The best of adformula series !!!
A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's artwork.As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "but no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, "They will.... in a minute......"
*********************************************************************
There are few types of agency- client relationships.. the most familiar one being the parent- child relationship. Here (for the uninitiated) the agency tells the client to do this and do that,,, lead them, bully them, love them, pamper them.. give them logic...Here are a few key things that your parents teach kids! Granted, most of you will say that you learned these things all on your own - but I can challenge you that your parents had a hand in there, as well.Parents proved the theory of all LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."
Parents gave you the gift of FORESIGHT....."Make sure you wear clean underwear, you never know if you'll get into an accident."
Parents were always good for teaching IRONY."Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
Even before biology class parents taught you the fundamentals of OSMOSIS."Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
They are always ready to suggest a career - even as a CONTORTIONIST."
Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
They taught that we even could control the WEATHER."This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
They taught us the basics principles of BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION."Stop acting like your father!"
Parents were the first to make us know ENVY."There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
Parents gave you that butterfly feeling of ANTICIPATION."Just wait until we get home."
They taught us what a marvelous gift it was to RECEIVE ."You are going to get it when you get home!"
Parents studied MEDICAL SCIENCE."If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."
They were the first to instruct us HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT."If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
Mother was likely the one skilled in GENETICS."You're just like your father."
They were the very people that taught us WISDOM."When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
Long before we knew the laws of the world they instructed us in the ways of JUSTICE."One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you."
and last but not least...Loving mother and father - they taught you how to walk and talk until you were three or four, then ever after, ordered you to sitdown and shut up..
Now ....Can we apply the above model in every Client Agency Relationship?..or atleast in every Parent-Child type of relationships...?
what about parents who are bullied by their kids?
what about parents who treat kids like outlets of their frustration?
what about kids who are dull and dumb?
what about parents who are so? what about parents who are inconsistent and quarrelsome? what about kids who remain kids and refuse to grow up?
what about parents who treat them as kids even after they have grown up?
Too many questions?
Showing posts with label client servicing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label client servicing. Show all posts
Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Fun Gun !!!
The irate diner raised his hand to catch the attention of a passing waiter.
"Excuse me," said the man, "but how long have you been working here?"
"About a year," replied the waiter.
"In that case," continued the diner, "it couldn't have been you that took my order."
Guys in client servicing often get to hear such cruel jokes and punches and their creative partners play chess and carroms in the pretext of ideation and humbug !!!!
Week ends but are for fun... Enjoy folks !!!!
"Excuse me," said the man, "but how long have you been working here?"
"About a year," replied the waiter.
"In that case," continued the diner, "it couldn't have been you that took my order."
Guys in client servicing often get to hear such cruel jokes and punches and their creative partners play chess and carroms in the pretext of ideation and humbug !!!!
Week ends but are for fun... Enjoy folks !!!!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
The Fun Gun !!!
A guy goes to the supermarket and notices a beautiful blond woman wave at him and says: "Hello!"
He's rather taken aback, because he can't place where he knows her from. So he says,: "Do you Know me?"
To which she replies: "I think you're the father of one of my kids."
Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says: "My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that got me so excited I had to lay you right there on the pool table with all my buddies spraying whip cream on us?"
She looks into his eyes and calmly says: "No, actually I'm your son's maths teacher!"
When did this foot in the mouth syndrome happen to you guys last.. guys in client servicing in particular?
Have fun guys......Its week end again !!!!!!!
He's rather taken aback, because he can't place where he knows her from. So he says,: "Do you Know me?"
To which she replies: "I think you're the father of one of my kids."
Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says: "My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that got me so excited I had to lay you right there on the pool table with all my buddies spraying whip cream on us?"
She looks into his eyes and calmly says: "No, actually I'm your son's maths teacher!"
When did this foot in the mouth syndrome happen to you guys last.. guys in client servicing in particular?
Have fun guys......Its week end again !!!!!!!
Saturday, April 04, 2009
The Fun Gun !!!
This woman rushed to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out. She rattles off: ,,,,,,
“Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were bloodshot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What's WRONG with me, Doctor!?”
The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says: “Well, I can tell you that there ain't nothing wrong with your eyesight....”
Ad Agencies are like doctors... the clients some times need free and frank opinionsferent questio ( how many agencies will do it is a different question all together )...... the problem may be simple and too obvious but they simply refuse to see it....
Have fun people !!! its a week end again !!!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Scene 1.. Take 1 ( Part II)
Continued from Part I
Tril was supposedly a path breaker with Endura007 which cleaned the clothes, killed germs and gave sparkle like no one else did… It still wasn’t sinking into the jug head Indian buyers mind set that India and its dirty clothes needed German help to sparkle… The Indian detergent market was not the same like Europe from where Tril came from if it was P&G ‘s Ariel which ruled the charts , in US it was Tide and no Ariel would be available… definitions of premium varied and so did the varieties of Tide or Ariel that one got in their respective markets
The Rs.5,700 crore detergent market in India which is segmented into two product categories - powder and cake was one tough nut for Tril to crack….. Sub categories like concentrates/compact (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), premium (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), mass premium/mid price (Rin, Mr.White, Tide and regional brands) and popular (Nirma, Wheel, Chek) made it difficult for the brand managers and the advertising agency to decide where to enter and where exactly to position. Tril after careful analysis decided to take the mass premium category and that is why this actor from the south was chosen to come all the way and dip dirty clothes, take them out and show ho it sparkles…research said she had the appeal… she was loved by the mass and yet had a premium appeal… she looked premium and yet was mass like material…
The first Tril advertising (launch ad) which Ram and co had made with no famous star in it had shown the offer of this unnamed product for maximum whiteness effect…. The sparkle and the clean which no one else did gave,….. The house wife tries the product and lo and behold, she gets the promised whiteness. After which the product's brand name appears from heaven as Tril….
The competitor was not to be left behind…. He had to prove that this unnamed detergent powder that is offered for trial does not provide that super whiteness and even if they do the unnamed new fellows cannot be trusted…. And they showed a lead female actor who wore cotton saree to look like an ordinary bharathiya nari waxing about the super whiteness of the time tested age old brand while unnamed detergent gets pushed to the background by a group of women talking about the excellent performance of the old brand…
What could Tril do but get another star to counter propaganda..? And the research luckily agreed to the very obvious… get the competing star to kill the other one….
The phone rang again….
Hello … said Ram….
Hey Ram…. We are on the way… said Guru….is everything ready?
Ram didn’t say YES… it was understood that when the unit was there since early morning they would be ready and tired of waiting….
Ram let out a huge sigh of relief … he had his plans for the ad shoot and release… had to rush back to Chennai after the post shoot works… had other brands in his kitty competing for his attention… The life of a client service director was in soup… the more clients in his kitty the more was the confusion… the bigger ones got the better attention and the smaller ones were never happy with that fact of life… the bigger ones weren’t happy either with the divided attention that they got… after all they paid through their noses for listening to them at least ,full time…
The phone rang again….
Hey Ram ..said some one… this time it was not Guru…
Khurana here… I have sad news for you and Tril…..
What is that? Asked Ram
The other guy is reducing its price by half… said Khurana who was head of the research team back in the Chennai agency office…
That means?… asked Ram visibly annoyed
That means now Kite detergent powder will be available at 23 Rs and not 43… said Khurana…. They call it as the biggest ever consumer advantage transfer…
My foot …..said Ram…..
He knew what it meant to his brand… Tril…. It was a price war that was launched… and quite un expectedly,,, the whole shoot now became futile an effort.. after all the strategy was to talk about value for the mass premium segment…
A car came and the whole unit stood up….
Like a dream which came true, the star descended from it…
Tril was supposedly a path breaker with Endura007 which cleaned the clothes, killed germs and gave sparkle like no one else did… It still wasn’t sinking into the jug head Indian buyers mind set that India and its dirty clothes needed German help to sparkle… The Indian detergent market was not the same like Europe from where Tril came from if it was P&G ‘s Ariel which ruled the charts , in US it was Tide and no Ariel would be available… definitions of premium varied and so did the varieties of Tide or Ariel that one got in their respective markets
The Rs.5,700 crore detergent market in India which is segmented into two product categories - powder and cake was one tough nut for Tril to crack….. Sub categories like concentrates/compact (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), premium (variants of Surf, Henko, Ariel), mass premium/mid price (Rin, Mr.White, Tide and regional brands) and popular (Nirma, Wheel, Chek) made it difficult for the brand managers and the advertising agency to decide where to enter and where exactly to position. Tril after careful analysis decided to take the mass premium category and that is why this actor from the south was chosen to come all the way and dip dirty clothes, take them out and show ho it sparkles…research said she had the appeal… she was loved by the mass and yet had a premium appeal… she looked premium and yet was mass like material…
The first Tril advertising (launch ad) which Ram and co had made with no famous star in it had shown the offer of this unnamed product for maximum whiteness effect…. The sparkle and the clean which no one else did gave,….. The house wife tries the product and lo and behold, she gets the promised whiteness. After which the product's brand name appears from heaven as Tril….
The competitor was not to be left behind…. He had to prove that this unnamed detergent powder that is offered for trial does not provide that super whiteness and even if they do the unnamed new fellows cannot be trusted…. And they showed a lead female actor who wore cotton saree to look like an ordinary bharathiya nari waxing about the super whiteness of the time tested age old brand while unnamed detergent gets pushed to the background by a group of women talking about the excellent performance of the old brand…
What could Tril do but get another star to counter propaganda..? And the research luckily agreed to the very obvious… get the competing star to kill the other one….
The phone rang again….
Hello … said Ram….
Hey Ram…. We are on the way… said Guru….is everything ready?
Ram didn’t say YES… it was understood that when the unit was there since early morning they would be ready and tired of waiting….
Ram let out a huge sigh of relief … he had his plans for the ad shoot and release… had to rush back to Chennai after the post shoot works… had other brands in his kitty competing for his attention… The life of a client service director was in soup… the more clients in his kitty the more was the confusion… the bigger ones got the better attention and the smaller ones were never happy with that fact of life… the bigger ones weren’t happy either with the divided attention that they got… after all they paid through their noses for listening to them at least ,full time…
The phone rang again….
Hey Ram ..said some one… this time it was not Guru…
Khurana here… I have sad news for you and Tril…..
What is that? Asked Ram
The other guy is reducing its price by half… said Khurana who was head of the research team back in the Chennai agency office…
That means?… asked Ram visibly annoyed
That means now Kite detergent powder will be available at 23 Rs and not 43… said Khurana…. They call it as the biggest ever consumer advantage transfer…
My foot …..said Ram…..
He knew what it meant to his brand… Tril…. It was a price war that was launched… and quite un expectedly,,, the whole shoot now became futile an effort.. after all the strategy was to talk about value for the mass premium segment…
A car came and the whole unit stood up….
Like a dream which came true, the star descended from it…
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The MAD agency part 2
Continued from PART 1>>>>>>>>>>
Now what?........ was the question and no one had an answer,,,
We have to meet them up and then know what is in his mind ..lamented Ram
Can we tell em dat it is not possible? asked Guru the impossible
Tell whom what? Dream homes? Ram went mad by the easy solution that Guru was offering..
No Ram.. well leave it.. can I call Mandan Kumar and get an appointment to get screwed?
