BEST FOR BUSINESS
About three months ago, I almost resigned from my job here at Zimplizity. It stemmed from an angry email sent to us by our Citibank client, complianing about how the copy of the banners we made kept going back and forth for revisions. Back then, it was the result of a lack of direction on the part of the client itself. They were wishy-washy, they weren't all on the same page and sometimes, their strategy wasn't compelling enough. It was resolved quickly enough though, and I was appeased enough to stay on.
Today, we received an email from the client giving different directions for this new set of banner ads we were doing for them. It seems that the banners we revised yesterday (according again to the directions they gave us) were found "lacking", which I find funny, simply because all we did was follow their directions to the letter.
I was irate, upset, aghast, disgusted, appalled...wait, let me check my thesaurus...oh yeah, incensed, furious, fuming and downright agitated that they weren't happy...with something that came directly from them!
I wrote back to the clinet (in the nicest way possible - believe me, it's sooooo not me) and asked them to settle on a direction in order to avoid all these revisions (and ultimately, a repeat of what happened the last time - with me being singled out as the cause of all the problems). My "boss" didn't take too well to it but in my eyes (and in the eyes of my art director), if I didn't do it, then who will?
We talked in private. He shared my sentiments but was upset I went straight to the client. He was too concerned about protecting the friendly relationship he has with them. In the end, I told him that the writing was on the wall. The vicious cycle was happening again. I asked him that when this all blew up last time, was he blamed? He said no. I asked himif the art director was blamed, to which he also replied "no". I then told him that it was all going to fall on ME!
I have worked with some of the best (Unilever, J&J, Alaska) and some of the worst (Pharmaton) and one thing I've learned is that when the agency (us) can't rein in the client and act as a partner, there will be no direction and the best efforts will all go to shit. I can honestly say that Citibank Philippines has one of the worst and most political set-ups. What they need is a guiding hand and what we give them is a pair of puckered lips positioned at their collective asses.
Was what I did best for business? One may argue that I did what was best for my business. But at the end of the day, whther it is me writing for them or some other poor schlub, we'll all just keep going around in circles unless someone puts their foot down, slams hard on the brakes and points the wheel in the right direction.
Today, we received an email from the client giving different directions for this new set of banner ads we were doing for them. It seems that the banners we revised yesterday (according again to the directions they gave us) were found "lacking", which I find funny, simply because all we did was follow their directions to the letter.
I was irate, upset, aghast, disgusted, appalled...wait, let me check my thesaurus...oh yeah, incensed, furious, fuming and downright agitated that they weren't happy...with something that came directly from them!
I wrote back to the clinet (in the nicest way possible - believe me, it's sooooo not me) and asked them to settle on a direction in order to avoid all these revisions (and ultimately, a repeat of what happened the last time - with me being singled out as the cause of all the problems). My "boss" didn't take too well to it but in my eyes (and in the eyes of my art director), if I didn't do it, then who will?
We talked in private. He shared my sentiments but was upset I went straight to the client. He was too concerned about protecting the friendly relationship he has with them. In the end, I told him that the writing was on the wall. The vicious cycle was happening again. I asked him that when this all blew up last time, was he blamed? He said no. I asked himif the art director was blamed, to which he also replied "no". I then told him that it was all going to fall on ME!
I have worked with some of the best (Unilever, J&J, Alaska) and some of the worst (Pharmaton) and one thing I've learned is that when the agency (us) can't rein in the client and act as a partner, there will be no direction and the best efforts will all go to shit. I can honestly say that Citibank Philippines has one of the worst and most political set-ups. What they need is a guiding hand and what we give them is a pair of puckered lips positioned at their collective asses.
Was what I did best for business? One may argue that I did what was best for my business. But at the end of the day, whther it is me writing for them or some other poor schlub, we'll all just keep going around in circles unless someone puts their foot down, slams hard on the brakes and points the wheel in the right direction.
I hate Citibank!
Posted by
Conchita |
11:24 PM
citibank phils really really sucks.
i knew this a long time ago.
go with hsbc.
Posted by
Ryan |
3:23 AM
my close friend's mom may be its big boss here, but i thought they were only bad in collecting credit card payments? hehe.
Posted by
arybba |
4:05 PM