Wednesday, November 23, 2005

i am not blind, i just am not seeing it..

"A blind man walks into a restaurant and sits down. The waiter, who is also the owner, walks up to the blind man and hands him a menu. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I am blind and can't read the menu. Just bring me a dirty plate from a previous customer, I'll smell it and order from there." A little confused, the owner walks over to the dirty pile and picks up a greasy plate . He returns to the blind man's table and hands it to him. The blind man takes the plate to his nose and takes in a deep breath.

"Ah, yes, that's what I'll have, chicken kabab , potato fry and roti ."

"Unbelievable"--- the owner says to himself as he walks towards the kitchen. The cook happens to be the owner's wife and he tells her what had just happened. The blind man eats his meal and leaves.

Several days later the blind man returns and the owner mistakingly brings him a menu again.

"Sir, remember me? I'm the blind man."

"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'll go get you a dirty plate." The owner again retrieves a dirty plate and brings it to the blind man.

After another deep breath, the blind man says, "That smells great, I'll take the palak panner and butter nan ."

Once again walking away in disbelief, the owner thinks the blind man is screwing around with him and tells his wife that the next time the blind man comes in he's going to test him.The blind man eats and leaves.

He returns the following week, but this time the owner see's him coming and runs to the kitchen.
He tells his wife, "Sunaina, rub this plate with your clothes before I take it to the blind man." She complies and hands her husband the plate back. As the blind man walks in and sits down, the owner is ready and waiting.

"Good afternoon sir, this time I remembered you and I already have the plate ready for you."

The blind man puts the plate to his nose, takes a deep whiff and says, "Hey, I didn't know that Sunaina worked here?"


* * *
People in advertising arent blind, some just pretend to be. Even those blind, are blind because it is an easy option. Blind to such terms like strategy , for instance. When the client talks about strategy, i have seen ad guys - even account planners( who are deemed responsible for 'planning the account for its bright future) yawning at client presentations (by the way a yawn is a very sincere opinion ,very 'openly' expressed) with least interest . When the client talks about brand vision, some of them sit with ' i have seen it all' label stuck over their faces...

This may not be a universal truth( gr88 agencies make gr88 brands, no doubt and my salutes to them) but some agencies are infested with men and women of stadium sized ego's and they preside over collapsing brands. Clients wouldnt know( in many cases) until market reacts, but then it may be late....

Failing Client Agency Relation ship (CAR) is a worry for people who ever had something to do with advertising, and intellectual arrogance and laziness is one of the main reason for this bad state of affairs.(The number of pitches being held is going up year after year) And simply, agencies cannot outsmart the clients.. clients (good or bad) are always right (cliche?) ,I cant help it.. they are and the agency is there because the clients ( good or bad) are there.....

Fighting with bad clients is like fighting with pigs in shit.... after a while you will realise that u'r getting dirty and the pig...... it actually enjoys..

4 comments:

Blogger said...

Hi Sabu,

The post was quite informative and really comes with some deep insights. Keep the blog running and dont let the tempo go down. A wonderful job indeed.

Santhosh

Hey by the way i too have a blog on marketing communication - with more focus on the marketing and customer service part. check it out when you find time and let me know about it.

www.marketing-communication.blogspot.com

Krishnabhaskar Mangalasserri said...

hi thanks for the encouragement.. will be visiting ur blog..
be in touch
sabu

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