Ram had a big yawn really big one for the big bore that Mandar kumar ,the brand manager of Dream homes was,,, to win the battle was tough, to sustain the fortress seemed impossible…
Hey Guru ,,, said Ram, a bit mellowed down… let us make some alternative plans…
But what is his objection this time? Do you know that before making alternative plans? Guru spilled his frustration with no mercy...
Well let us list some reasons ....say 5 reasons that he can possibly have and have answers for that…
Ohh ya ya ya… Guru said with sarcasm… number 1. rang nahim hai… kuch maza nahim aya… now solution.. take some asian paints dealer and paint his ass,,,
Huh… said Ram…...while Guru again jumped in….. I will quit advertising soon but I swear before that I will make a clean up….
Quit and do what?
Run some brothel or a discotheque and make decent money…
Huh… U’r a sicko… said Ram…
And you are a saint… the pope Mr Mandan Kumar is waiting to declare you one… you just have to be there….laughed Guru,…
Mandan Kumar as usual looked stupid, at his office, where brands and brands where there everywhere, scattered bits of catalogues and pamphlets of all the real estate guys and builders in town flew here and there. It all looked the same for Guru, and even for Ram and that was the reason why they had given him the copy which was different and could cut through the clutter like a sharp piece of metal…
The brands guardian and the two ad agency guys who were the baby sitters, sat there for a while, with no one speaking up… Mandan was deeply into the copies that he had rejected, analyzing the stuff over and over again….
So what is new sir? asked Guru, even when Ram was queuing the right words in his mind to kick start the conversation.
New? frowned Mandan, and then keeping his thick glasses on his dirty table continued… as I told it is not striking…it is like… what to say…
Is it the color,,,, if yes… the green that we have is the correct match for the persona of our brand, and we had arrived at an agreement about that if you remember… Said Ram…
It is not the colour… said Mandan… see these kids and the dogs and the pool…
You don’t want them? Asked Guru
Well they need be there… but the kids could be better…can they?
Ahhhh.. said Ram… better in what sense…? You mean cuter?
Mandan stood up and walked to the window and stood there for some 25 seconds, staring into the road that he could see from his 7 th floor office…
Silence,,,,,
Saalaaa.. said Guru… what drama Ram? what is he some bloody devdas?
Mandan turned and produced a pic from no where as if he was a magician…
How is this kid? He asked with a lot of delight brimming…
Ram kept his strategic silence, and in such situations nothing can replace experience…
Hahahahhahahaa… the room laughed at Guru’s laughter…….. he almost fell from his chair and still he laughed,…
Ram pinched his executive but to no avail… Guru went on in full blast as Ram saw Mandan getting rose, pink and then red, as blood rushed into his wherever and anger fumed from his holes…
You call this kid cute..? hahahhahaha ......Guru had no stopping….
Ram snatched the pic in desperation to save the situation…
Ohh ya nice..... he uttered, quite unconvincingly….. you want this kid to model for the ad… its cool…. I mean its.. well,,,,
Mandan came and sat in his chair and waited for a while for the laughing gas to be quelled…
Where is this kid now? Said Ram when Mandan raised his right hand to indicate silence…
You know who is this? Mandan asked Guru
Ram kept his head down.. he wanted to run away from the room, if possible jump from the seventh floor than face the calamity that was imminent....
No.. Guru whispered awkwardly
It is my grand son you looser and now will you be kind enough to leave? Said Mandan with a grin…
Actually the kid is cute.. wow… said Guru with a stupid beam as Ram banged his head on the table…I knew that it is your grand son….actually it is...
I said get out… shouted Mandan as he jumped up from his chair and as smoke flew in the room…
Guru was alone… Ram was not to be seen anywhere,,,,,
Tail piece :- Ram and Guru lost the account for sure but got and handled better ones... How better ? Wait for more in this space...
.
Now what?........ was the question and no one had an answer,,,
We have to meet them up and then know what is in his mind ..lamented Ram
Can we tell em dat it is not possible? asked Guru the impossible
Tell whom what? Dream homes? Ram went mad by the easy solution that Guru was offering..
No Ram.. well leave it.. can I call Mandan Kumar and get an appointment to get screwed?
Ram had a big yawn really big one for the big bore that Mandar kumar ,the brand manager of Dream homes was,,, to win the battle was tough, to sustain the fortress seemed impossible…
Hey Guru ,,, said Ram, a bit mellowed down… let us make some alternative plans…
But what is his objection this time? Do you know that before making alternative plans? Guru spilled his frustration with no mercy...
Well let us list some reasons ....say 5 reasons that he can possibly have and have answers for that…
Ohh ya ya ya… Guru said with sarcasm… number 1. rang nahim hai… kuch maza nahim aya… now solution.. take some asian paints dealer and paint his ass,,,
Huh… said Ram…...while Guru again jumped in….. I will quit advertising soon but I swear before that I will make a clean up….
Quit and do what?
Run some brothel or a discotheque and make decent money…
Huh… U’r a sicko… said Ram…
And you are a saint… the pope Mr Mandan Kumar is waiting to declare you one… you just have to be there….laughed Guru,…
Mandan Kumar as usual looked stupid, at his office, where brands and brands where there everywhere, scattered bits of catalogues and pamphlets of all the real estate guys and builders in town flew here and there. It all looked the same for Guru, and even for Ram and that was the reason why they had given him the copy which was different and could cut through the clutter like a sharp piece of metal…
The brands guardian and the two ad agency guys who were the baby sitters, sat there for a while, with no one speaking up… Mandan was deeply into the copies that he had rejected, analyzing the stuff over and over again….
So what is new sir? asked Guru, even when Ram was queuing the right words in his mind to kick start the conversation.
New? frowned Mandan, and then keeping his thick glasses on his dirty table continued… as I told it is not striking…it is like… what to say…
Is it the color,,,, if yes… the green that we have is the correct match for the persona of our brand, and we had arrived at an agreement about that if you remember… Said Ram…
It is not the colour… said Mandan… see these kids and the dogs and the pool…
You don’t want them? Asked Guru
Well they need be there… but the kids could be better…can they?
Ahhhh.. said Ram… better in what sense…? You mean cuter?
Mandan stood up and walked to the window and stood there for some 25 seconds, staring into the road that he could see from his 7 th floor office…
Silence,,,,,
Saalaaa.. said Guru… what drama Ram? what is he some bloody devdas?
Mandan turned and produced a pic from no where as if he was a magician…
How is this kid? He asked with a lot of delight brimming…
Ram kept his strategic silence, and in such situations nothing can replace experience…
Hahahahhahahaa… the room laughed at Guru’s laughter…….. he almost fell from his chair and still he laughed,…
Ram pinched his executive but to no avail… Guru went on in full blast as Ram saw Mandan getting rose, pink and then red, as blood rushed into his wherever and anger fumed from his holes…
You call this kid cute..? hahahhahaha ......Guru had no stopping….
Ram snatched the pic in desperation to save the situation…
Ohh ya nice..... he uttered, quite unconvincingly….. you want this kid to model for the ad… its cool…. I mean its.. well,,,,
Mandan came and sat in his chair and waited for a while for the laughing gas to be quelled…
Where is this kid now? Said Ram when Mandan raised his right hand to indicate silence…
You know who is this? Mandan asked Guru
Ram kept his head down.. he wanted to run away from the room, if possible jump from the seventh floor than face the calamity that was imminent....
No.. Guru whispered awkwardly
It is my grand son you looser and now will you be kind enough to leave? Said Mandan with a grin…
Actually the kid is cute.. wow… said Guru with a stupid beam as Ram banged his head on the table…I knew that it is your grand son….actually it is...
I said get out… shouted Mandan as he jumped up from his chair and as smoke flew in the room…
Guru was alone… Ram was not to be seen anywhere,,,,,
Tail piece :- Ram and Guru lost the account for sure but got and handled better ones... How better ? Wait for more in this space...
.
Friday, September 19, 2008
The MAD agency -Part 1
While on a car trip, an old couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. The old woman unfortunately left her glasses on the table, but didn't miss them until they were back on the highway. By then, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around.....
The old man fussed and complained all the way back to the restaurant, telling his wife how she needs to be more responsible about her belongings.
When they finally arrived, as the old woman got out of the car to retrieve her glasses the old man said, "While you're in there, you may as well get my hat, too."
***************************************************************
Ram panicked!!
He wanted to tell it to some one about this new googly that their real estate client ( whom they had won after a gory pitch-ing battle with other majors, minors, creative hot shops, creative labs, boutiques and who not in war with daggers and swords drawn out… ) was now throwing…
Dream homes had been a demanding client ever since Ram and team won the account for their agency who off late had been seeing a lot of client turnover and hence the wrath from their management sitting at distant Mumbai. This as usual let to a scramble for clients, big or small, good or bad… anyone who had some money that was left out after meeting their expenses was a client. Business development was a function that the client service execs were expected to do, the logic being “what to service if we do not have clients?”
Ram was a seasoned player and why not ….
As the director of client services, he had seen most of them, dealt with the good, the bad and the ugly pigs...
Had been through the whims and eccentric fancies of the clients whose demands many times had less to do with their brands in question and their future , and more to do with persons simple and stupid idiosyncrasies ...
Fought with them knowing very well that it was he who was getting dirty, and not the pig ,also knowing that the last laugh is not going to be his…
Had been tortured by the simple “change the colour demands” to “make the logo bigger” tothe worst "I Know Everything" and "what the bloody FUCK you think YOU are doing with MY brand" ? types…
Have survived his impulses to quit the gruesome thankless job were dreadful and blood thirsty clients shouted and shouted often for no reason and sometimes for foolish reasons…
Have grown above the old ramblings and grumbles as to how unrealistic clients could be….
Guru…. He shouted from his 5*4 cabin where the whole world seemed to have dumped its garbage, and from where he tried executing his ideas on strategic branding and positioning on the brands at his disposition, often in vain being shot down by the brand managers who had thousand reasons versus one or two that his team would demonstrate …
Yes Ram … pat came the reply…. I am busy in a game…
Ram banged out, just to see his protégé, Guru the CSE, who also doubled up as the BDO engaged in a serious round of bridge game with the beautiful and young copy writer trainee whose days in the agency was just handful…
What the fuck? Ram lost his temper…
Guru… Dream homes want to see us….
Bloody losers .. Guru whispered in scant attention to what Ram said …
And we will loose even that bloody looser unless we put our acts together…. Rambled Ram…
What man? Guru lost interest in his game with the gratuitous aggression launched by his senior and the belligerence with which Ram seemed to be persisting…
And what happened to the eat n pack hotel copy? Ram asked the damsel who, had by the time learned the tricks of the trade, inspired by the likes of Guru ...
Its going on …she said with a smile as Guru chucked in mirth happy at the development that the girl had in a weeks time…She had come to write and write and was happy at the writing skills that she thought she had possessed, and was even more happier to get her dream ad agency job, in spite of the pittance that she would be taking home at the end of the month….
No one works here…shouted Ram…. bloody goofers….
As he thundered back to his office Guru followed him signaling the girl to go back and pretend to be working, until he gets back and restart another game…
Now what boss.. Guru asked feigning gravity, sitting in a chair opposite Ram whose face looked like a harvested field with worries and qualms, written large as wrinkles and lines…
You look older than what you are.. said Guru in a pacifying tone… and that is because you get worried unnecessarily ….
WHAT? Ram almost stood up, this time really frightening Guru ...
