Wal-Mart, Julie Roehm, Draft-FCB - the highs and lows straightened out

I (like a whole lot of us) have been following the abovementioned story from the time Draft-FCB got the Wal-Mart business... when George Parker exposed the internal memo at Ogilvy... then when Draft-FCB 'released the lions'... right up to the discovery a couple of days back that Wal-Mart fired Julie Roehm and has put the business up for a pitch again!

Well, between comments and opinions from George Parker and (in George's words) a whole lot of other 'wankers' the story rivals any Sidney Sheldon plot, or for those familiar with India it resembles bollywood masala, minus the singing and dancing around the trees (though in this plot we do have certain cats doing it in the bushes!).

But if you're finding it tough (as I did) to figure out the real meat of the story minus the masala - then Bob Garfield is the one to bare it all for you - including the whos, whens, and insights on the whys.

As a communication professional, this plot offers plenty of learning (besides what Bob explains):

• Business partnerships aren't any good, if you're mismatched culturally.
• Don't hire people just because they did (or are supposed to have done) a great work elsewhere. Question if they can deliver similar results, and not just deliver similar campaigns for you.
• And finally, as we all know - winning an account is usually easiest part of our business - keeping it and keeping it happy is the toughest part!

Read the Bob Garfield perspective here. And the George Parker perspective here.

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UPDATE: Content Theft!

Okay, the issue of illegal mirroring has been sorted out. Here's how:

• On discovering the illegal mirroring of my wordpress blog at byindia, I wrote an email to both byindia and web2corp, a US based company that recently bought byindia.


• Within a couple of hours, I received an email from no less than the CEO of web2corp, expressing his concern and desire to fix the problem.


• I pointed out the mirrors to my site, as well as the mirrors of bothack, my treasure and ekawaaz - bloggers like me who faced the same problem.


• Within an hour of my second email, the offending mirrors disappeared and I got another email from web2corp saying they'd identified the problem, and I quote - "a script, a webbot spyder, that in fact was attempting to scan content of bloggers and create accounts in ByIndia. That is also the reason it was so canned looking (ie. carlin, cala, cais, etc.) and why they were new blogs in ByIndia. The only possible reason here is sabotage assuming that bloggers such as yourself would be angered by the activity and bash ByIndia verbally. We have immediately patched the platform to reject such auto-posting. ByIndia's blogs are not new, as they were established in early 2005 and have always been the most popular aspect of the product before our involvement just a few months ago." He goes on to add that he will hope me and other Indian bloggers will visit ByIndia as they're proud of the products and hope it wil become a destination they will be proud of in years to come.

Okay, so we give them the benefit of the doubt - that they did not realise this script was running amok in their system. let's say we'll believe the sabotage theory that some external force (competitors) managed to slip this into their system to anger us bloggers. And let's just appreciate the fact that they responded so quickly and efficiently to fix the problem - and leave it at that.

Though I would double-check every new and existing blog on ByIndia (which incidently I hadn't even heard of until yesterday!) to see if it isn't a Mili Vanili!

So back to my role as Noshtradamus (the real one), let me sum up the learnings here:

• It's very easy in this day and age for content to get ripped off, so you got to keep your eyes and ears open - also enlist the help of online support/protection groups such as Creative Commons


• Do a web/blog search on your own subjects every now and then to scan for plagiarism and as I discovered - blatant rip offs!


• If you have a problem, spread the news, and you'll more often than not discover you aren't the only victim - get together and act!


• Always contact the offending party immediately and give them the first chance to explain. If they're multinational, or companies based in the US or Western Europe, they will most likely be quick to respond and sensitive to your angst - hence they will do something to help you out (unless they're shady bastards who had done it deliberately).


• And finally, if you're investing in some company operating half way across the world - do your homework well. Because if you don't do due dilligence, you could just end up acquiring a lot of crap! That's common sense, isn't it?!

