ADOI Blog

OF UKRANIAN GIRLS AND AD AGENCIES

Ham on 01 7, 2008

I couldn’t help but be tickled when a top advertiser (read marketer) told me recently that in desperation to win some advertising business, an ad agency lured him with the opportunity to ‘check out’ some new Ukranian girls who had just hit town. The sheer audacity of such a suggestion did not go down well with the said advertiser.

He told me, in confidence of course, that the days of wooing clients with wine and women is as old as the hills.

As the 4As work hard to increase the credibility of the ad industry, it is a crying shame that something like this should be going on. To make matters worse, the agency in question is a top agency in the country. I’d like to spark this discussion further by asking you, our esteemed reader, to add your comments to such underhand tactics.

Is it true that there’s ‘under-the-table’ money being exchanged in return for big advertising contracts? Especially, government campaigns? Do big agencies muscle smaller agencies out of a new business pitch by selling themselves on scale? Is discounting the name of the game?

This inaugural posting marks the return of ‘blow by blow’ Sledgehammer, since the heydays when he wrote weekly for The Star and later, the New Straits Times under the same infamous pen name.

Comments (10)

chong says:

January 16, 2008 at 5:06 am

Hey Ham,

Did you hear the latest about ACA investigating the Korean Malaysian Tourism office saga? It’s on MalaysiaKini: ‘Korean scandal: Tourism DG vows to act’. Transperency International is said to have taken the Minister to task and is calling for an independent probe. So forget the Ukrainian girls, look at how the recent Tourism account has apportioned out. I am told come of the agencies are being probed too. All you need is a shel company overseas to channel the funds.
roger says:

January 16, 2008 at 6:24 am

Now there’s one for the record! My experience working in Malaysia showed up a lot of behind-the-scene deal making going on. They say if you repeat the crap often enough it becomes reality and the cycle of pathological lies roll on. Politically correct, self-gratifying messages can be superfluous to the point of being stupendous. When the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) ads were taken off BBC in London because the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said most of the copy claims were exaggerated and unsubstantiated, MPOC reacted in the typical off hand style defending its claims in a manner befitting a third-world organisation. Now the E.U. may ban imports of certain biofuel feedstocks that damage the environment, reported The New York Times. Environmentalists say some biofuels like palm oil are driving the destruction of biologically-rich rainforests and may produce more emissions than conventional fossil fuels – tragic consequences to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia…
stingray says:

January 17, 2008 at 3:05 am

Artificial sweeteners.

Incidentally,Ham,i was clearing my library and this popped out from the infamous Campaign magazine dated February 1990…hope you can put it on your blog for everyone to read.Seems time didn’t changed things.
(separate attachement in email sent)
Cheers bro on coming back with your blog…!

Click thumbnail to read
fariq says:

January 17, 2008 at 3:26 am

It seems that the hills aren’t that old. If you ask me, wining and dining of clients with women is rampant. A few years ago I was working for a local ad agency and was in discussion with clients from a newly merged insurance giant. In subsequent discussions, the client clearly mentioned “hey, these other guys from this mega agency have taken me for karaoke and women twice already, all before the pitch was even officially called. When’s your turn?”

Obviously, I didn’t even bother responding, let alone follow up anymore. Few months down the line, when they called for a pitch, the client called me up and complained about pitch fees he had to pay trying to call 10 agencies. They eventually called in about 4-5.

The good news is, the agency that got it was not the one that took them for the karaoke session.

As far as Tourism goes, with the stringent tender process that takes months to evaluate, I’m sure that those agencies deserve to be there as were the previous batch. peace.
Causeway Co-Operative says:

January 17, 2008 at 3:56 am

Dear Ham,

Corruption in Malaysia? That’s not exactly a revelation in the land of brown paper envelopes.
After Indonesia, Malaysia would have to be giving Thailand a serious run for its money.

Check out the links in regard to Air Asia’s advertising practices and the government ‘inquiry’:
The third link is a press release from Air Asia’s own website. Read it – between the lines – and ask
yourself who was wearing the pants in that little gathering. Why? And the final link perhaps gives us
an idea of why it occurs – in a word, apathy. This is public knowledge and nothing is said or done.

http://airasiaannus.blogspot.com/2007/11/part-ii-shhhhh-press-release-or-when.html
http://airasiaannus.blogspot.com/2007/11/air-asia-is-holding-your-money-for-safe.html
http://www.airasia.com/site/sg/en/pressRelease.jsp?id=2e904cf7-c0a8c85d-177e6b40-524d7ed0
http://airasiaannus.blogspot.com/2007/12/annabelle-52-men-in-one-10-hour-session.html

Let’s stop the rot, Malaysia.