Are you selling some anti ageing crème to me? asked Ram sarcastically... and what the fuck you mean unnecessary?
Guru sat grim faced, waiting for his Boss to take the actual topic….
Dream homes have sent back the latest copies that we send …. the Brand Manager says kuch masti nahim aya … kuch rang missing hai !!!
ah… guru gasped for a second and then tried for words… it was he who had at last managed to get a verbal approval of the worst client in the history of advertising ( according to Guru himself who was the frontline army from Rams team dealing with the account)…. Is that a reason Ram ?...... masti ….M%%^&&*
Anything is a reason man… why should we debate over that again? Said Ram who sank into his chair…
Now what? asked Guru…
Ram sat there like a question mark literally and figuratively …
What are the changes that they want? Asked Guru the bold, he knew the answers but he also knew he had to face it….
Every time an ad was made..right from the vague client brief dissection to ideation ,brain storming and blame storming to the execution of wild ideas, the brains cluttered together, confused, confessed and confined, astray and astute, wild and vivid, varied and voracious, vocal and vociferous....everyone thought thought and thought.. crap and holy crap evolved and some sense was churned out at last which went to the design stage......
Now to get back to the same process again was unthinkable for guru… it was a circus, a MAD one at that.....every advertising agency… the monkeys and the bears and the parrots and the lions and the ringmasters… you should live in one to know it…..
To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>
The old man fussed and complained all the way back to the restaurant, telling his wife how she needs to be more responsible about her belongings.
When they finally arrived, as the old woman got out of the car to retrieve her glasses the old man said, "While you're in there, you may as well get my hat, too."
***************************************************************
Ram panicked!!
He wanted to tell it to some one about this new googly that their real estate client ( whom they had won after a gory pitch-ing battle with other majors, minors, creative hot shops, creative labs, boutiques and who not in war with daggers and swords drawn out… ) was now throwing…
Dream homes had been a demanding client ever since Ram and team won the account for their agency who off late had been seeing a lot of client turnover and hence the wrath from their management sitting at distant Mumbai. This as usual let to a scramble for clients, big or small, good or bad… anyone who had some money that was left out after meeting their expenses was a client. Business development was a function that the client service execs were expected to do, the logic being “what to service if we do not have clients?”
Ram was a seasoned player and why not ….
As the director of client services, he had seen most of them, dealt with the good, the bad and the ugly pigs...
Had been through the whims and eccentric fancies of the clients whose demands many times had less to do with their brands in question and their future , and more to do with persons simple and stupid idiosyncrasies ...
Fought with them knowing very well that it was he who was getting dirty, and not the pig ,also knowing that the last laugh is not going to be his…
Had been tortured by the simple “change the colour demands” to “make the logo bigger” tothe worst "I Know Everything" and "what the bloody FUCK you think YOU are doing with MY brand" ? types…
Have survived his impulses to quit the gruesome thankless job were dreadful and blood thirsty clients shouted and shouted often for no reason and sometimes for foolish reasons…
Have grown above the old ramblings and grumbles as to how unrealistic clients could be….
Guru…. He shouted from his 5*4 cabin where the whole world seemed to have dumped its garbage, and from where he tried executing his ideas on strategic branding and positioning on the brands at his disposition, often in vain being shot down by the brand managers who had thousand reasons versus one or two that his team would demonstrate …
Yes Ram … pat came the reply…. I am busy in a game…
Ram banged out, just to see his protégé, Guru the CSE, who also doubled up as the BDO engaged in a serious round of bridge game with the beautiful and young copy writer trainee whose days in the agency was just handful…
What the fuck? Ram lost his temper…
Guru… Dream homes want to see us….
Bloody losers .. Guru whispered in scant attention to what Ram said …
And we will loose even that bloody looser unless we put our acts together…. Rambled Ram…
What man? Guru lost interest in his game with the gratuitous aggression launched by his senior and the belligerence with which Ram seemed to be persisting…
And what happened to the eat n pack hotel copy? Ram asked the damsel who, had by the time learned the tricks of the trade, inspired by the likes of Guru ...
Its going on …she said with a smile as Guru chucked in mirth happy at the development that the girl had in a weeks time…She had come to write and write and was happy at the writing skills that she thought she had possessed, and was even more happier to get her dream ad agency job, in spite of the pittance that she would be taking home at the end of the month….
No one works here…shouted Ram…. bloody goofers….
As he thundered back to his office Guru followed him signaling the girl to go back and pretend to be working, until he gets back and restart another game…
Now what boss.. Guru asked feigning gravity, sitting in a chair opposite Ram whose face looked like a harvested field with worries and qualms, written large as wrinkles and lines…
You look older than what you are.. said Guru in a pacifying tone… and that is because you get worried unnecessarily ….
WHAT? Ram almost stood up, this time really frightening Guru ...
Are you selling some anti ageing crème to me? asked Ram sarcastically... and what the fuck you mean unnecessary?
Guru sat grim faced, waiting for his Boss to take the actual topic….
Dream homes have sent back the latest copies that we send …. the Brand Manager says kuch masti nahim aya … kuch rang missing hai !!!
ah… guru gasped for a second and then tried for words… it was he who had at last managed to get a verbal approval of the worst client in the history of advertising ( according to Guru himself who was the frontline army from Rams team dealing with the account)…. Is that a reason Ram ?...... masti ….M%%^&&*
Anything is a reason man… why should we debate over that again? Said Ram who sank into his chair…
Now what? asked Guru…
Ram sat there like a question mark literally and figuratively …
What are the changes that they want? Asked Guru the bold, he knew the answers but he also knew he had to face it….
Every time an ad was made..right from the vague client brief dissection to ideation ,brain storming and blame storming to the execution of wild ideas, the brains cluttered together, confused, confessed and confined, astray and astute, wild and vivid, varied and voracious, vocal and vociferous....everyone thought thought and thought.. crap and holy crap evolved and some sense was churned out at last which went to the design stage......
Now to get back to the same process again was unthinkable for guru… it was a circus, a MAD one at that.....every advertising agency… the monkeys and the bears and the parrots and the lions and the ringmasters… you should live in one to know it…..
To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
and SHIT happened !!!
In the beginning was the Idea. ...
And then came the Story Outlines....
And the Story Outlines were without form....
And the Idea was without substance......
And darkness was upon the face of the Writers.....
And they spoke among themselves, saying, "It is a crock of shit, and it stinks."
And the Writers went unto the Creative Directors and said, "It is a pail of dung, and we can't live with the smell."
And the Directors went unto their bosses , saying, "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."
And they said to themselves to self assure... "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
And then spoke among themselves, saying to one another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
And then went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful."
And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him, "This new idea will actively promote the growth and vigour of the studio with very powerful effects."
And the President looked upon the Idea and saw that it was good......
And the Idea became an ad film......
And this is how shit happens......
Ram and Guru were running around working for their extremely expensive furniture client and wanted a little unusual and eye-catching stuff for their proposed full page color ad in a national magazine….Guru reported to Ram and Ram reported to GOD knows how many.. And this shoot and the project was so important that they (READ RAM.. Guru was just assisting him) had bet their lives on it….
Okay what the heck…..,( you feel ?…. ) everybody wants different and stunning, for everything from tires to treadmills, from charities to champagnes….here but we have a case where it meant a little extra. It could lead them into bagging the client’s first foray into TV advertising…. That is, if they did it and did it to the client’s satisfaction….(clients satisfaction is an imaginary entity like orgasm, it doesn’t exist and yet many fake it and worse as Men think we gave it ....agencies too think we gave it……)
Monotony was their selling point and familiarity became their differentiation by accident…
Stuff like “come…. See our price, we got the quality”, everyone looked, sounded and behaved the same…. Ram and Guru were in the team that won the pitch where some 7 ad agencies fought a bloody battle, sweated it out…agencies woke up from slumber, some even from their death beds and got into action. As in any pitch,this one too was a mix of comedy, politics, apathy, late nights, peeping Johnies, blame games, expectations, courage, creative outpour and a lot of celebrated humbug . Agency heads directly ASSume charge, as the client was big,(now a days even for the smallest corporate they do as any business is welcome) - lavishing their divine charm and diplomatic aristocracy-- people were given special charges..
Even expertise from outside was hired (OOF!!!) Individuals were identified for specific tasks. .research guys sprung in action, questionnaires, key boards, assuming, tabulating concluding what the consumers need, want, demand...media guys burnt their midnight and early morn oil to find some media where the new ads (assuming that the account is won) could be placed..Vox pops.. Field interviews..focus interviews... dealer opinion records ..Brainstorming ...creative blockbusting...Dictums like....“You can’t have an ego in this business, but be aware that everybody has lots of them"...7 day weeks.. Friends meaning four letter words..positioning statements............creative teams and briefs-who "will weave from its plain threads the rich tapestry of flackery that envelops a big idea" and then with all the hype and hoopla ,baggage and politics- proceed to the clients side for what the industry calls as 'pitching'.. When they won it RAM and GURU had the winners grin for sure but the loosers frown, GOD knew why….So when Ram said, “why not we put the sofa in the garden?” Guru tried not to look at him with some thing new to say or better idea to suggest because he knew how things worked here, in this industry and he simply listened. For guru the creative who was stuck in the post man work in client servicing, it had become the order of the day that “why not” means “do it”…
The client’s most beautiful sofa will be displayed and on it would be a gorgeous damsel in a black something with enough curves and curls exposed with a glass in her hand and suggestive looks in her eyes. Walking towards her and the sofa would be a handsome man in a white dinner jacket, also holding a glass. They will sit in the sofa and the sofa is so good that they will……well you know what…. It was literally evident where the evening was heading to and that it would not end on the front lawn for sure….The house to shoot was an issue… no good places were available and the ones who were ready weren’t good.. Or lacked the POSH look as Ram called it… The ones who said well may be we can but no trolleys.. No cameras… no light ups… if yes ok… They expected the crew to shoot from air, with cameras and lights hung from air and if possible, models too so that they don’t walk and spoil the expensive marbonites…
Ram was tense on the day of shoot but as it dawned bright he was a bit relaxed… it happened always with the guys in execution.. the concept makers sit in their plush cabins and make ideas… no matter how and how much it can be executed... Ideas in mind and ideas in execution are two different things boss...but… who cares?.
The shoot was to happen on a bright sunny day and has to happen on bright sunny day… and to Ram’s relief it was REALLY a bright sunny day… but as Guru put it, ‘it is like your temper Ram… it can change any minute…’
So it started off as a perfect day for the shoot and surprisingly the models came on time, and more surprisingly the MOTHER wasn’t there with the female model (they come not to protect the daughter, but to bargain for money,,, the lesser the costume, the higher the price)…and to Rams pleasure the house owners were courteous enough to let them use their private rooms, make up and dress change even though by that act of benevolence they deprived the local onlookers a chance to be far more interested in the shoot and pre shoot preparation…. But as they say.. it was Murphy’s day out and who can prevent something which was destined to happen???
To be continued...
And then came the Story Outlines....
And the Story Outlines were without form....
And the Idea was without substance......
And darkness was upon the face of the Writers.....
And they spoke among themselves, saying, "It is a crock of shit, and it stinks."
And the Writers went unto the Creative Directors and said, "It is a pail of dung, and we can't live with the smell."
And the Directors went unto their bosses , saying, "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."
