Saatchi's Roberts to "Let It Rip" on Daughter's Wedding Day

Normally, when a woman gets married she must endure the brief embarrasment of a wedding speech by her father, who will trot out some cringe-inducing memory before concluding that she will always be his little girl. Everyone dabs at their eyes. End of story.

But not if you’re the daughter of Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts. When that happens, your dad uses his column in the New Zealand Herald and his blog to advance-promote the contents of his speech, and how totally awesome it’s going to be. He wrote:

The most stressful occasion of all? Wedding speeches. The most worried person of all? The father of the bride. Imagine that!

Where do these people get their ideas from? From the father of the bride who is certain that this is the most important day of his daughter’s life. No pressure!

My youngest daughter, Bex, recently announced her engagement and has set the big day for next February.

(Let’s hope that the birth certificate actually says “Rebecca” and not the nickname attached to David Beckham.) Predictably, Roberts all but predicts that he, not the bride, will be the big star of the wedding:

I plan to break every great speech writing rule and let it rip on the day. It’s going to be straight from the heart. I bet the best man is already feeling the heat!

And I bet Saatchi’s creatives are already working on a CGI-filled rock ‘n’ roll “SISIMO” video presentation as we speak.

You know it’s going to be good because, unlike other fathers of the bride, Roberts isn’t the least bit nervous:

I’m told that even frequent public speakers (ambassadors, politicians CEOs) get a mental black-out when they have to stand up in front of a wedding crowd. Go figure.

Lastly, where most wedding-dad speeches are a charmingly cobbled together hodgepodge of family lore, Roberts’ will be a targeted, client-oriented pitch that squarely addresses the brief:

Know who you’re talking to. At a wedding this is usually straightforward, but remember you’re not up there to entertain yourself or a few select friends. This is a major social gathering for a lot of people and your role is to touch them all. The simplest way to do it is to stay focused on the newly married couple. Sounds obvious, but so often speakers get diverted and lose that emotional connection.

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