Repping 101: "When in a bid that is close, warn the agency producer that your competitor’s company is about to fold."
—Dante Ray Mach-iavelli
Granted that as a rep, of late I feel as though I’m part of an existential drama like Waiting for Godot—while sitting at my desk, sipping my tepid coffee, staring out the window in a momentary pause from my 100-call day, waiting ever so hopefully for the phone to ring with an anxious producer calling to single-bid me on a 12-spot package for Tahiti tourism.
When a call finally does come in, all too often you’re informed that you’re part of a five-or-more directorial bid. Then you bid the job, enter into the financial chess match with the cost consult, do the many obligatory conference calls, spend that perfect weekend in front of the computer designing the ultimate treatment with your director, and possibly get recommended—only to find out in the 11th hour that the client really doesn’t want to do TV at this time.
How familiar is this?
But you know the business has fallen to new depths when the rumors of company closings, reps being fired and disgruntled directors looking to fly the coop start to permeate the airwaves. Last week was a record.
As one of the late great veterans of our industry put it, "All rumors are true." (Well, let’s at least put some blood in the water to make them possible.) Last week alone I heard that three of our industry’s top production companies were closing; I am not talking about RSA and Anonymous.
I had planned to mention them by name in this column and was highly encouraged, at least initially, to do so by their owners. It was all very amusing at first, but when hit by the sobering reality of how damaging a rumor of this magnitude—even if unfounded—might be, they asked me not to name them.
There was also the head of production at one of New York’s larger agencies who was on the verge of being fired—that was the talk last Monday.
The best of the week was the story about the executive creative director who was sighted in Cannes back in June in the company of a very young and attractive woman, and thus was rumored to be having an affair. It turned out that the particular young girl in question was his daughter.
Very dangerous stuff.
The gossip surrounding RSA and Anonymous alone was like a brush fire in the desert. It went from RSA closing with Ridley and Tony joining Anonymous, to Anonymous closing, to both companies closing, and finally again to the companies entering into some sort of strategic merger. I actually won a free lunch from another industry bigwig who argued and bet me that RSA had, indeed, closed. That person was emphatic and had heard it from a "reliable source." Yes, thank you, we will be dining at Lutece.
One school of thought is that misery loves company, so if I’m doing badly, why not spread some negative marmalade about my neighbors and competitors doing worse? Or better yet, let’s spread the word that a particular director is unhappy and "looking"; then we are justified in calling him or her about making a change.
This is a familiar tactic of more than a few.
Most of the time when we hear these tidbits of our demise, we take them with a grain of salt. Let’s face it: Most of us love to read Richard Johnson’s "Page Six" of the New York Post. We all have participated with some amusement in the banter of gossip.
But when the rumor spreads to the point that an agency producer phones you to say that you missed out on a particular job because they "had heard your company was in financial trouble," it’s not something to laugh at.
In reality these are difficult times for us all. Certainly the media is flooded with reports of lower profits and company layoffs. Our business is one of the first casualties of a poor economy. Some companies have, indeed, closed. It’s a terrible thing to close a company.
Given the fast growth of the production industry over the last few years, some consolidation is a natural process.
Things are definitely slower than they have been in those years, and it’s certainly amazing to find out that some of the industry’s top directors are available for that one-day shoot for "Jim’s Taxidermy." Certainly these times have changed everyone’s perspectives as to what they are willing to shoot; many now rate a commercial by the shooting days and budget, regardless of concept and product. The clients know it’s a buyers’ market.
Isn’t it amazing how the budgets seem to be shrinking?
Wiser folks then I have said, "Life is a cycle."
Someone also said, "Loose lips sink ships."
We all need to be careful of what we spread. The business to many is at a critical low, denied rain, highly flammable.
I keep telling myself to keep things in perspective: Tomorrow’s a new day, and, hey, that phone just may ring with an anxious producer who wants to single-source one of my directors on a 10-spot package.
Well, maybe I’ll just spread that rumor.
After all, "All rumors are true."
Thank God, it’s summertime.