And they said to themselves to self assure... "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
And then spoke among themselves, saying to one another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
And then went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful."
And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him, "This new idea will actively promote the growth and vigour of the studio with very powerful effects."
And the President looked upon the Idea and saw that it was good......
And the Idea became an ad film......
And this is how shit happens......
Ram and Guru were running around working for their extremely expensive furniture client and wanted a little unusual and eye-catching stuff for their proposed full page color ad in a national magazine….Guru reported to Ram and Ram reported to GOD knows how many.. And this shoot and the project was so important that they (READ RAM.. Guru was just assisting him) had bet their lives on it….
Okay what the heck…..,( you feel ?…. ) everybody wants different and stunning, for everything from tires to treadmills, from charities to champagnes….here but we have a case where it meant a little extra. It could lead them into bagging the client’s first foray into TV advertising…. That is, if they did it and did it to the client’s satisfaction….(clients satisfaction is an imaginary entity like orgasm, it doesn’t exist and yet many fake it and worse as Men think we gave it ....agencies too think we gave it……)
Monotony was their selling point and familiarity became their differentiation by accident…
Stuff like “come…. See our price, we got the quality”, everyone looked, sounded and behaved the same…. Ram and Guru were in the team that won the pitch where some 7 ad agencies fought a bloody battle, sweated it out…agencies woke up from slumber, some even from their death beds and got into action. As in any pitch,this one too was a mix of comedy, politics, apathy, late nights, peeping Johnies, blame games, expectations, courage, creative outpour and a lot of celebrated humbug . Agency heads directly ASSume charge, as the client was big,(now a days even for the smallest corporate they do as any business is welcome) - lavishing their divine charm and diplomatic aristocracy-- people were given special charges..
Even expertise from outside was hired (OOF!!!) Individuals were identified for specific tasks. .research guys sprung in action, questionnaires, key boards, assuming, tabulating concluding what the consumers need, want, demand...media guys burnt their midnight and early morn oil to find some media where the new ads (assuming that the account is won) could be placed..Vox pops.. Field interviews..focus interviews... dealer opinion records ..Brainstorming ...creative blockbusting...Dictums like....“You can’t have an ego in this business, but be aware that everybody has lots of them"...7 day weeks.. Friends meaning four letter words..positioning statements............creative teams and briefs-who "will weave from its plain threads the rich tapestry of flackery that envelops a big idea" and then with all the hype and hoopla ,baggage and politics- proceed to the clients side for what the industry calls as 'pitching'.. When they won it RAM and GURU had the winners grin for sure but the loosers frown, GOD knew why….So when Ram said, “why not we put the sofa in the garden?” Guru tried not to look at him with some thing new to say or better idea to suggest because he knew how things worked here, in this industry and he simply listened. For guru the creative who was stuck in the post man work in client servicing, it had become the order of the day that “why not” means “do it”…
The client’s most beautiful sofa will be displayed and on it would be a gorgeous damsel in a black something with enough curves and curls exposed with a glass in her hand and suggestive looks in her eyes. Walking towards her and the sofa would be a handsome man in a white dinner jacket, also holding a glass. They will sit in the sofa and the sofa is so good that they will……well you know what…. It was literally evident where the evening was heading to and that it would not end on the front lawn for sure….The house to shoot was an issue… no good places were available and the ones who were ready weren’t good.. Or lacked the POSH look as Ram called it… The ones who said well may be we can but no trolleys.. No cameras… no light ups… if yes ok… They expected the crew to shoot from air, with cameras and lights hung from air and if possible, models too so that they don’t walk and spoil the expensive marbonites…
Ram was tense on the day of shoot but as it dawned bright he was a bit relaxed… it happened always with the guys in execution.. the concept makers sit in their plush cabins and make ideas… no matter how and how much it can be executed... Ideas in mind and ideas in execution are two different things boss...but… who cares?.
The shoot was to happen on a bright sunny day and has to happen on bright sunny day… and to Ram’s relief it was REALLY a bright sunny day… but as Guru put it, ‘it is like your temper Ram… it can change any minute…’
So it started off as a perfect day for the shoot and surprisingly the models came on time, and more surprisingly the MOTHER wasn’t there with the female model (they come not to protect the daughter, but to bargain for money,,, the lesser the costume, the higher the price)…and to Rams pleasure the house owners were courteous enough to let them use their private rooms, make up and dress change even though by that act of benevolence they deprived the local onlookers a chance to be far more interested in the shoot and pre shoot preparation…. But as they say.. it was Murphy’s day out and who can prevent something which was destined to happen???
To be continued...
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... part 6
Continued from part 5
4. Compatibility
The agencies’ (Read the human beings representing the agency) ability to be compatible with the clients’ philosophy is very vital for transformation of Client Agency Relation to a level of bliss. Often it is complained that agency professionals refuse to communicate, or even if they do, use jargons to confuse. Mutual respect, of course is an ingredient, but many clients blame agencies possessing a “take it from me attitude”. Many times the agency and the client don’t agree even on the objectives of the campaign that they are planning. Most of the ads are made for awareness but awareness doesn’t necessarily sell the clients products, which agencies refuse to accept. It is good that the agency entertains the target audience, and walk up on to the scaffold of Cannes and Abby’s but what happens to the client’s sales?
“In pitching they show their reel, brag about their people, show a few case histories, flaunt all the promises, worse, some even bring all the wrong people (the best ones) for pitching, who will not be the ones, actually working on the account later on” this seems to be a typical client complaint..... Sergio Zyman refers to it as bait and switch and to avoid this he suggests that the contract should be specific about the persons working on the account .
Two classic gripes that clients have about agencies are......
why is it taking so long?
And why does it cost so much?
It is simply because agencies have other fish to fry, and clients generally don’t realize this or rather they like to think that the agency should be focused on them, solely. Researchers and authors have vouched on this as one key deterrent to the success of Client Agency Relation .
5.Czars
Czars are emperors or star employees on the rolls of an agency. Stars make a difference, often a celestial feeling for the accounts who work with them. The role of such stars may be limited in many accounts, and very dominant in same major accounts that the agency handles. Yet, this is true, in case of star creatives in India like Prasoon Joshi or Piyush Pandey. Presence of a Chaks or a Pops makes a difference with which a client perceives its agency and its seriousness of the account. May be the difference is just psychological, and at the functional level the czars contribution may be null, but that is a difference worth a look. Ever since S H Benson launched a journal for advertisers, wrote two books on best practices and organized an international advertising exhibition in London, as early as 1899,celebrity ad men, whom we refer to as czars make a difference.
Agencies seem to be doing their bit to make sure that the cream is added to. JWT India some time back ,in a high profile hire bought in Bruce Matchett as the Chief Creative Officer and National Executive Creative Director, from Singleton O&M-Australia, crossing one big geographical and cultural barrier. Also, to retain the existing czars agencies do their best. Almost every agency (some like FCB are exception) has the post of National Creative Director who largely exists as poster boys for the agencies and their clients rather than bring in some new vibrant creative culture. ...The big amounts that go to the maintenance of the czars make things a bit tough for the agency. “Most agencies get short term contracts and have very tight margins because of high salaries and such overheads. A typical agency would spend at least 60% of its gross income on payroll and staff bonuses” as reporetd in The Economist, (June 1990:17).....
But not all clients bask in the yesteryear glory of the Czar who works for their account. The creative duo behind the Hutch dog and the boy story weren’t any famous until the story broke. Hopefully they will continue their ‘out of the box thinking’ and will not let the one campaign take care of rest of their career.
Client loyalties in many cases lie with the person, as history would have it. Remember, when Charles and Maurice were thrown out of Satchi and Satchi, the only thing, which remained with them, is the unstinting loyalty of their clients like British Airways. Recent reports suggest that Trevor Beatie, the creative Czar at TBWA London, and the creator of the Controversial FCUK campaigns would be moving out of the agency and the client will follow the Czar......
To be continued>>>>>>>>>>>
4. Compatibility
The agencies’ (Read the human beings representing the agency) ability to be compatible with the clients’ philosophy is very vital for transformation of Client Agency Relation to a level of bliss. Often it is complained that agency professionals refuse to communicate, or even if they do, use jargons to confuse. Mutual respect, of course is an ingredient, but many clients blame agencies possessing a “take it from me attitude”. Many times the agency and the client don’t agree even on the objectives of the campaign that they are planning. Most of the ads are made for awareness but awareness doesn’t necessarily sell the clients products, which agencies refuse to accept. It is good that the agency entertains the target audience, and walk up on to the scaffold of Cannes and Abby’s but what happens to the client’s sales?
“In pitching they show their reel, brag about their people, show a few case histories, flaunt all the promises, worse, some even bring all the wrong people (the best ones) for pitching, who will not be the ones, actually working on the account later on” this seems to be a typical client complaint..... Sergio Zyman refers to it as bait and switch and to avoid this he suggests that the contract should be specific about the persons working on the account .
Two classic gripes that clients have about agencies are......
why is it taking so long?
And why does it cost so much?
It is simply because agencies have other fish to fry, and clients generally don’t realize this or rather they like to think that the agency should be focused on them, solely. Researchers and authors have vouched on this as one key deterrent to the success of Client Agency Relation .
5.Czars
Czars are emperors or star employees on the rolls of an agency. Stars make a difference, often a celestial feeling for the accounts who work with them. The role of such stars may be limited in many accounts, and very dominant in same major accounts that the agency handles. Yet, this is true, in case of star creatives in India like Prasoon Joshi or Piyush Pandey. Presence of a Chaks or a Pops makes a difference with which a client perceives its agency and its seriousness of the account. May be the difference is just psychological, and at the functional level the czars contribution may be null, but that is a difference worth a look. Ever since S H Benson launched a journal for advertisers, wrote two books on best practices and organized an international advertising exhibition in London, as early as 1899,celebrity ad men, whom we refer to as czars make a difference.
Agencies seem to be doing their bit to make sure that the cream is added to. JWT India some time back ,in a high profile hire bought in Bruce Matchett as the Chief Creative Officer and National Executive Creative Director, from Singleton O&M-Australia, crossing one big geographical and cultural barrier. Also, to retain the existing czars agencies do their best. Almost every agency (some like FCB are exception) has the post of National Creative Director who largely exists as poster boys for the agencies and their clients rather than bring in some new vibrant creative culture. ...The big amounts that go to the maintenance of the czars make things a bit tough for the agency. “Most agencies get short term contracts and have very tight margins because of high salaries and such overheads. A typical agency would spend at least 60% of its gross income on payroll and staff bonuses” as reporetd in The Economist, (June 1990:17).....
But not all clients bask in the yesteryear glory of the Czar who works for their account. The creative duo behind the Hutch dog and the boy story weren’t any famous until the story broke. Hopefully they will continue their ‘out of the box thinking’ and will not let the one campaign take care of rest of their career.
Client loyalties in many cases lie with the person, as history would have it. Remember, when Charles and Maurice were thrown out of Satchi and Satchi, the only thing, which remained with them, is the unstinting loyalty of their clients like British Airways. Recent reports suggest that Trevor Beatie, the creative Czar at TBWA London, and the creator of the Controversial FCUK campaigns would be moving out of the agency and the client will follow the Czar......
To be continued>>>>>>>>>>>
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... (Part 5)
Continued from part 4 ....
The clients expectation pentagon!!!
