GE: Street play aimed at rural audience, theme to be around preventing female foeticide.
To make matters worse, the guy told the panel inside that I was in a hurry.
I almost wanted to yell at him when he came out. But I communicated to him that he should not have, That's another impression that they have now "Jaldi se niptana hai"
He said "Sorry" thrice to me.
Was sitting outside the interview room and voila I could hear every word of my SOP, they were reading it aloud while i was waiting outside.
Another exclaimed WOW! At "Poetic Genius Society - Member" in extra-curricular.
Excruciating.
Hearing people make opinions about you 
W1: You have 10 words. Tell me who you are?
Me: Stumped. Looking around. Said something (Gibberish)
W1: What can MICA offer you?
Me: Blah blah. Why Mica basically
W1: Ok. What can you give to MICA?
Me: Different profile, help peers blah blah.
W2: Okay. So you work in Advertising (I think she could smell blood)
Me: (Timidly) Yes.
W2: What sort of advertising do you think you are most knowledgeable about? TVC toh hum buddhe logo ke liye hai
Me: (Wanted to say TVC. But bah the impression she had created) Um
W2: This is NOT a trick question.
Me: (In my head) YEAH RIGHT!
Me: Um TVC and digital. I follow afaqs and digitalbuzzblog religiously. It's almost sacrosanct in my organization.
W2: What clients do you handle?
Me: Coke, Bacardi, Microsoft. Just closed MS yesterday. My first acquisition. (Smiling ear to ear)
W2: What do you do for them?
Me: Answered.
W2: What Bacardi brands ?
Me: Grey Goose, Eristoff, Dewars
W2: Social media ?
Me: Yes that too. Grey Goose and Breezer
W2: What is the total no. of fans on Grey goose right now?
Me: (First mistake) I dont know 
W2: You work on the brand?
Model answer: No I dont
Me: (In full on pfaff mood due to the flight thing) Yes
W2: Okay.
W2: But then you guys dont do anything. Main line agencies come up with the idea, you do squat
Me: NO!
(For the next 5 minutes) Explain about a campaign called - Walk the line, done by my agency for Bacardi. Its a really nice campaign, yeah my opinion is biased.
Heres the link: Bacardi India: Walk The Line | Ads of the World™
So I go on, blah blah blah blah blah blah for 5 minutes
Also, I will like to defend the Grey goose fiasco, I wasnt handling the account for the last 3-4 months so I dont know. Just won the pitch so no clue. But best guess is 20k when I saw it last.
Also(just to show off knowledge. Note: Do not do this in the interview!) add this recent statement by Nitin Paranjpa, HUL CEO, that Digital is going to be mainline SOON. HUL, for crying out loud! Here it goes:
"However, in times to come, digital will become mainstream and then marketers would look for integrated agencies, he predicted." Source: afaqs
W2 listens intently without say anything at ALL.
W2: I know everything about the campaign, WTL.
Me:
(Insert awkward silence for the next 2 mins)
See closely, you will see only W2 in the above conversation.
W2: I have worked in Advertising for 15 years.
Me: 
W2: So tell me some good twitter campaign.
Me: 2nd mistake
(Blank. I can name at least 100 campaigns at the drop of a hat, Forgot everything maybe cause of the flight thing again.)
(Sometime later)
Er, Allen Solly had done a campaign in which shirts were falling at the drop of tweets. (I sounded so stupid. Didnt remember full campaign so stopped). Here it goes:
Ogilvy creates Tweeple campaign for Allen Solly
W2: Ok facebook.
Me: Gangs of wasseypur. Done by Ignitee. Loved how they built up the campaign. There was a Wasseypur daily too.
W2: (In her head) Bas bacchu bach gaye kisi tarah
M1: I say all ads are misleading and there is no truth in them. What do you say?
W1, W2: Joining in chorus. What do you say?
Me: Um Not really sir.
M1: okay 95%. I give you this stapler and I put kangaroo on it. You think its value becomes 10 rupees instead of 5 Rupees
Me: Um as an agency I cannot tinker with the product at all. Neither with the pricing, nor the product. I will just compare what the 10 rupee offers better and I think that requires creativity. Let the end consumer decide for himself which one is better.
Everyone really satisfied.
M1: Ok. So Take this folder (no name. Nothing on it. Blank as shit)
Give me the 360 degree marketing campaign for this.
Me: (I get 2 weeks at least to do that in the agency. Here i get 2 mins. :/)
Can I take 5 minutes?
M1: Sure.
W1's phone rings. Everyone looks at her.
I catch a glance at my watch. 5:50 pm. I better be packing now. Like REALLY.
Me: (in 2 minutes instead of 5) Just like Coke is associated with Happiness. So I'm just going to give you the strategy without the copy.
I'll call it "See through" for the lack of better words.
We do TVC, Digital, Print, OOH everything around this central theme. (Like "Happiness" is for Coke)
We could do some sort of an expose, like a Civil disobedience ala Arvind kejriwal that electricity bill is inflated since the TG would like to be seen as socially conscious.
Also, we could do simpler concepts like show how an aspirant is rejected of a seat/job and then the recruiter somehow glances through the file and sees the mistake he has made.
Everything ties back to the product since the folder is see through.
W1, W2: (Swoon) Really nice idea. Really really nice! 
M1: Wait a minute.
M1: Do you see any brand on this folder?
Me: No.
M1: So do you think you can ever advertise something without a brand
Me: (Inception music starts playing in the head)
(The obvious answer is NO! But let's do something different, I say)
(2 mins pause)
Sir I say this at the risk of being completely wrong. (Glance at W1,W2)
I'd like to disagree with you.
I recently saw a campaign "If you give a little love, you can get a little love of your own" (Love this campaign)
It had no advertiser at the end.
M1: Correct! (Hes really happy somehow!) 
M1: Another example "Sunday ho ya monday roz khao Ande"
Me: err sorry sir. But wasn't that for NECC?
M1: (Sort of embarrassed)Yes but no brand you see.
Me: (Not convinced.)
Um So maybe I could keep this as a Pro bono ad campaign.
W1, W2, M1: Nod simultaneously so hard. They almost feel like hugging me.
W1, W2: Really nice campaign. "See through". I like it!
W2: Do you have any questions?
Me: er Just like to know course structure of Digital
M1: Answered in great detail.
Me: Thanks.
Look at the clock : 6pm.
RUN FAT BOY RUN. RUN LIKE NO TOMORROW!
Fortunately caught the flight too.
2 HUGE Mistakes. 
Verdict: Merit List.
Day's stats: 35 Merit list. 10 Spots.
GREAT GREAT batch of people as seen through the result!
Slightly disappointed.
Couldn't deliver the Spot offer and I know exactly why.
Congrats to all those who did! :-)
It was great meeting you all!
PS - Sorry for writing so much. Really passionate about advertising.
I hope I do !
