling me in no uncertain terms how important he is. With me is Rod, the World's Most Amiable Sales Director, and I'm not exactly sure he's getting just how big a prick Blumstein is being.

Having just put in his first year, Eric's about the fourth man down the marketing totem pole at Big Electronics Company. His boss' timely promotion has left him holding the keys to a fairly sizable marketing budget, a portion of which is responsible for 5 percent of our total annual gross revenue. Bottom line? Without Eric's complete enthusiasm for the majority of our elaborate, big-money sponsorships and programs, we're in serious trouble. Therefore, we must acknowledge Eric's marketing wisdom and let him dot all the "i's" and cross all the "t's" he wants to. So far, Blumstein seems determined to do a whole lot of crossin' and dottin' before the fall media-buying season.

Sporting a wannabe-hipster goatee and carefully arranged hair meant to simulate bedhead, Blumstein takes a measured sip of his diet soda and brushes an errant piece of tuna tartar from his chin. I am deep into my second scotch-and-soda of this casual meeting and trying to let Rod, Blumstein's direct sales rep, absorb most of his blather. At one point, Blumstein actually says "Everything goes through me." Wow. This bastard is cocky as hell. However, it could be a reaction to our selling a sizable sponsorship behind his back to his ad agency.

As Blumstein goes on, it is hard not to think about the fact that my assistant probably outearns him, and I chastise myself for such a base notion. Later on, I think of this when I start the 90-slide PowerPoint presentation that will be the price of admission into Blumstein's marketing party. God, this is no way to live.

*Names have been changed to protect the...you be the judge.

More here.