Causeway Co-Operative
vincent says:

January 17, 2008 at 4:03 am

It certainly not surprising that this kind of dirty tactic to lure business is happening in the industry. I’ve seen it all in my 15 years of advertising experience. I came across colleagues – sexy account executive willing to give in to client and then, seduce her way to the top until an Account manager was kicked out and replaced by her. Worst, there was this Account Director who had an affair with a married client. All these are not gossips but fact and reality. I even knew a fat Account Director who took the GM of a reputable company for massage and of course, what else did they do in the massage parlours. The return was a lucrative prized business deal. Both reaped profits and shared among themselves – marking up the figures of invoices etc. To the Chairman of the company, I pity him for having such a GM. And to those who wanted to be JR Ewing or Joan Collins just to climb up the corporate ladder or to win the clients’ hearts, you’re a disgrace to the industry. I won’t stoop myself that low even if I had the physical ‘assets”!
Zaki Z. says:

January 17, 2008 at 6:37 am

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Ham my man…..are we using sex to sell blogs now??

Hehe. A strategy like this has and will always be used to secure business deals. Fortunately however, I see a more negative response to such ill practices. I guess it is part of the industry game to blow smoke up people’s arses and expect them to turn a blind eye towards the truth that goes on in this life we call “Advertising”. Even the best PR campaign can’t hide the fact that this industry has it’s fair share of scandals and politics. The problem is not how many times this has happened but how do we find ways to ensure instances like this do not happen. No amount of enforcement can curb bad business ethics. Its like asking a prison guard to make sure that there is absolutely no cigarettes in prison.

We have seen the “advertising” age pass us by. Pitches are harder to sell and ideas are easily stolen. Now the buzzword is engagement marketing and I guess that’s exactly what these boys were trying to prove to your client, Ham. They can ensure an engaging experiential instance, in which, the decision is convincingly diverted to positive gestures/remarks/acceptance of their services.

But seriously, it is good to see that there are people out there who do not condone the use of “bad practices”. The easy way out of this is spreading the truth…about everything. Ham, you’re doing a good job in making sure industry people are informed of what goes on behind “closed” doors. Information leads to thought. Thought leads to opinions. Opinions leads to communication. Communication leads to action. Action leads to more information. Therefore, information equals the truth….no matter how hard you try to hide it! Do the right thing, PEOPLE!!!
Martin says:

January 18, 2008 at 1:21 am

It is so sad to hear that ad agencies don’t win big government accounts based on merit but on how strong the cables are with influential people. I persoanlly know lots of agencies who have benefitted from it. Is it all worth? By the time they are done with their due diligence, how much profit is there left for the agency. Its daylight robbery. It only merely keeps their cash flow going. That explains why the Tourism Video costs RM 850,000.

Let’s all do our part to fight corruption. It starts within us.
Causeway Co-Operative says:

January 22, 2008 at 8:44 am

Dear Ham,

Thank you for posting our comments at 3.56am 17th January. But twice?!! That was not our intention. Was it yours? We’re not sure why it happened – and we certainly weren’t spamming. Your blog is extremely timely, controversial and welcomed by Malaysians who are tired of bent politicking and corporate and moral greed at the expense of others. We hope that you succeed very quickly where we are simply steadily making progress fighting apathy in this country. Many thanks and please keep up the pressure.

Best wishes,

Causeway Crew
Fly Air Asia? Not Me.
http://airasiaannus.blogspot.com/
lionel says:

January 24, 2008 at 11:43 am

hey there ham,
i cant help but feel that ’sour grapes’ thing in some of these replies.
we were there for 3 years. and we are not for the next three (for those who know what i’m talking about. ya dont? …tough!)
you wanna sit around and bitch about all and sundry, i suppose thats fine. but i’d rather say thank you and move on. i’ll get you later.
sure there are some bad apples among the lot but #@^*!! grow up guy. it’s everywhere.
it’ll get better there’s no doubt and when it does and when you dont win the pitch, what are you gonna bitch about? that the projector wasn’t bright enough?
sheeesh!!

oh and gong xi fa cai

lionel