2.Chronicles
The annals from the history of an agency speak volumes. A JWT doesn’t have to claim and prove again and again that the oldest one is one of the best, still. The accounts that they have made in the past, speaks. The brands, the building of which they have contributed, the number of pitches they have attended and the hit rates, no of accounts gained and more importantly, lost.
Clients, at least some of them believe that nothing can replace experience. Some others but ask for results, measurable results, the logic being no machinery bought or no human resource employed would be exempted if it weren’t productive and just looks good like a piece of antique, then why advertising should be?
The tragedy but, is that in the long duration of their existence, “most agencies, instead of keeping focused on their clients and their consumers, fell in love with themselves. Instead of boosting their clients’ sales, they hid behind their creativity; shrouding themselves in mystery and concentrating just on award winning spectacular works of art” said Sergio Zyman and that holds to be true...
For the agencies, practitioners have set guidelines, ever since agencies became professional. Treat your clients’ money as your own, thundered Subhas Ghosal but many agencies do not heed to such words of wisdom. The result – bad ads and “the backlash of silly ads is the waste of millions and the agencies and advertisers are sabotaged by their own fatuity and self indulgence. People, who buy such products don’t know what these ads are trying to say and they care less. The advertiser simply has wasted his money on frivolous profitless spasm” .
Some ad men aim the Cannes, than contributing to the clients cash register and worse, most of them try to impress other admen, or to deride and scoff them, reducing the average audience to a knuckle head, nincompoop or a clod as per Baker who exposed the then ad world in his "the permissible lie".
3.Culture
The agency culture is the same for every agency at least for outsiders. The founding fathers’ legacy is carried down through generations as the culture of the agency. Ogilvy & Mather bears the Oglivy touch in whatever they do and so do JWT. Bill Bern Bach’s simple yet piercing narrative style is professed as a religion by the agency still. JWT until the WPP take over boasted of its New England Chamber indicating the founders’ Yale roots .The first thing which the new management after the hostile takeover at 1987,was to dismantle the room, in what the industry up roared as an attack on Thomson culture says Rothenberg in the classic "where the suckers moon"...
Of course there are compromises, which make academic authors comment satirically about the different cultures of different agencies. “Like the brands they sell, agencies also usually don’t have much difference. They essentially offer the same menu to clients, and if at all some one brings in some difference, others copy just as fast” ....Ad gurus have often disputed such arguments and have projected different creative strategy and execution cultures. Peter Head of AMV said, “Our aim is to destroy that view that advertising is a commodity. It is the creation of an elusive spark of originality, which can fundamentally enhance a clients business.” .......
Even in Media part of advertising, (Media planning and buying – even though these days Media planning are handled by separate agencies under the same global communication giants) the agencies mess up, putting the clients to depths of displeasure. “Agencies supposed to represent the clients interests, instead represented the Media owners, like for instance they would block large spaces in magazines & news papers at special discounts and later filling those spaces with their numerous clients, and in the process making lot of money” .Bad culture or pedigree is what clients see in seen supposititious acts. Likewise, late payment and improper / unclear billing is a symptom of wrong genes in the agency chromosome. The longer the agency hangs on to the money that the clients give to the media via the agency, the far reaching will be the caustic effects on the CAR.
The symptoms of bad culture are many but lack of cost consciousness and an inability to handle the clients’ money as its own and wisely spend it, in many a cases forms the immediate spark leading to a divorce ...
To be continued >>>>>>>>>
The clients expectation pentagon!!!
2.Chronicles
The annals from the history of an agency speak volumes. A JWT doesn’t have to claim and prove again and again that the oldest one is one of the best, still. The accounts that they have made in the past, speaks. The brands, the building of which they have contributed, the number of pitches they have attended and the hit rates, no of accounts gained and more importantly, lost.
Clients, at least some of them believe that nothing can replace experience. Some others but ask for results, measurable results, the logic being no machinery bought or no human resource employed would be exempted if it weren’t productive and just looks good like a piece of antique, then why advertising should be?
The tragedy but, is that in the long duration of their existence, “most agencies, instead of keeping focused on their clients and their consumers, fell in love with themselves. Instead of boosting their clients’ sales, they hid behind their creativity; shrouding themselves in mystery and concentrating just on award winning spectacular works of art” said Sergio Zyman and that holds to be true...
For the agencies, practitioners have set guidelines, ever since agencies became professional. Treat your clients’ money as your own, thundered Subhas Ghosal but many agencies do not heed to such words of wisdom. The result – bad ads and “the backlash of silly ads is the waste of millions and the agencies and advertisers are sabotaged by their own fatuity and self indulgence. People, who buy such products don’t know what these ads are trying to say and they care less. The advertiser simply has wasted his money on frivolous profitless spasm” .
Some ad men aim the Cannes, than contributing to the clients cash register and worse, most of them try to impress other admen, or to deride and scoff them, reducing the average audience to a knuckle head, nincompoop or a clod as per Baker who exposed the then ad world in his "the permissible lie".
3.Culture
The agency culture is the same for every agency at least for outsiders. The founding fathers’ legacy is carried down through generations as the culture of the agency. Ogilvy & Mather bears the Oglivy touch in whatever they do and so do JWT. Bill Bern Bach’s simple yet piercing narrative style is professed as a religion by the agency still. JWT until the WPP take over boasted of its New England Chamber indicating the founders’ Yale roots .The first thing which the new management after the hostile takeover at 1987,was to dismantle the room, in what the industry up roared as an attack on Thomson culture says Rothenberg in the classic "where the suckers moon"...
Of course there are compromises, which make academic authors comment satirically about the different cultures of different agencies. “Like the brands they sell, agencies also usually don’t have much difference. They essentially offer the same menu to clients, and if at all some one brings in some difference, others copy just as fast” ....Ad gurus have often disputed such arguments and have projected different creative strategy and execution cultures. Peter Head of AMV said, “Our aim is to destroy that view that advertising is a commodity. It is the creation of an elusive spark of originality, which can fundamentally enhance a clients business.” .......
Even in Media part of advertising, (Media planning and buying – even though these days Media planning are handled by separate agencies under the same global communication giants) the agencies mess up, putting the clients to depths of displeasure. “Agencies supposed to represent the clients interests, instead represented the Media owners, like for instance they would block large spaces in magazines & news papers at special discounts and later filling those spaces with their numerous clients, and in the process making lot of money” .Bad culture or pedigree is what clients see in seen supposititious acts. Likewise, late payment and improper / unclear billing is a symptom of wrong genes in the agency chromosome. The longer the agency hangs on to the money that the clients give to the media via the agency, the far reaching will be the caustic effects on the CAR.
The symptoms of bad culture are many but lack of cost consciousness and an inability to handle the clients’ money as its own and wisely spend it, in many a cases forms the immediate spark leading to a divorce ...
To be continued >>>>>>>>>
Monday, August 06, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... part 4
For the bliss ful state, the professionals in this industy should actually and with full courage do some introspection as to what the other party expects. Here is what ,generally the client expects and is named ,the elements of the client expectation pentagon.......
Competence
Czars
Chronicles
Compatibility
Culture
To see them in detail, one by one....
what is Competence?
Creative competence, account planning and research acumen and the drive to excel are what clients look for as a basic requirement in its communication partner. The customer perception about poor networking that Hutch offered was tactfully handled by O & M with the now famous pug and the boy. Had it been an agency with less creative and account planning competence, India would have been bored with maps and dotted lines to display networks.
Good clients appreciate good work. They aren’t hesitant to be proud of their agencies’ competence -Creative and otherwise. Randal Rothenberg in his classic ‘Where The Suckers Moon’ has suggested that the success of the Volkswagen campaign probably changed the rules of the advertising business. Agencies, he claims, “were no longer punished for being argumentative and using once forbidden formulae, a great wave of originality engulfed the profession and changed client agency relation” Today research is a key area and iceberg researches strictly won’t do. Agencies are expected to recognize that best and effective of creatives are a result of good research and customer insights so gained. Agencies should also acquire knowledge continuously and analyze information not to confirm what is already known but to discover what is not according to Subhas Ghosal.....
Many times ad agencies and their creatives fail to connect to the target audience they have to connect. For instance, advertising to women, ‘even by an authorized agency study in the West proves that, in many a situation isn’t working either due to simple laziness or stereotyping’ (www.peurtorico-herald.org). Forget converting Client Agency Relationships to that blissful state, it can only be the easy formula for disaster.....
To be continued......
Competence
Czars
Chronicles
Compatibility
Culture
To see them in detail, one by one....
what is Competence?
Creative competence, account planning and research acumen and the drive to excel are what clients look for as a basic requirement in its communication partner. The customer perception about poor networking that Hutch offered was tactfully handled by O & M with the now famous pug and the boy. Had it been an agency with less creative and account planning competence, India would have been bored with maps and dotted lines to display networks.
Good clients appreciate good work. They aren’t hesitant to be proud of their agencies’ competence -Creative and otherwise. Randal Rothenberg in his classic ‘Where The Suckers Moon’ has suggested that the success of the Volkswagen campaign probably changed the rules of the advertising business. Agencies, he claims, “were no longer punished for being argumentative and using once forbidden formulae, a great wave of originality engulfed the profession and changed client agency relation” Today research is a key area and iceberg researches strictly won’t do. Agencies are expected to recognize that best and effective of creatives are a result of good research and customer insights so gained. Agencies should also acquire knowledge continuously and analyze information not to confirm what is already known but to discover what is not according to Subhas Ghosal.....
Many times ad agencies and their creatives fail to connect to the target audience they have to connect. For instance, advertising to women, ‘even by an authorized agency study in the West proves that, in many a situation isn’t working either due to simple laziness or stereotyping’ (www.peurtorico-herald.org). Forget converting Client Agency Relationships to that blissful state, it can only be the easy formula for disaster.....
To be continued......
Monday, July 30, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... (part 3)
continued from part 2....
Common factors that sour Client Agency Relationships....
Creativity
Agencies say that many a times,Clients brief is not clear, undue importance is given to media plans and media planning agencies and hence forced to compromise on creativity....
clients on the otherhand accuse that agencies lack creativity/many confuse between cute and creative, could not symbolize our USP / agency thought too small or awards is the soul motive
Account people
Not every client can be given the top people to work on the account, according to the agency.....Some clients will get exclusive teams some will have to share a team. After all size does matter.
Poor account people /lack of knowledge and experience / at least at the frontlines, client service professional are ‘legs’ and not ‘brains’as per the clients lamenting....
Client servicing and follow up
They keep us hanging / never responding properly and violate the pre-decided communications map. Too much of red tapism also is what ails the relation as per the agencies....
Clients feel that their job is left to juniors who are legs and who lacks basic marketing knowledge and many times are mere postmen. Follow up is virtually non-existent.
Senior management participation
No strategy / big or small the client, is finalized without key people approving it. However, their physical presence may not be possible always( that is how the agency justifies itself).
The key people working on the account is the right of every client, big or small. Agencies are biased in favor of rich /big clients( that obviously is a grouse that clients have against agencies...
Special skills
Most agencies seem to agree to an extent about their lack of expertise in special skills like virals but what about advertising which is the main element of Integrated Marketing Communication? Are the so-called small shops able to do it? Is it not true that almost all main agencies today cater to almost all the clients’ communication needs?
Clients but say "We want PR/ direct marketing and other 360 communication elements but many agencies aren’t equipped to cater"....
