12 months and counting - if you need my help

So, if it is my help you need on anything from marketing advice - PR, advertising strategy and getting more results with less money - to rebranding, then contact me right away for a slot in my diary.

I know that when I talk to a lot of people older than me about retiring - I have just turned 75 - they usually laugh and say its not going to happen. But it is, if only from the point of view that my two months holiday in the USA recently demonstrated what fun life can be without work commitments, deadlines and so forth.

Needless to say, however, I will continue to write for the various journals and websites that publish my media and marketing commentaries every week, because I enjoy that and can do it any time and from anywhere. So, I’m afraid that all those brands and especially their ad and PR agencies who think they will be able to breathe a sigh of relief when I retire, that isn’t going to happen.

I have been extremely fortunate in having started life as a journalist and being able to understand just what it takes from a PR point of view to get media publicity for clients. That has proved to be an enormous asset.

Equally, having been involved in the coalface of marketing for companies such as BMW where I worked for many years as well as consulting in terms of marketing strategy for companies such as Massmart, Sony, Standard Bank, Land Rover, Woolworths and many others, that exerience has been priceless.

So, if all that sounds a bit boastful, apparently when one turns 75 one is allowed to boast a bit.

Other than that I am still young at heart and completely up to date with all the latest marketing trends from social media to online and particularly the enormous changes in the retail sector.

Saying goodbye to 17,000 Twitter followers and a couple of thousand on LinkedIn is going to be quite a wrench when the time comes...