Now I can get back to my regular posts, and try to recover the time lost in clearing this mess!

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Stop Thief!

I just discovered a blog which is blatantly copying my name and the content from this blog of mine- word for word, link for link - and posting it under the name of someone called carlin (see here) >(link removed, not giving them any hits from here)

THIS IS NOT ME POSTING HERE AND THEY ARE USING MY CONTENT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!

If you search this service of free blogs from byindia.com you will find copies of a whole lot of other blogs there. With my limited exposure to the blogs blogosphere, I have in half an hour, found half a dozen blatant copies of other blogs there. I have already contacted the bloggers I know to warn them! And I would urge you not to believe that all the blogs under byindia dot com are from genuine bloggers!

I'm figuring out what this is all about, and will post here soon to let you all know.

Imitation is sometimes the best form of flattery - but this is thievery!

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e-serve advertising: faking it big time!

When I first saw the new television commercial for e-serve Citigroup Global Services being aired in India, I thought I'd missed something - because no one could have actually made make such a crappy ad!

Then suddenly I saw it again, and again! Realisation dawned: I wasn't missing anything, but the ad was missing everything - logic, intelligence, credibility and class!

The commercial features a guy walking up to the camera and saying "e-serve is now citigroup global services and everyone's excited. Don't believe me, listen..." and then he goes on to sing and clap the same line to a bunch of toddlers, who (being innocent gullible toddlers) get caught up with the excitement of the clapping and start clapping themselves... "see! everyone's excited" he ends with a smugly pompous look on his face.

Yeh. That's one ad. Another has the guy mouth the same line and then hold up the mike below a screaming-with-excitement-bungee-jumper. "see, everyone's excited" he says again.

Obviously the company's trying very hard to convince people that e-serve becoming citigroup global services is a good thing. But couldn't get anyone to be really excited, even for their ads! Leading to this big-time faking-it script.

It's not just me - last week's Economic Times Brand Equity panel has also panned the ad as "Bekaar" (lousy). And I quote "Looks like someone at the agency took the client brief of drumming up excitement very literally. But if you need to be told by some guy on TV that 'everyone is excited' it doesn't speak much for the excitement. Or for Citigroup, for that matter."

Hello! What were you thinking??!

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David-Bates-Enterprise: Menage a trois or trouble?

I just received an sms alert from my friendly industry spammer, about a David-Bates-Enterprise merger. Yes, David, Bates, Enterprise... I've double checked the article it pointed to, and you can see for yourself.

For those of you who don't have the context of Indian advertising agencies - this is the wierdest merger anyone of us here can imagine! Because the three entities seem to have nothing in common!

The first union which took place a while back was a typical Indian arranged marriage - where some elders in their wisdom decided to get two very different people married, saying "we know what's best for you. Once you're married, you'll sort out your differences, make adjustments and create a good family. Love? What's love got to do with it? Once you're married, you'll learn to love each other in good time!"

So the two agencies - Bates and Enterprise - one a middle-class-generally-boring-boy of no particular lineage, married the hot-and-popular-westernised-babe from Mumbai.

Being a typical Indian marriage, the boy was put in charge, and the girl was expected to "adjust" and live up the the "new family name" of Bates Enterprise!

Not surprisingly, they had their internal issues (read ego problems) of adjustment, culture, priorities... the works! ...but like most Indian couples they are still living together!

Now along comes this dude David. Yes, david is another dude! Cool, clever, Fun, everything the middle-class boy (and now marriage) is not! David's been independent, standing up against the big boys in all areas (David vs Goliath in real advertising life!)

As a saving grace, his name seems to be the first in the title. The question is, will David's belief systems also get priority in the way they live? Will he get to call the shots, or will he have to quit being enterprising and step back with abated energy?!

I have nothing against each of the individual agencies - in fact I hold the leaders at the helm of each entitiy in high regard:

Mohammed Khan, in my mind is the guru of classy and cool advertising in India;
Subhash Kamath, a great servicing guy and leader to have for your team;
Josy Paul, the unassuming yet brilliant creative guy of contemporary Indian cool.