Agency size
It is the business of creativity, and here only the talent matters(agency version of course) ...
Size does matter.
Clients say that they,especially the smaller ones, get scant attention due to lack of enough talents.
Greed
For many clients late payment is an art, and blocks cash flow ....
Agencies squeeze every rupee possible out of the account and are greedy to the core...
Strategic thinking
On the clients side, either the marketing personnel who is in charge of advertising are ignorant, or if they are good gets promoted and vanish thereby resulting in discontinuity .
Agencies on the other hand according to clients,talk big things in the name of strategy, jargonising unnecessarily with a motto ‘convince, if not possible -confuse’......
the list seems to be endless, but from a mere relation of sorts, for the sake of good advertising,it should move into a"a state where both the partners enjoy the relation, and simply feel incomplete in the absence of the other and are in a state of bliss being together”.....
Sounds Utopian ?
Well if it does.., that it is because few people, even those who profess the need for good CAR, believe that a state like that is simply impossible inspite of a parade of bold and longlasting examples from the past..... !!!
Common factors that sour Client Agency Relationships....
Creativity
Agencies say that many a times,Clients brief is not clear, undue importance is given to media plans and media planning agencies and hence forced to compromise on creativity....
clients on the otherhand accuse that agencies lack creativity/many confuse between cute and creative, could not symbolize our USP / agency thought too small or awards is the soul motive
Account people
Not every client can be given the top people to work on the account, according to the agency.....Some clients will get exclusive teams some will have to share a team. After all size does matter.
Poor account people /lack of knowledge and experience / at least at the frontlines, client service professional are ‘legs’ and not ‘brains’as per the clients lamenting....
Client servicing and follow up
They keep us hanging / never responding properly and violate the pre-decided communications map. Too much of red tapism also is what ails the relation as per the agencies....
Clients feel that their job is left to juniors who are legs and who lacks basic marketing knowledge and many times are mere postmen. Follow up is virtually non-existent.
Senior management participation
No strategy / big or small the client, is finalized without key people approving it. However, their physical presence may not be possible always( that is how the agency justifies itself).
The key people working on the account is the right of every client, big or small. Agencies are biased in favor of rich /big clients( that obviously is a grouse that clients have against agencies...
Special skills
Most agencies seem to agree to an extent about their lack of expertise in special skills like virals but what about advertising which is the main element of Integrated Marketing Communication? Are the so-called small shops able to do it? Is it not true that almost all main agencies today cater to almost all the clients’ communication needs?
Clients but say "We want PR/ direct marketing and other 360 communication elements but many agencies aren’t equipped to cater"....
Agency size
It is the business of creativity, and here only the talent matters(agency version of course) ...
Size does matter.
Clients say that they,especially the smaller ones, get scant attention due to lack of enough talents.
Greed
For many clients late payment is an art, and blocks cash flow ....
Agencies squeeze every rupee possible out of the account and are greedy to the core...
Strategic thinking
On the clients side, either the marketing personnel who is in charge of advertising are ignorant, or if they are good gets promoted and vanish thereby resulting in discontinuity .
Agencies on the other hand according to clients,talk big things in the name of strategy, jargonising unnecessarily with a motto ‘convince, if not possible -confuse’......
the list seems to be endless, but from a mere relation of sorts, for the sake of good advertising,it should move into a"a state where both the partners enjoy the relation, and simply feel incomplete in the absence of the other and are in a state of bliss being together”.....
Sounds Utopian ?
Well if it does.., that it is because few people, even those who profess the need for good CAR, believe that a state like that is simply impossible inspite of a parade of bold and longlasting examples from the past..... !!!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... (part 2)
Dynamics of client – agency relation ships
The reasons for turmoil in client agency relation can be as vivid as the stars are but they all stem from the type of relation that they enjoy or suffer from .....
Relations where clients are the kids and agencies mantle the role of parents(parent child relation) work in evolving markets or when the client is new or naive as far as the market is concerned or when the client is new in business. In evolved CARs the parent- child type of CAR graduates naturally into an equal type of relation. Anyway the MTV generation Kid is smarter that his parent and wise agencies recognize this and are more than glad to be equal partners in progress(remember the quote...Parents often talk about the younger generations as if they didn't have anything to do with it).....
.
A P&G and Leo Burnett and a Hutch and O&M are often quoted as the best happening examples of an equal relation. As per media reports, there is no marketing meeting or decision in Hutch, taken without the O & M participation in it. And the result is obvious. The Hutch user base went up by 70% after the dog and the boy campaign broke.
But everywhere and with everyone it is not that rosy. Many clients, who mature take a prominent position and start dominating relationship. Some dictate terms, some even predefine ad creative, and worse, some start thinking, their ad agency as a DTP center. The agency, in this unequal relation, as the suffering partner either remain a silent spectator with forever an‘ Yes minister’ affirmation or leave in disgust. Levers, for example is the biggest marketing juggernaut, and they cannot be given lectures on how marketing should be done, but it is also recorded in history that they, to their credit have the highest number of marketing blunders, thanks mainly to the formula advertising that many HLL brands religiously seem to be following(think the latest Lux ads where they send to air millions of rupees along with the baloons).....
Such relations can be a nightmare for any agency but these days, cash strapped, client-starved agencies take up, tolerate and retain even such clients. Such non-committal, short-term relations usually end up with cabals, castigation and cacophony. No sooner than such “deliver and out” relations have started the honeymoon ends, abruptly. Smarter clients (read, clients with no strategic thinking) love such short-term affairs but agencies rarely like to be in such a predicament (Let us not term it, a ‘relation’). Some believe that D & O stands for Devil and the Ocean. Worst of all, D & O also symbolize Dog and the Owner, for some....one night stance as a common man would call it...
.... now on a lighter side.....
Things Mom Would Never Say
"How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
"Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too"
"Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery"
"Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"
"Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day"
"Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
"The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
"I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve"
"Don't bother wearing a jacket - the wind-chill is bound to improve"
To be continued>>>>>>
The reasons for turmoil in client agency relation can be as vivid as the stars are but they all stem from the type of relation that they enjoy or suffer from .....
Relations where clients are the kids and agencies mantle the role of parents(parent child relation) work in evolving markets or when the client is new or naive as far as the market is concerned or when the client is new in business. In evolved CARs the parent- child type of CAR graduates naturally into an equal type of relation. Anyway the MTV generation Kid is smarter that his parent and wise agencies recognize this and are more than glad to be equal partners in progress(remember the quote...Parents often talk about the younger generations as if they didn't have anything to do with it).....
.A P&G and Leo Burnett and a Hutch and O&M are often quoted as the best happening examples of an equal relation. As per media reports, there is no marketing meeting or decision in Hutch, taken without the O & M participation in it. And the result is obvious. The Hutch user base went up by 70% after the dog and the boy campaign broke.
But everywhere and with everyone it is not that rosy. Many clients, who mature take a prominent position and start dominating relationship. Some dictate terms, some even predefine ad creative, and worse, some start thinking, their ad agency as a DTP center. The agency, in this unequal relation, as the suffering partner either remain a silent spectator with forever an‘ Yes minister’ affirmation or leave in disgust. Levers, for example is the biggest marketing juggernaut, and they cannot be given lectures on how marketing should be done, but it is also recorded in history that they, to their credit have the highest number of marketing blunders, thanks mainly to the formula advertising that many HLL brands religiously seem to be following(think the latest Lux ads where they send to air millions of rupees along with the baloons).....
Such relations can be a nightmare for any agency but these days, cash strapped, client-starved agencies take up, tolerate and retain even such clients. Such non-committal, short-term relations usually end up with cabals, castigation and cacophony. No sooner than such “deliver and out” relations have started the honeymoon ends, abruptly. Smarter clients (read, clients with no strategic thinking) love such short-term affairs but agencies rarely like to be in such a predicament (Let us not term it, a ‘relation’). Some believe that D & O stands for Devil and the Ocean. Worst of all, D & O also symbolize Dog and the Owner, for some....one night stance as a common man would call it...
.... now on a lighter side.....
Things Mom Would Never Say
"How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
"Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too"
"Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery"
"Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"
"Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day"
"Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
"The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
"I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve"
"Don't bother wearing a jacket - the wind-chill is bound to improve"
To be continued>>>>>>
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships (Part 1)
"Observing The Baby One night a wife found her husband standing over their baby's crib.
Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, scepticism. Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband.
"Love you darling for the care that you show ," she said.
"It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only 500 rupees."
*************************************************
The client agency relationship (CAR) in advertising has always been a subject of debate and curiosity for academic researchers, industry observers and practitioners. The ups and downs of CAR, the social implications, the behavioral reasons, the financial after effects, all have been studied in depth by many academic researchers.
Here I am making a humble attempt to probe the issue, also in the Indian context, to estimate the factors that contribute to success and failure of CAR and to suggest a suitable model, for both parties to graduate CAR, as it exists today to what can be called as Client – Agency Synergy (CAS) for tomorrow.
‘The only worse thing than CAR as it exists today, can be marriages of Elizabeth Taylor’ – quipped some dissatisfied advertising manager or client servicing personnel, somewhere in the annals of advertising history. This bitter reality remains as the most ravaging problem in the wonderful arena of advertising. History of advertising is witness to many a client agency relationships plunging to disarray, touching the rock bottom of the graph ending up in deepened cleft and bitter separation. The climax is a lot of cacophony and the client calling for a new pitch and the agency desperate to woo some competitor of the just divorced partner.
Of course CAR rules are no ‘Codex Juris Canonici’ (The Law of Canon, of the Roman Catholic Church) but there are some of them, the non-observance of which leads to such bitter state of affairs that the once communications partners (supposedly) have to take it to the street and wash all the dirty linen in public. This shakes the confidence of the stakeholders (of both the clients, as well as the agencies), affecting market share and in the long term, even changing the product positioning and image that the partnership has carefully cultivated after heavy investments.
The agencies’ role
Let us not dispute the fact that almost every successful brand has a professional ad agency behind it. Marlboro wouldn’t have been the Macho Cowboy without a Leo Burnett. Can any one ignore the role of Carmichael Lynch in elevating the Harley Davidson as the cult that it is today?
In India too the Lowe signature is obvious in Surf and Saint Gobain and can we even think of Fevicol, and Cadbury’s with out bowing in reverence, the creative brains of O & M?
So what?
Three Major happenings in the past decade made the change in CAR from a love-hate scenario to a full strife-torn one and there will be no disagreement on these facts...
1.Global communication companies
A global communication company today owns almost every major advertising agency. Bates, O & M and JWT among others are part of the WPP network, Lowe and McCann is with the InterPublic, TBWA and BBDO are owned by Omnicom and so on. These global communication companies, it is alleged by observers, have changed the orientation of the business of advertising from creative to monetary. Particularly Martin Sorrel’s WPP is accused of pioneering the theory of building the financial muscle and display it to get it done, in many cases bullying the small agencies and outrunning them. Of course clients have their sales targets and advertising has to be helping it, but some clients are penny-pinching to believe that their agency should make money on other accounts they handle and not from theirs, or even worse, for an agency ‘creative satisfaction should be the profit’. But that doesn’t neutralize the fact that the global communication majors, who swallowed the advertising agencies, have commercialized the once creative business of advertising beyond recognition. A fact is a fact. It is the biggest burden on advertising and let us not deceive ourselves by calling it a backbone.
