Dharmendra Satapathy

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Oh! that hurts

Yes it hurts when it dawns on you that even your servant gets more respect than you. While you are not willing to take shit from your friends and relatives but when it comes to your client you are expected to live with the truck loads of the garbage that is flung at you day in and day out.
Why is it that people from other professions are a better of lot as far as self respect and self esteem are concerned. Who is responsible for this mess?
Well I would hold the industry leaders solely responsible for this situation. The only instruction that ever comes from those quarters for the poor hapless executive is to treat the client as your master and that the master is always right. In fact some people are hired to play the role of a shield. This poor chap is made for that. His job is essentially to get whacked. Day in and day out. Abusing the agency has almost become fashionable. It is almost as if the marketing teams' fundamental right is to abuse their advertising brethren.
So what should be done? The Agency leaders have to ensure that their people are not ill treated. Advertising leaders have been sloshed in self pride and have been caught up in a self congratulatory trap by way of the numerous awards function that have sprung up of late. While film awards have a connect with the end consumer and are kind of aligned to the popular mood the same cannot be said about advertising awards. To me it appears as an escape route in to a world where they get to hear compliments and praises by their own ilk. It is high time they bite the bullet and show some spunk. Compliments should flow from the clients and the advertising bosses have to ensure that they do. This can only happen if the bosses understand the deep rooted malaise that has afflicted the industry. They need to fight for the self respect of their people. And in the process they need to show courage and if need be let go of a business or two.
If these guys are leaders then how come they don't feel hurt when their people are being pushed and shoved for no real fault. Time has come for the ad bosses to confront and stand up to the rot that has set in.
Situation is so bad that a well qualified and experienced employee is willing to dance to the tunes novice just because the latter happens to wear a different hat. Why does he have to do so? Why does he have to sell his soul?
It is indeed unfortunate that most marketing folks are not even clear about their jobs. Most think their job is to follow up with different agencies. Hence sending emails, making calls at odd hours, sending threatening sms messages is how they see their jobs. Their myopic vision is sure to become their Waterloo some day.
This structural problem that has pervaded the industry has already started driving quality people away from the industry for good and those unfortunate few who have stayed back are only waiting for the right time to make the leap forward in life.
Agency bosses please get sensitive. Don't sell your soul for business. Sell value instead at a cost and lots of self respect. Show some mettle and let go of the metal if you have to.