the(new)mediaslut

This is what happens if you run a company and don’t use any input from Public Relations professionals.

Seriously, had the marketing department or management, where doubtless this poorly crafted idea came from, ran this through the PR department, it would not have gone public since PR guys usually have more common sense since they are thinking about the company’s relationship and reputation with customers.

The litmus test is quite simple: How would YOU feel if someone did that to you, penny pinching their way into your wallet?

Would YOU pay extra to get rid of the crap a computer company put in there in the first place?

I sometimes wonder if the way we do business nowadays, with the constant requirement of annual growth, is the proper way of doing business. Constant growth, with planetary resources not efficiently managed, is just not sustainable.

Never mind that Sony QUICKLY CAVED to customer outrage and canceled the charge, the damage is already done. Plus, if this happened the first time, Sony could easily say “sorry” and people would forget. But many still remember the CD rootkit fiasco, the activist surveillance issue and of course, the worldwide battery recalls. Don’t believe me? Check out Sony’s Wiki page and all the links to its sources and judge for yourself.

The old way of doing business is dead.

Now, corporations have a bigger responsibility to their customers, partners, suppliers, communities and environment, not just increasing shareholder value at any cost. And that means listening to some common sense.

The buzz nowadays for marketing is 360, as in X-Box 360 degree marketing. This encompasses advertising, activation, public relations, media buyings, customer relationship management, etc under one roof. Thus, clients can just go to one shop and get the whole enchilada if needed yet only deal with one account director and one billing.

It is also one big money grab.

360 is basically a way for agencies to get as much as they can from clients, regardless or not if they really need SOME let alone ALL of the services offered. Suppose clients have an internal PR division, but only need advertising help. A 360 proposal is like getting (and paying) for 16 double cheeseburgers when a single Big Mac would do.

And that’s when it gets nasty.

Since chances are clients are unlikely to spend a whole lot of money on 360, some chunks would have to be excised. And each division, eying their internal budgets and targets, would begin clawing, backstabbing, lobbying and pleading to make sure their division is NOT the one that gets amputated.

Of course, 360 is supposed to foster big agency unity and let other sections move forward if our own services is not needed. Bullshit, if money’s involved, the knives are out and its just a question WHEN you get stabbed in the back, smiley face and all.

Screw advertising, they’re a bunch of award hungry parasites that bring no value to the client’s sales. Dump PR since you can’t really measure how effective the campaign is. Take on the ground activation since our performance is determined by actual on site sales (Never mind this division is so damn expensive and watch out for their internal profit margins on third party costs!)

Yep, 360 marketing is a strength of big agencies against puney ones, which is like saying “We can do everything under one roof, one can you do?” But big agencies also have big overheads. And aren’t we going into a global recession? Guess what get cut out of a client budget first?

I once said I would never work with the government. Not because they are stingy, nasty, self-centered or clueless, but they are mostly all of that combined. The top bosses are mostly OK, but it is the mid management that make my life a living hell. You just have to know the right people.

Protocol must be followed, procedures met, uniforms worn and everthing sent in triplicate. Never mind that Bapak (”father”, “Mr” or “Big Boss” in Indonesian) or Ibu (”mother”, “Mrs” or “Queen *&$%&^% from Hades”) are easy going and want to keep things simple, it is their staff that follow the rules, make things complicated and create more rules just to cover their ass three times over.

So having sworn off any form of contact with the bureaucracy, what happens? I had to deal with not one but TWO of them, at the same time. And there I was, in the middle of an almightly pissing match.

Protocol A says that we are funding this event so your boss should stay in the background since our boss is the host.

Protocol B says STFU since my boss outranks your boss since Big Big Boss asked him to represent BBB at the event so we take the lead.

And did they talk to each other? No….. I was told to relay the information, taking heat from both sides as they ranted and raved to ME about loss opportunities to hog the limelight for their beloved boss. Or they’re scared shitless of being yelled at in case Boss A hates Boss B and lost the chance to upstage the bastard.

In the end, BBB stepped in and showed them all whose REALLY boss and everything went amazingly well. B had the limelight but A’s protocol managed to do a drive-by photo session before the main event, giving the media two different sets of pictures and a dilema on who to alienate by publishing wrong one.

And me? BBB loves my work and said if you need anything, just call my handphone and I’ll make things happen. Yeah, I love working with the goverment. You just have to know the right people.