The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Read the blog exchange from Media.com.hk … and hopefully MEDIAGUY’s response will make you as angry and sickened as me.

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Pitching In Singapore – The Dark Side

An agency head contacts us from Singapore with some disturbing news about a major pitch by a particular government body. Take a look…

“They made us pitch over christmas and new years…because of which half the agency couldnt go on holiday. And now, just after we submitted the tender and are getting ready for the second round of presentations next week, they’ve taken a huge chunk of the old tender, added a million more things to it and called for another one.

They know that agencies want govt. money in these times of recession and are just exploiting that as much as they can! AND they have the gall to say things like “we want to keep the agency on their toes”, after being responsible for me falling sick, not taking holidays, hair turning gray.
Can someone leak this to the press or something?”

Consider it done …

Is this a fair representation of what is going on in Singapore at the moment? Are government departments using the increased interest in their accounts to drive ever harder bargains? Or is this just part of the game?

4 RESPONSES TO “PITCHING IN SINGAPORE – THE DARK SIDE”

1. Judas Says:
February 19th, 2009 at 9:12 am

The even darker side of pitching for government business is that you know darn well someone in the client side knows someone in one of the bidding agencies, so rest assured that information is shared and the bidding process is far from transparent.

My advice to anyone in the mood for pitching goverment business … run a mile on broken glass … bang your head against the wall and go for a swim in the Singapore River. At least this process would prepare you for the pain of dealing with the world’s most annoying, incompetent and moronic bureaucrats.

2. Absolut Says:
February 24th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

Nothing more then the truth and well said. Bringing back the old “wonderful” memories.
In short nothing more then getting the worst brief and being insulted by a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats over your ideas and yet later found out part of it got stolen.

Talk a about Piracy…

3. MediaGuy Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

If you hate hark work, discipline and sacrifice – tenets on which Singapore was built on – I would suggest you move to India and work for the government there. Perhaps then you would develop some real life exposure with the world’s most annoying, incompetent and moronic bureaucrats. And maybe even get rich enough with corruption money to buy that bum beach hut in Thailand you’ve always dreamed about.

To be fair, government accounts need to go through rigorous consensual checkpoint procedures, country comes before ego. But once the initial teething pains are over, they generally stick to plan. Try working for clients who change their strategy every week, grey hairs and the flu are the least of your worries, a chronic heart seizure is more likely the effect.

And, government accounts pay on time…

Over the past decade, many in the industry have become too soft with the easy life and easy expectations. One to two years of 24/7/365 recession grind to avoid sleeping on the side of the railway tracks should be a good thing… alternatively you could join Ogilvy China and get a few ship up or shape out slaps from that TS guys lol

4. Robert Campbell Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 9:55 am

And the winner of media’s most prejudice and myopic Adman of the year goes to …

“MEDIAGUY”

Congratulations, I hope you can make it up onto the stage with all those chips on your shoulder.

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Even though I totally and utterly love the Asia region, I have always said it is one of the most racist places I’ve ever been to.

Whilst on the surface people are pleasant, kind and accommodating, behind closed doors – or in places where they can maintain their secrecy – they spit the kind of vitriol that would make a member of the BNP blush.

I honestly don’t know which is worse … the racists who come out and let you know exactly where they stand or the idiots like MEDIAGUY who keep it within until they feel they can get away with it.

Now I must admit, I don’t know if MEDIAGUY is from Singapore but I have a sneaking suspicion he might be.

While his attitude is no way limited to just Singapore, it does – yet again – demonstrate how the ever-developing attributes of arrogance, elitism and entitlement are going to undermine Singapore’s future prosperity because as much as many of the people think they did it all on their own, the reality is the nationalities they look down on [and that does include Westerners, though in a very different way] are the very people who helped them create their astounding success in the first place.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t clever and amazing people in Singapore – of course there are, some of the most dynamic people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting – but this next generation are in danger of fucking up the amazing achievements thanks to their myopic and misguided attitude towards life, culture and society.

Need proof?

Well how about the fact the author of the original blog post never mentioned – or indicated – their nationality, yet MEDIAGUY felt justified to respond via an irrelevant and racist barrage? Yes, Singapore was built on hark work, discipline and sacrifice … but so were other places … and whilst they have been smarter than most in the decisions they’ve made, once the genius architect of it all passes away, it will be interesting to see how/if the country copes.

I find it especially funny MEDIAGUY has the nerve to talk about getting some “real life exposure” given he demonstrates the longest he’s been away from his cocooned little bubble is about 3 days. Oh, and for the record – corruption can be more than just back handed payments, it can be ensuring key industry is owned/controlled by family members. Sound familiar dumbass?

Seriously, is it any wonder clients don’t place much value in adland when fuckwits like this are employed!

Personally I think Media magazine/blog should find out who wrote this comment and name and shame them … not just because the person is a small minded idiot who deserves a great big fucking slap, but because his/her attitude means they must be shit at their job.

Come on MediaGuy, reveal yourself – because talking big means nothing if you have to hide behind your Mothers skirt.