I am stepping back to the period when I worked for a real short period of time with a small agency in EAST OF KAILASH, Delhi. I had few months in hand, before I was to join MUDRA COMMUNICATION (now DDB MUDRA), MMTP Programme at Ahmedabad. I worked as the much smaller agency. So small that the owner ANIL MAITRE would not allow the headcount go beyond 19 – as then the employees need to be given additional benefits. Operating out of a basement this was SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION. In a smaller place you learn in the shortest possible time. They don’t discriminate between employee’s basis education, designation or power. They just throw you in the deep end and ask you to perform.
So here was the new client, KAJARIA CERMANICS, launching the best tiles that India has ever experienced. Dynamic Mr Ashok Kajaria used to take day-to-day interest in the communication development. I am forgetting the name of the Marketing manager- but simply said Mr MM ( Marketing manager ) was a sweet not so young person who believed in processes and in output. But he was always fair.
The tiles were launched with much fan fare. We had a high decibel media burst of 8 lakh in 1987. This ensured we were there in every trade, business and general interest magazine. It was a front inside cover across all magazines. The visual appeal of the ad was greatly enhanced by the transparencies shared by the Italian collaborators.
I was at office waiting for the congratulatory call from Mr MM. The call came, but the tone was different.
Mr MM Have you seen the ad
ME Looking great sir
Mr MM Have you really seen the ad
ME yes sir
Mr MM Who the hell gave you go ahead and final clearance on the ad. I am not paying for any of these insertions
ME But sir, you cleared them
Mr MM You come to my office immediately with all the approvals and lets talk them.
IMAGE FROM KAJARIA CERAMICS WEBSITE
A 8 lakh write-off even a very good agency could not bear. We were small and this would have wiped the agency. To top that, approval process were very stringent. No mails, the copy sheet and the artworks all were dually checked and signed by the people responsible for them.
Armed with the copy sheet, the artwork and the transparency I landed up at Kajaria Ceramics office at Okhla. I was immediately ushered in Mr MM was waiting and he was clearly annoyed.
In no time, the error was clear to all of us. The ad was stunning visually with minimalistic copy. Just, how you see in the current award winning print ads, we were far ahead of our times.
An important element of the launch ad was the various sizes the tiles were available.
Instead of 10cm X 10cm, 20cm X 20cm
The text in the ad read
10mm X 10mm, 20mm X 20 mm.
Think of these tinny tiles and how many would you need for a house.
The mistake was huge and suddenly what mattered was to save the agency from this situation. The postmortem of how did the error cross in was not so important. The copy sheet signed by the client said the right dimensions. The artwork approval sheet was intact and everyone from art director- copy- production and servicing had checked and approved. . In those days, physical artworks had a sheet attached on their flaps where these approvals were recorded.
So, we presented client an option. Mr MM was nice to accept that. We told him: The ad is looking nice. No one in your office has noticed this error. None of your friends, relative and trade has called you regarding this. We will correct the second insertion. And in-between if this hits ceiling- we would bear the cost of the release, if no one notices- we would collectively treat as if this never ever happened.
For next 7 days, before the next issue came out, we were tensed up. Finally we could only relax when our client Mr MM called and said- actually the ad has generated enough dealership enquiries but no one seem to have noticed the mistake in dimensions.
And OH, we could never find out how the error crept in.
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In case you have a episode – part of your experience that you would like to share connect with me at FaceBook ( sanjeev Kotnala) or twitter s_kotnala
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OTHER EPISODES IN ADVERTISING AND MARKETING
● Thank You ● Rain Clause – I ● Lethal Combination ● APPETITE ● Puncture ● Adultery- the moment ● ASSET ● I am Sankar ● The Count ● Introduction ● Time Bomb ● Shoot Report ● Sardar Khush Hoga ● Shoot At Mud Island ● Kaali Peeli Picture ● Upgrade ● Juhi Effect ● Power Of Punjab ● Out ● Two More ● Eleven Minutes ● The Cherry Win ● The Presentation ● Black Gold ● Buffered ● Continue With Client ● Not Fired ● One Less Decision ● The Ghost Of 35 Rani Jhansi Road Jhandewalaon ● The Problem ● Imported Art Card ● Banyan Tree Agency
