Sleepless nights and sleepy noons. Tireless conversations and tiring executions. Worthless arguments and worthy discussions.
The art director had worked really hard on the creative. As usual. The copywriter was skeptical on the art director’s choice of images, yet was confident of his lines and the concept. The client servicing director had approved of the campaign, after a lot of changes. “It started with nip and tuck jobs, then graduated to angioplasty”, the art director was quoted as cribbing.
What if. That was the question that spooked everyone. No, it’s not their creative that yielded such doubt, but the understanding of the finer nuances of the art by the client. “Shall we create another campaign that’s too direct, simple to comprehend and fool-proof so that it wins us the business?” asked the art director while scratching his back (he hadn’t gone home last night). “Strategy and marketing ideas would get us the business, don’t worry buddy.”
While the client servicing director and the creative director were away for the presentation, the team played foosball, cricket with the baseball gear, and when they got tired, there were network games to keep their minds occupied. “After all, it was a tense moment, and we tried to divert our minds” justified the production head, who had frenetically but neatly pasted the ads onto a newspaper in the morning, after suddenly being ‘advised’ to do so.
The CSD and CD came back with a big KFC tub. Their smiles – the endangered, never-before, behind-the-scenes or caught-only-on-camera smiles, were flashed before the team unabashed. The team heaved a collective sigh. Not a word got exchanged between them, but only chicken wings. The production head almost cried, breaking the silence “We shall order new systems, and that XYZ printer, and yes, invest in more people.” The copywriter added, “And I want a Macbook. Systems are just not my thing. Can’t sit at one place and work whole day!” The Art Director, who had by now hogged down 3 pieces of the avian, added, “I’m only working on awards now on, please get me a junior.” Even the HR head demanded in a single breath, “We need a premium coffee machine, bean bags for the creative room and yeah a new bigger refrigerator.” The trainee quipped, “Can we stock beer?”
The CSD and CD looked at each other, struggling to decide whether to laugh hard or keep a sorry face. While the CSD cleared his throat, the CD announced, “Ladies, and hungry gentlemen. With a broken heart, we are sorry to tell you, that we didn’t get the account. In fact, some other agency had already won the account 2 days back. Hard luck. Not to mention I even got a parking ticket…”
He was interrupted by the art director, still chewing on another piece, “Then why did you get us the wings? And why the heck did you guys smile as if…”
The CSD intervened, “Well, you guys had worked so hard so we thought we should get you something from Nando’s. But as you know, we didn’t win the account, so KFC was the best option that suited our budget. And answering to your question about our smiles, well, you’d be happy to know that we have another pitch in 3 days. So guys, eat up fast and get cracking!”
Shucks, the #*itch, murmured everyone.