Each has the substance of a classic advertising person, as against the maverick flash-in-the-pans of today. But each is a name to reckon with, and a leader in his own right. Each has a following, and has nurtured a culture that is distinct from any other (and each other).

The basic question is, will this menage a trois of clashing cultures result in a fantastic threesome, or simply end up to be a menage a trouble?

I wouldn't bet any money on it. But with due regard for the three gentlemen mentioned above, I'd put a little money into a temple and pray for them.

God help you guys! My best wishes are with you.

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Careful, the blogs have ears!

There's no doubt that bloggers are proving to be more than a handful for the high and mighty (DELL, Neil French, Kryptonite for example).

Which is why companies and company executives better think carefully, before they act stupidly (or arrogantly, aggressively, arbitrarily, whatever...)

While you may think your "employees" are just plain and simple sloggers, a lot of them are also bloggers; their friends and relatives are bloggers, and bloggers can become your floggers when really pissed... actually make that 'when even mildly pissed'!

Here's the latest example of how a great company (which I normally admire), goofed when sending out a supposed morale boosting memo to its people who just lost a pitch. George Parker gives us the spoken and the unspoken words!

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Comsuming Online "Ban"ter

What's with many governments and authorities, and their constant threats and attempts to ban free speech online? The stated reason is always "national interest".

Of course, the usual public outcry and debate is about what really constitutes national interest - the interests of those who power the nation, or those who actually make up the nation?

The fact remains that such bans have never really helped nations improve security, or even stop terrorist or communal forces from doing their evil (in India, we're a target of both).

All these bans do, are drive the rot below the surface, to rear its ugly head in the most unexpected places.

The only people that actually get stopped are the innocent bystanders on the digital highway, who have nothing to do with terror, but become a victim to arbitrary authoritarian actions like bans.

Instead why not let the 'so called offenders' stay in public view, ranting and raving about what they think is right and wrong? Why not let them continue their 'offences' in the belief that they're invincible or whatever?

What they will do is expose themselves, give us an idea of who's saying what, and help intelligence and police forces watch out for signals of an impending trouble...

Look at the United States of America, for example. They probably have the greatest record of free speech and expression in the world. Their people can say or do things in the context of their government and national symbols, which would get me arrested in many countries, if I even mention them here!

But the US intelligence system I believe monitors and tracks these 'posts' and 'trends' - playing the wait and watch game, more often than not nipping any trouble in the bud, before it can bloom.

It is one of the most important lessons for warfare - "Know your enemy".

Is that so hard to digest?

What were they drinking??

I've never really commented in public, but I've always believed alcohol advertising - oops! make that bottled drinking water and sundry accessories advertising - in India is completely asinine!

Most of the time the user is shown as some jerky, fast paced, stupidly grinning bloke doing completely insensitive, childish and pretentious things (all at the same time). This is done under the garb of a 'supposed feeling induced by the consumption of the product' and being something that 'men will identify with'.

Yeah right.

Actually I don't blame them, I think these ideas usually are 'sparked' using the age old advertising technique of 'product interrogation'. And when you're so involved in interrogating 'playing cards and bottled water' what else can you expect anyone to come up with!??!

I see very few brands, which maintain some sense of self respect and communication, most of them need to wake up with a strong cup of coffee!

What sparked this rant of mine?

Well I was driving my 3 year old to school with his car pool friends, and suddenly they all erupted in excitement pointing out of the window - "look! look! a joker! see how funny he is!" I looked up and saw this billboard of some dude in a Roman Helmet pompously grinning at us, along with a pretentious headline for good company.

"I also seen him on TV" said my son excitedly "he's so funny, na daddy!?"

You're right son, you're right! If only more people were as perceptive as you and your kindergarten buddies!