viewpoint

It is summer 1986 and an extraordinary new character is about to burst into the staid, panelled room...

It is summer 1986 and an extraordinary new character is about to burst into the staid, panelled rooms of the City of London. Two decades later, Sid, the mysterious character created by Saatchi and Saatchi, who was exhorted by his mates to buy shares in the privatisation of British Gas has turned into something of an enduring - if ghostly - presence. Sid's arrival marked a new era for selling financial services - the day popular capitalism turned investor communications into a mainstream marketing activity. The truth is that Sid stuck. People who would not bother with a privatisation were ...