The list of mistakes is long: relying on Rupert Murdoch's satellite to carry WSTV in Asia, and then getting booted off; failing to realise that Ted Turner and other American broadcasters would never allow the Beeb to get a toehold in the States; trusting a band of Saudi brigands with the journalistic reputation of the BBC for the sake of putting an Arabic Service television network on the air.)BBC managers explain this all away as either bad luck or justifiable risk. It is Birt's plan to absorb this unique and fragile BBC subculture into the "mainstream" that has quite understandably caused a loud outcry.For the sake of full disclosure, I should admit right here that I am an American citizen, and as such a complete stranger to the culture of public broadcasting I entered when I joined the Bush House staff in 1993.It was a journalist's dream, one where, more than any other organisation on this planet, the inherent value of the story is what counted.The Foreign Office, which controls the World Service budget, wasn't considered, consulted or deferred to in news judgements. Indeed, we went out of our way to let the diplomats know that, while they held the purse strings, we felt no compulsion to curry favour.How far away that world seems now. But as the US Affairs Analyst at Bush House for the past three years, I've seen this organisation struggle mightily and ultimately fail to come to terms with both the free market and the blistering pace of technological change in the media industry.

So Birt, while lacking in tact, deserves credit on one count. The fact is, without dramatic change, the BBC is a 20th-century broadcasting giant in danger of perishing early in the next millennium. That said, what's wrong with the BBC has nothing to do with the BBC World Service. That's hard for a member of the BBC World Service's staff to admit, and grounds for tar-and-feathering these days in the greasy spoon Bush House canteen. The good thing is that they work totally collaboratively with the client rather than just presenting an idea in a vacuum."It's a shame that Butlin's was not convinced by the approach. The entire staff had been promised an all-singing, all-dancing vacation at Butlin's. Understandably, some of them had hoped the next account would be the Bahamas Tourist Board, rather than a prosaic brand of chewing gum.. John Birt's blueprint for reorganising the BBC has merit.

There is no better experience than at the hard edge where the customer is making the real-life purchase."Sophie McLaughlin, marketing manager at Radio 1, adds: "Agencies have been doing store visits for centuries but St Luke's are far more imaginative What they do smacks of a greater level of commitment. Hilary Pepler, communications manager at Ikea, says: "The fact that St Luke's came and worked at the store massively helped them to understand our strong corporate philosophy and helped them with their ideas. You're immersed in the right arena straight away."The clients certainly seem to buy it. The Boots No7 project area is also kitted out like a teenage girl's bedroom, with popstar posters on the wall and a dressing table knee-deep in make-up and balls of cotton wool.Alan Young, a creative at St Luke's and joint architect of "method advertising", says: "The moment you enter each project room you enter the world of the product. Instead of the more traditional office structure, incorporating a floor of account men, a separate floor for the creative teams and general physical divides between each department, its structure is based wholly around its clients.The Ikea room, therefore, is furnished with Ikea tables and chairs, while Radio 1's room is scruffy, full of CDs and rock mags, and is sound-proofed so people can play loud music in it. "Leo Burnett may well send staff on McDonald's away-days but that is different from what we do because it is a client requirement rather than an agency initiative, We coined the term 'method advertising' because we believe in intensely experiencing our clients' business."The agency also creates dedicated project rooms within its premises for each client.