2.Consolidation of international advertising
Global brands started kicking out different agencies that they were doing business with, in different countries in an attempt to consolidate the communication made to the outside world. The trend perhaps started with IBM, the computer major deciding in favor of O & M, in 1994, in the process of throwing out almost 40 agencies in as many countries. Philips was one giant which decided against about 70 agencies through whom they advertised, in favor of DDB worldwide as part of their policy of “Convergence”. Some worked, some didn’t. Regional ad agency heads resented the idea of their New York or London head quarters telling them what to do and how. But owners of big ad group vouch for this as a policy that clients should follow.
3.Glocalisation
Coca-Cola practices it beautifully well, what we call as glocalisation. Think globally and act locally. Coke and Colgate are the same everywhere in terms of the concept that the brand stands for, so is Master Card. But the execution caters to the palate of the local markets. But it wasn’t that easy for them. Coke for instance when it re- entered India, decided to bring in an American Indian to head Indian operation, who in a poor attempt of glocalisation even recreated the hill top campaign, that was a huge success there, only to find that for Indians it meant nothing .For those who went for consolidation sans glocalisation, their hands were burnt and generally their agencies lost business by way of client turnover.
T0 be continued>>>>>
Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, scepticism. Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband.
"Love you darling for the care that you show ," she said.
"It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only 500 rupees."
*************************************************
The client agency relationship (CAR) in advertising has always been a subject of debate and curiosity for academic researchers, industry observers and practitioners. The ups and downs of CAR, the social implications, the behavioral reasons, the financial after effects, all have been studied in depth by many academic researchers.
Here I am making a humble attempt to probe the issue, also in the Indian context, to estimate the factors that contribute to success and failure of CAR and to suggest a suitable model, for both parties to graduate CAR, as it exists today to what can be called as Client – Agency Synergy (CAS) for tomorrow.
‘The only worse thing than CAR as it exists today, can be marriages of Elizabeth Taylor’ – quipped some dissatisfied advertising manager or client servicing personnel, somewhere in the annals of advertising history. This bitter reality remains as the most ravaging problem in the wonderful arena of advertising. History of advertising is witness to many a client agency relationships plunging to disarray, touching the rock bottom of the graph ending up in deepened cleft and bitter separation. The climax is a lot of cacophony and the client calling for a new pitch and the agency desperate to woo some competitor of the just divorced partner.
Of course CAR rules are no ‘Codex Juris Canonici’ (The Law of Canon, of the Roman Catholic Church) but there are some of them, the non-observance of which leads to such bitter state of affairs that the once communications partners (supposedly) have to take it to the street and wash all the dirty linen in public. This shakes the confidence of the stakeholders (of both the clients, as well as the agencies), affecting market share and in the long term, even changing the product positioning and image that the partnership has carefully cultivated after heavy investments.
The agencies’ role
Let us not dispute the fact that almost every successful brand has a professional ad agency behind it. Marlboro wouldn’t have been the Macho Cowboy without a Leo Burnett. Can any one ignore the role of Carmichael Lynch in elevating the Harley Davidson as the cult that it is today?
In India too the Lowe signature is obvious in Surf and Saint Gobain and can we even think of Fevicol, and Cadbury’s with out bowing in reverence, the creative brains of O & M?
So what?
Three Major happenings in the past decade made the change in CAR from a love-hate scenario to a full strife-torn one and there will be no disagreement on these facts...
1.Global communication companies
A global communication company today owns almost every major advertising agency. Bates, O & M and JWT among others are part of the WPP network, Lowe and McCann is with the InterPublic, TBWA and BBDO are owned by Omnicom and so on. These global communication companies, it is alleged by observers, have changed the orientation of the business of advertising from creative to monetary. Particularly Martin Sorrel’s WPP is accused of pioneering the theory of building the financial muscle and display it to get it done, in many cases bullying the small agencies and outrunning them. Of course clients have their sales targets and advertising has to be helping it, but some clients are penny-pinching to believe that their agency should make money on other accounts they handle and not from theirs, or even worse, for an agency ‘creative satisfaction should be the profit’. But that doesn’t neutralize the fact that the global communication majors, who swallowed the advertising agencies, have commercialized the once creative business of advertising beyond recognition. A fact is a fact. It is the biggest burden on advertising and let us not deceive ourselves by calling it a backbone.
2.Consolidation of international advertising
Global brands started kicking out different agencies that they were doing business with, in different countries in an attempt to consolidate the communication made to the outside world. The trend perhaps started with IBM, the computer major deciding in favor of O & M, in 1994, in the process of throwing out almost 40 agencies in as many countries. Philips was one giant which decided against about 70 agencies through whom they advertised, in favor of DDB worldwide as part of their policy of “Convergence”. Some worked, some didn’t. Regional ad agency heads resented the idea of their New York or London head quarters telling them what to do and how. But owners of big ad group vouch for this as a policy that clients should follow.
3.Glocalisation
Coca-Cola practices it beautifully well, what we call as glocalisation. Think globally and act locally. Coke and Colgate are the same everywhere in terms of the concept that the brand stands for, so is Master Card. But the execution caters to the palate of the local markets. But it wasn’t that easy for them. Coke for instance when it re- entered India, decided to bring in an American Indian to head Indian operation, who in a poor attempt of glocalisation even recreated the hill top campaign, that was a huge success there, only to find that for Indians it meant nothing .For those who went for consolidation sans glocalisation, their hands were burnt and generally their agencies lost business by way of client turnover.
T0 be continued>>>>>
Friday, June 22, 2007
Clients, Creativity and Credits
We listen to several methods of making an organisation innovative in many training programs. We read books of Edward De Bono to try new techniques to spark creativity. In between, we have fun with our new imaginations like walking in rain ( as seen in Limca ad ) , fighting for Slice jumping on the top of a mini lorry, or do a mouth watering dance performance ( Coca Cola or Pepsi) , or walk wearing boxes(Maruti Estillo).
Advertising firms are in a fix and it is often exasperating when Client comes to you with almost the same set of requirements, but the creatives will have to give a different set of expressions, for the same target market. So, the situation is quite similar to :
In order to find a fresh approach, we ourselves try to follow our own rules. But finally the Boss finds it..
But when it comes to applause, recognition and credits, most often in many organisations, something happens- its not surprising, it is so- The Boss is Always Right!..
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Making of 'Fastrack' Storyboard
Have we ever thought how difficult it would be to tell a convincing fairy tale story to make a crying kid happy? Its quite difficult, as we become older, we become less imaginative and more logical. Then how tough it would be to prepare a storyboard for commercials, which lasts only for few seconds to one minute. Neil Labute said once , " I wanted to tell a story that interested me as much in the telling as in the watching. " This is what the creatives and 'storyboard' writers would want to accomplish. Not only that, the fast moving commercial, should stay in viewers' minds.
Without any celebrity fanfare or any endorsement, the fastrack watch commercial stays different. The guy wearing a watch on his belt is surprised to see that others are impressed, and a little bit crazy. In the beginning, he hears a whistle and girls bend over to take alook of his new watch. then, he finds kids hanging upside down on a wall and smiling. Girls find him more amusing than ever.
" What's the time, Yaar?", one girl asks the other and the guy realises that everyone is looking at his watch. The ad ends with a note " How many do you have?". Its inspires young minds, speaks about the style and the target market, quite in a humorous but with a prettier angle to it.
So think again.. when a story board has to be prepared for an advertisement. It has to linger in our minds and we are short of time..Just few seconds to make a long lasting impression!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Midweek Musing !!!
"Too many advertising account executives, chronic nervous dyspepsia, psychosomatic tension, and hyperacidity are more than just medical words used in television commercials. These are the very real terms that describe what is probably the most common occupational disease of the advertising game."
- Harry R. Gasker, quoted in Samm Sinclair Baker, The Permissible Lie: The Inside Truth About Advertising, 1968, Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company, p. 8.
- Harry R. Gasker, quoted in Samm Sinclair Baker, The Permissible Lie: The Inside Truth About Advertising, 1968, Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company, p. 8.
Monday, June 18, 2007
client agency relationships.....
when the ad agency does it , it is a nymphomaniac, but when a clent does it ,it is touted as a stud......
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Out of the box..
Imagine you're in Airport. While you're waiting for ur flight, u notice a kiosk selling cookies. U buy a box, put them in ur travelling bag n search for a seat so u can sit down and enjoy your cookies. Finally you find a seat next to a gentleman. You reach down into your travelling bag and pull out your box of cookies.As you do so, you notice that the gentleman starts watching you intensely.He stares as you open the box and his eyes follow. Just then he reaches over and takes one of your cookies from the box, and eats it! gosh....
You are little surprised at this. Not only does he take one cookie, but he alternates with you.Now, what's ur immediate impression of this guy?
Crazy?
Greedy?
You both continue eating the cookies until there's just one left. To your surprise, the man reaches over and takes it. But then he does something unexpected. He breaks it in half, and gives half to u. After he's finished he gets up, and without a word, he leaves.
You think to urself, "Did this really happen?"........
You're left sitting there dumbfounded and still hungry. So yuu go back to the kiosk and buy another box of cookies. You then return to your seat and begin opening your new box of cookies. when suddenly you glance down into your traveling bag. Sitting there in your bag is your original box of cookies.......still unopened.......gosh again !!! Only then you realize that when you reached down earlier, you had reached into the other man's bag, and grabbed his box of cookies by mistake.
Now what do you think of the man? Generous? Tolerant? You've just experienced a profound paradigm shift. You're seeing things from a new point of view. Is it time to change your point of view?
Now, think of this story as it relates to ur life, in advertising and otherwise..... Seeing things from a new point of view can be very enlightening.Think outside the box. Don't settle for the status quo......Be open to suggestions. Things may not be what they seem. Unless and until, one realizes about the fact and external factors.......
Every Point has THREE Sides; Your Side, My Side and The Right Side.To understand either the Other's Side or the Right Side, one needs to leave His Side...........
The trainees at PQRST agency were a happy lot.... after the first lecture on the first day of their intensive training session...... they found that advertising was REALLY REALLY an exiting place to be in... most of them new and fresh faces which the PQRST HR team ( ya folks... thats right...HR for Human resources) had handpicked from various B Schools... for those who had been lamenting of the lack of talents and the industry's apathy to the whole issue of attracting talents and nurturing and retaining them, its more than good news.... it is happening... back to PQRST and the new recruits..... they were a happy lot.... session after session, they were made to hear ,talk, think, work,sleep, draw ,assume and drop dead and flat.... it was cool, and cozy.... but for some ,they missed the informal and trendy air that they expected to breathe in and live in, much different from the tie and 'sir' culture that their B schools told them and tortured them with..... It took some time for many to sink it in their heads that no two ad agencies ( unlike the products they sell) are the same..... there is an inbuilt differentation, mostly inherited from the culture of the founding father or fathers( most agencies have many fathers, however dirty it may sound like)... Now I guess that explains why agency guys behave the way they do.... the pun is intended ofcourse.... and that differentation makes it different enough to be different from each other inspite of the multitude of simliarities that could make them same ,all the same, everyone, just pretending to be different like the brands of products that each one help the marketer to "market".....
