62nd EPISODE. Take you back to LINTAS of Mohandev Building Connaught place, New Delhi time. We had a few Public Sector clients and the billing was not worth discussing. These clients were just continuing as a legacy with us. They were wasting huge sums on advertising mostly in print through other empaneled agencies. The campaign released may at best be called a thumbnail in Lintas. OK, so what if I am stretching the point. That is anyway not the story.
PIC Indiatelevision.com
Preet Bedi, then heading Lintas Delhi wanted to be clear on future scope of work. He wanted to take a call if there was any reason and possibility of revenue to continue getting humiliated with no release on our name. It was do we learn the game or do we call it quits. Ok, it was not that we did not know the game being played, we did. What we were unsure was who all were playing and at what league level. It was after all a business decision to be made. So Samir Verma asked me to take the client on a dinner and see what I can find out.
Well in my next meeting I very subtly suggested to client (Lets call him MOHANLAL) that lets
SAMIR VERMA
meet up one of these evenings and have some diner- drinks. We agreed to have diner at one of the restaurant in Holiday Inn, Connaught place. This is much before Sting operations became a fad but when I think now, maybe there was a solution in that. Anyway.
We had our drinks at the bar. The conversation meandered across various subject but never did the subject of bribe- kickback got discussed. I was also getting nervous not knowing how to broach the subject. What if he was a clean guy and our information was wrong. What if. Slowly it was time for diner and we went to the North Frontier restaurant with that open kitchen and took a corner table. It was quite shady and I was worried what if the person had some other needs. I realised that the other person may also be thinking of how to table the subject. We finished the main course and were reading through the dessert menu when the episode unfolded at a leisurely pace.
MOHANLAL : Will you have KHEER ( a sweet dish with milk and rice) , they make it real good here
ME : OK ( and I was thinking how would Kheer work with all the drinks I have had)
MOHANLAL : Waiter please bring ONE FULL KHEER and three Katori.
ME : Three Katori ( a small sized metallic bowl)
MOHANLAL : You wait kotnalajee, I will tell you when it comes. Communication is all about symbols and decoding
We waited and the conversation again plummeted to mundane subject. Soon we were served a large bowl of Kheer and three Katori. Mohanlal took the bowl and poured Kheer into his katori and then into my Kheer katori too. I pulled my katori toward myself and Mohanlal pulled and started playing with the third empty katori.
ME : Mohanjee, you not having Kheer
MOHANLAL : No, No I will when you give me .
I found this odd but then pushed the other already filled Katori toward him. Mohanlal signalled me that I should not be doing so.
MOHANLAL : See the Bowl of Kheer that is your media bill. The Katori that I filled first was the Media katori the 85% katori that you collect from us and give to media. The katori before you is the commission that you earn. But you know what My Katori remains unfilled and that is the problem. If it was to happen once I might just ignore it. But if it happens again and again, the only thing I can do is not to eat with you. But if we share ad care about each other well nothing can stop us
I got the message loud and clear. Now understanding the coded language, I took my katori and moved some of the Kheerin his till now empty Katori. He looked and I think was not pleased with the sharing. He silently picked my Katori and weighed it, poured a bit more and now the two looked almost same. And then transferred some back into my Katori. The transaction was complete. I understood he wants 5% commission to approve the creative and media plans submitted by us.
Needless to say that we discussed this next day in office and decided that it was not the game we wanted to play.
……….. OTHER ADVERTISING MARKETING EPISODES … ● SLEEP How Swaraj Mazda account was won by Anil Maitre ● The other semi-final – How beer has answe to everything ● RUMBLING – amplifying the peace ● COWARD – A sad smiling face had lot of unanswered questions ● OVERDOSE – What happened with a good B2B initiative at holi. ● CAN YOU MAKE SOMEONE AN ENGISHMAN OVERNIGHT ● THE WATCH: How do you know what your client is signalling ● IRRATIONAL DEMAND – how clients expect agencies to do things ● DOUBLE SURPRISE– Never walkin a party not knowing the occassion ● DING DONG EXCITEMENT AT MACAU – the addiction to casino ● HOT RIDE AT PUSHKAR – adventure ● THE WALK : How we discovered the culture at Macau ● The Jump – a team of 7 go skyjumping during annual conclave at Pattaya ● HIGH SEA GAMBLING – the merry making in international waters ● KOTI ANGLES: Gambeling in Goa ● MISSING LIPS : How friendship develops to create different expectations ● The Trap: How the AE searching for adventure got duped ● Equal Opportunity to Indulge: How HR finds itself ina spot in Pattaya ● THE LOST HAUNTING MUSIC– An experience ● UNNAMED SPIRIT- A SPOOKY EXPERIENCE at Mcleodganj ● PUNJABI LINTAS – Amrit Puri takes over Lintas ● DELAYED LAUNCH – Why HT Delhi Colour supplement launch was delayed ● UNDERGROUND – Printing fake currency could have led to jail ● STRATEGIC RAIN BREAK – How ZID KARO DHONI film was shot ● THANK YOU ● RAIN CLAUSE – I – The fight with Whitelight film over Maruti film ● LETHAL COMBINATION ● APPETITE – It does not matter where you get the appetite till you eat at home ● Puncture – how not to get caught ● ADULTERY- THE MOMENT – Its all for you to decide how far you would go ● ASSET – how a famous Indian model was rejected ● I AM SANKAR – soft ragging of new trainee ● THE COUNT ● INTRODUCTION ● TIME BOMB – How to avoid embarrassing situation ● SMALL TILE – eye for detail ● SHOOT REPORT – junior saving the issue by innovative process ● SARDAR KHUSH HOGA – the agency reaction to a demand ● SHOOT AT MUD ISLAND – shooting with Denzil ●KAALI PEELI PICTURE – what do you do you’re your model is featured in Debonair ● UPGRADE – Bangalore ITC ● JUHI EFFECT– there is something called lady luck in gambling ● POWER OF PUNJAB ● OUT – let game be game ● TWO MORE – how not to pay for the drinks ● ELEVEN MINUTES – client tackles late agency ● THE CHERRY WIN –Team plays a prank ● THE PRESENTATION – junior takes revenge for last minute changes ● BLACK GOLD – A lesson on TVC presentation ● BUFFERED –delivery at airport ● CONTINUE WITH CLIENT – The management supports a high pitched battle with client ● NOT FIRED – just in time action by agency ● ONE LESS DECISION – a campaign thought represented umpteen times● HIGH JACKING THE GOAFEST DELEGATES – a ground event that took Goafest by surprise ● THE GHOST OF 35 RANI JHANSI ROAD JHANDEWALAON – The unsiad stories ● THE PROBLEM – Agency tackling a no-brief from client ● IMPORTED ART CARD – a quick retort to finiky client ● BANYAN TREE AGENCY – Agency tackles cost issue on unapproved estimates
