HUSTLE flows....

All Marketing professionals are, to a certain extent,
Con Men.

While the word "con" now has an established criminal definition,
the word is actually derived from "confidence",
Confidence Artists being what Con Men used to be called in polite society.

Marketing professionals are the corporate Con Men,
since they're great at convincing people that they need a certain product/service;
simply put,
they build confidence in things that eventually "con" you out of your cash.


(see Marketing 101:
Marketing is the aspect of business that has the customer firmly in its eye,
creating a need that was not there to begin with)



So, as a career Marketing Man,
I'm fascinated by movies and TV shows about The Art of The Con.
THE STING, starring the incomparable duo of Newman and Redford,
remains the benchmark for this genre of entertainment.

Recently,
OCEAN'S ELEVEN, with the less comparable Clooney and Pitt,
made the con man popular all over again.
However, the sequel totally sucked eggs,
yet conned moviegoers of more than 100,000,000 $$$,
proving that there really is a sucker born every minute.
Cinema Verite' indeed!

and now, thankfully, there's HUSTLE,
a TV series from the UK's BBC,
the network that puts a sheen of class in each and every show they broadcast.

HUSTLE is about a group of London Con Men,
not smarmy and too cutesy like Danny Ocean's Vegas boys,
but true con men in their intelligence, charm, and sudden outbreaks of violence.
Sure, it's a bit romanticized, since this is still, after all, a TV series,
but it's as sharp as a Saville Row suit.

The cast is exceptional,
with Robert Vaughn, the last surviving member of The Magnificent Seven,
shining in a "mentor" role not unlike that of Sean Connery's in The Untouchables.

There's a gorgeous femme fatale played by Jaime Murray,
who just captivates in every frame she's in.
she's sort of a gorgeous European Toni Gonzaga, but not "banlag". hehehe!

Every episode is a movie in itself,
(and film geeks will love the homages to cinema in almost every episode)
Yes,
much better than any execrable, opportunistic Ocean's double digit movie.

Do the HUSTLE.
It redeems the Art of the Con,
and that makes this Marketing Man very happy indeed!