Before entering academia in 1981, he spent 27 years in the advertising business, including 25years with J Walter Thompson in Europe. His books, What's In a Name? (Lexington Books, 1986), Does It Pay to Advertise? (Lexington Books, 1989), How Much is Enough? (Lexington Books, 1992), When Ads Work (Lexington Books, 1995), The Ultimate Secrets of Advertising (Sage Publications, 2002), and Fables, Fashions and Facts About Advertising (Sage Publications, 2004), are widely used by advertisers and marketers around the world. He is also the editor and part-author of a series of five handbooks on advertising practice which represent the largest collection of serious material on advertising ever published. They were brought out by Sage Publications between 1998 and 2000. He has visited India on six occasions to speak to important clients and major professional organizations.