Sense & Sensibilities

This blog I warn you has one intention - blowing steam.

Last month it was announced that the account I work for was calling for a Pitch (for the laymen - a Pitch is just a fancy word people from the advertising and creative fraternity like to use instead of a drab phrase like tender submission). This was unexpected for me...at my level...coz with the top management 'protecting' you; you hardly ever have the real picture.

I work on a big client (big = big monies & big as*****s). They want every paisa of theirs to be worth at least a few thousand rupees...I hope you get my drift. I've never quite been fond of my client...and don't really think that my affection for them is going to change as I have been feeling the same way for 21 months now. In fact I was also planning to do something different and not work for the biggies.

Anyways, the announcement of the Pitch just made me feel really angry with my client. Coz I had been putting in my best and I know for a fact that my counterparts were doing their best too. I had also heard that my rather anal client had appreciated our work...something I really didn't publicize as well my client is anal! So then where had we gone wrong? Why was all the work I had put in for the last 21 months being questioned? And why didn't I have a clue about the Pitch?

I didn't know the answers to these questions...and well my higher ups didn't really think it was high time to stop 'protecting' us and maybe for a change tell us the facts.

Going on, with a Pitch one always had the right to not Pitch. Considering our work was being questioned openly and obviously the client wanted better I didn't see the point of trying to win this business back. But at my level...my opinions really do not matter. So the decisions were made and we asked to jump on board to fight to keep the Biggies with us. We had a rather fake inspirational speech about having fire in our bellies and about handling our anal client actually being a prestige for all of us...a prestige worth sacrificing sleep, eating nutritious food, holidays, weekends...basically our lives for 20 whole days.

We were given the 'option' of opting out...but you know it was one of those options...where there actually is only one option!

So yes I kind of trudged along with the team...with no fire in my belly but a small spark under my ass (which with time would rage into a fire)...and went along and sacrificed my first family vacation with my folks after my wedding...a 5-day long weekend with my husband who was busy all of March...my first Vishu for which I had picked out my sari like a month back...and yes lots of couch time and love time with my husband.

We started work on 30-March and with every passing day the team working on the pitch grew from 6 to 8 to 13 to 15 to 18...and the hours we put in on an average was 12 hours...all through the week. We've been working 13 days now and somehow with just a day for the pre-read (tender) to be submitted we still seem to have a lot of work...that requires my counterparts and me to just hang around in office waiting upon the bosses to seek inspiration from our rather tired sleep deprived faces to find some more new work.

But slowly with each passing day I realised that this pitch was not the fault of my level...but the fault of the 'protectors'. Their biggest mess up is that they did not keep us informed of the situation. There was no warning, no preparation time...which I am sure they had plenty of. The last two months we were being continuously reminded by our 'protectors' to be proactive with information to the client. This according to be is probably the smallest issue our big client has with us.

There had to be bigger issues - the existence of which I am aware of but the details I am not. My intelligence tells me that my 'protectors' failed to address the bigger issues...trying to stress us out on the smaller ones...to manoeuvre the client into believing we were taking the efforts. But what I have come to understand is that they got caught with the micro and forgot about the macro. And courtesy them not doing their management properly our anal client just got more anal and called for the Pitch.

Now why for the fault of 'protectors' do I have to doubt my capabilities...be forced to think about having a job on hand...be sacrificing my life outside work trying to work hard and fight for something I don't care about? The answer is not money...coz honestly I don't get much of that.

I think the answer is the lack of sense and sensibilities.

The guys in charge mess up. Their biggest account calls for the pitch. Before a plan is put up or even communicated to the team...a bunch of other minds are brought down from the other offices to add fresh thinking...which translates into lots of ideas flying all over the place and no direction...which then percolates into a bunch of juniors running around like headless chickens trying to deliver work to their more than one bosses...lots of data...lots of excel...lots of work hours...lots of rework hours...lots of people slowly making their way out of work...lots of frustration...lots of chaos...and still directionless.

It is this crazy need to work unplanned long hours...and look enthusiastic about something your heart is not into...which makes me wonder why don't sensible people exist anymore?

We are in the business of Planning and Communication (I love this line) and yet we could use a lot of lessons on planning and communicating. Today is a Sunday, and I am at work...and yet I have time to blog...which means I don't work...and I am here just for the count...count of people who don't have their priorities right...count of inefficient people...count of more work hours going waste.

All this effort we are putting in today...had the 'protectors' been proactive with the client...got the bunch of other minds down from the other offices to add fresh thinking...used their senses to understand their environment and competition...been sensible in handling the woes of the big client...would I not have been at The Serai in Chikmagluru today?