After a week, but, a trainee mails me this story:
Yesterday for the first time, I attended a shoot for a corporate campaign of one of our clients. The theme was of a family comprising Father, Mother and a Girl child. ....Male and Female models were from Mumbai and Kid from Chennai. At 9:00 a.m the stage was set for the first shot, Mother exercising and kid has to crawl below mother, now the real challenge starts. Kid (2 years old) is no mood for shoot. We tried our level best to make her crawl, Both father and mother of the kid stood near camera and called her, but she was as adamant and still as a statue. Then father put some Cadburys 'Gems' and asked her to take it, she came this time but it was not a nice shot. This activity of shooting the child went on till 12:00. Then we decide to bring her elder brother who was 4 years old. When he came there was some change in the kid's mood. But we had to change the whole script and was forced to include male kid too.
She almost made the entire crew dance for her tune. At the end we somehow finished the shoot. The biggest learning of the day was that its an Herculean task to shoot with kids.
Truly he said, "We were feeling that making an advertising
meant client parties, negotiations, the bidding drama and a fabulous shoot. But its so surprising, it was 'expecting the unsusual'.. it was not being stylish..it was to become down to earth.. to look for surprises.. above all it was the realisation thatbeing in advertising is not a mere childs play....."
You are little surprised at this. Not only does he take one cookie, but he alternates with you.Now, what's ur immediate impression of this guy?
Crazy?
Greedy?
You both continue eating the cookies until there's just one left. To your surprise, the man reaches over and takes it. But then he does something unexpected. He breaks it in half, and gives half to u. After he's finished he gets up, and without a word, he leaves.
You think to urself, "Did this really happen?"........
You're left sitting there dumbfounded and still hungry. So yuu go back to the kiosk and buy another box of cookies. You then return to your seat and begin opening your new box of cookies. when suddenly you glance down into your traveling bag. Sitting there in your bag is your original box of cookies.......still unopened.......gosh again !!! Only then you realize that when you reached down earlier, you had reached into the other man's bag, and grabbed his box of cookies by mistake.
Now what do you think of the man? Generous? Tolerant? You've just experienced a profound paradigm shift. You're seeing things from a new point of view. Is it time to change your point of view?
Now, think of this story as it relates to ur life, in advertising and otherwise..... Seeing things from a new point of view can be very enlightening.Think outside the box. Don't settle for the status quo......Be open to suggestions. Things may not be what they seem. Unless and until, one realizes about the fact and external factors.......
Every Point has THREE Sides; Your Side, My Side and The Right Side.To understand either the Other's Side or the Right Side, one needs to leave His Side...........
The trainees at PQRST agency were a happy lot.... after the first lecture on the first day of their intensive training session...... they found that advertising was REALLY REALLY an exiting place to be in... most of them new and fresh faces which the PQRST HR team ( ya folks... thats right...HR for Human resources) had handpicked from various B Schools... for those who had been lamenting of the lack of talents and the industry's apathy to the whole issue of attracting talents and nurturing and retaining them, its more than good news.... it is happening... back to PQRST and the new recruits..... they were a happy lot.... session after session, they were made to hear ,talk, think, work,sleep, draw ,assume and drop dead and flat.... it was cool, and cozy.... but for some ,they missed the informal and trendy air that they expected to breathe in and live in, much different from the tie and 'sir' culture that their B schools told them and tortured them with..... It took some time for many to sink it in their heads that no two ad agencies ( unlike the products they sell) are the same..... there is an inbuilt differentation, mostly inherited from the culture of the founding father or fathers( most agencies have many fathers, however dirty it may sound like)... Now I guess that explains why agency guys behave the way they do.... the pun is intended ofcourse.... and that differentation makes it different enough to be different from each other inspite of the multitude of simliarities that could make them same ,all the same, everyone, just pretending to be different like the brands of products that each one help the marketer to "market".....
After a week, but, a trainee mails me this story:
Yesterday for the first time, I attended a shoot for a corporate campaign of one of our clients. The theme was of a family comprising Father, Mother and a Girl child. ....Male and Female models were from Mumbai and Kid from Chennai. At 9:00 a.m the stage was set for the first shot, Mother exercising and kid has to crawl below mother, now the real challenge starts. Kid (2 years old) is no mood for shoot. We tried our level best to make her crawl, Both father and mother of the kid stood near camera and called her, but she was as adamant and still as a statue. Then father put some Cadburys 'Gems' and asked her to take it, she came this time but it was not a nice shot. This activity of shooting the child went on till 12:00. Then we decide to bring her elder brother who was 4 years old. When he came there was some change in the kid's mood. But we had to change the whole script and was forced to include male kid too.
She almost made the entire crew dance for her tune. At the end we somehow finished the shoot. The biggest learning of the day was that its an Herculean task to shoot with kids.
Truly he said, "We were feeling that making an advertising
meant client parties, negotiations, the bidding drama and a fabulous shoot. But its so surprising, it was 'expecting the unsusual'.. it was not being stylish..it was to become down to earth.. to look for surprises.. above all it was the realisation thatbeing in advertising is not a mere childs play....."
Out of the box ofcourse one has to think, but many times the question is,' where is the box'?
Friday, May 04, 2007
Who moved my client?
A stockbroker was cold calling about a penny stock and found a taker.
"I think this one will really move said the broker, it's only $1 a share."
"Buy me 1000 shares." said the client.
The next day the stock was at $2.
The client called the broker and said, "You were right, give me 5000 more shares.
"The next day the client looked in the paper and the stock was at $4.
The client ran to the phone and called the broker,
"Get me 10,000 more shares said the client."
"Great!" said the broker.The next day the client looked in the paper and the stock was at $9.Seeing what a great profit he had in just a few days, the client ran to the phone and told the broker,
"Sell all my shares!
"The broker said, "To whom? You were the only one buying that stock."
Scene 1
A big educational group ......
They spend money on advertising but largely written by the chairman and his wife, both ignorant as most of the advertisers are...
they had business any ways ...but as and when they grew, in age, size and turnover, some one told them to PROFESSIONALISE their advertising....
So they called up a family friend who worked with advertising agencies and is in a retired life as of now. He with his expertise and experience of having worked with the real life ......full time international agencies ,who were the shaolin warriers behind the success tales of many a brands, choose one agency whom he thought was better of the lot, and rang them up.
Hello......
Hello......
is that LMN&OP agency???
Oh yes dude... whats it about...?
well I am from the holy ghost school group.. we are planning to professionalise our advertising .. and we thought we could give that duty to you...
Cool... then ill put you to Mr Rastapopulos...
Oh who is that???
He is the branch head, and Can help you...
after a long gap ...again....
hello ...
hello see I am from the holy ghost school and we are planning to advertise...
Wait.. tell me what is your budget?
what?
tell me ur budget man....
Oh well.. that.. rrrr. no idea sir....
Oh yuck... this is the problem ...you have no idea about what you want and...
well I guess that is precisely why we are talking and I want you to do it for me.....
Can you send some one to our side and let us discuss it straight....
ok my client service sup will meet u soon...
what ..what soup???
Mr Jagapalakan ...our client servicing supervisor would be meeting you soon......
How soon?
Well ... cant say....
well what u mean? can he meet us today and can u tell yes or no now...?
ok ..he will be at your office by 4 today...
Rasta banged the phone and said to himself... seems to be a messy client.... what the $%^#... he is over demanding...
what happened Rasta? asked the sup....
They want service yaar.. and you be there by 4 ...today
*************************************************************
Scene 2
By 5 that day Holy ghost, unable to see any one from the LMN&OP agency, called up again and so happened...
Hello..
Hello LMNOP agency
oh yes..im calling from Holy ghost school...
holy what???
Holy ghost....
funny man.. !!!! so whats it? tell me ya...
well we had an appointment with one Mr Jaga.....
Jags...oh yee... he is gone out with his gal friend.. I guess he is gonna back only on Monday...
Oh God !!! so is Mr Rastapopulos there??
He...huh.... god knows which bar he is in.... well he is in a meeting and will come back to his senses.. i mean come back to office only tomorrow morning...
What?
what u mean what?? did i not say in English?...
Oh yaaaa...
So any message for them?
Well there is a message.. tell them that we have decided to do our advertising for ourselves and if they dare to come here again, im gonna take kick their ass out.. do you get it dude..?
hey ..hello.. helloo.. wait let me explain... hey... shit..........
"I think this one will really move said the broker, it's only $1 a share."
"Buy me 1000 shares." said the client.
The next day the stock was at $2.
The client called the broker and said, "You were right, give me 5000 more shares.
"The next day the client looked in the paper and the stock was at $4.
The client ran to the phone and called the broker,
"Get me 10,000 more shares said the client."
"Great!" said the broker.The next day the client looked in the paper and the stock was at $9.Seeing what a great profit he had in just a few days, the client ran to the phone and told the broker,
"Sell all my shares!
"The broker said, "To whom? You were the only one buying that stock."
Scene 1
A big educational group ......
They spend money on advertising but largely written by the chairman and his wife, both ignorant as most of the advertisers are...
they had business any ways ...but as and when they grew, in age, size and turnover, some one told them to PROFESSIONALISE their advertising....
So they called up a family friend who worked with advertising agencies and is in a retired life as of now. He with his expertise and experience of having worked with the real life ......full time international agencies ,who were the shaolin warriers behind the success tales of many a brands, choose one agency whom he thought was better of the lot, and rang them up.
Hello......
Hello......
is that LMN&OP agency???
Oh yes dude... whats it about...?
well I am from the holy ghost school group.. we are planning to professionalise our advertising .. and we thought we could give that duty to you...
Cool... then ill put you to Mr Rastapopulos...
Oh who is that???
He is the branch head, and Can help you...
after a long gap ...again....
hello ...
hello see I am from the holy ghost school and we are planning to advertise...
Wait.. tell me what is your budget?
what?
tell me ur budget man....
Oh well.. that.. rrrr. no idea sir....
Oh yuck... this is the problem ...you have no idea about what you want and...
well I guess that is precisely why we are talking and I want you to do it for me.....
Can you send some one to our side and let us discuss it straight....
ok my client service sup will meet u soon...
what ..what soup???
Mr Jagapalakan ...our client servicing supervisor would be meeting you soon......
How soon?
Well ... cant say....
well what u mean? can he meet us today and can u tell yes or no now...?
ok ..he will be at your office by 4 today...
Rasta banged the phone and said to himself... seems to be a messy client.... what the $%^#... he is over demanding...
what happened Rasta? asked the sup....
They want service yaar.. and you be there by 4 ...today
*************************************************************
Scene 2
By 5 that day Holy ghost, unable to see any one from the LMN&OP agency, called up again and so happened...
Hello..
Hello LMNOP agency
oh yes..im calling from Holy ghost school...
holy what???
Holy ghost....
funny man.. !!!! so whats it? tell me ya...
well we had an appointment with one Mr Jaga.....
Jags...oh yee... he is gone out with his gal friend.. I guess he is gonna back only on Monday...
Oh God !!! so is Mr Rastapopulos there??
He...huh.... god knows which bar he is in.... well he is in a meeting and will come back to his senses.. i mean come back to office only tomorrow morning...
What?
what u mean what?? did i not say in English?...
Oh yaaaa...
So any message for them?
Well there is a message.. tell them that we have decided to do our advertising for ourselves and if they dare to come here again, im gonna take kick their ass out.. do you get it dude..?
hey ..hello.. helloo.. wait let me explain... hey... shit..........
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