Of All The Lousy Ways To Save A Buck
Feb 5, 2024
Feb 5, 2024
Feb 5, 2024
Feb 5, 2024
Today's Fireside Tale takes us back several agencies in Sarah Quackenbush's advertising career. Things got…heated, wonder why?
A few years into my career, I had a CPG client who we'll call Bob. Bob was a second-generation owner of a national snack food brand. Bob was a tough client. Not in the way that smart clients are tough, though. When it came to Bob, every request was last minute. Every project was a fire drill. He was cheap as shit, and he regularly went over my head, or my team's, to the owner of the agency if we gave him an answer or an estimate he didn't like.
But worse than that, Bob was mean. Verbally abusive, misogynistic, and unprofessional. He regularly made members of our account and project management teams cry. And, it wasn't just the agency he treated poorly—the culture within his own organization was equally toxic. You could just look at his admins and feel their fear, both about to crack at any moment. You get it, the dude was sinister.
However, Bob owned a national CPG brand, and we were a small agency desperate to have that client cache on our roster. So, we routinely licked our wounds and carried on like the loyal advertising soldiers.
Off The Rails We Go
One day, Bob asked us to design a bag for a new snack that was launching later that year. We were excited about the opportunity. We gave him a realistic estimate, and as usual, Bob came back with redlines. He would select and manage the printer himself. He did not want to pay for a proof, and did not want to pay for us to attend the press check. He wanted to keep costs down, and though we were very clear about the risks associated with removing such items from the project, he didn't listen. He would provide the dieline from his selected printer. We would design to the dieline spec he provided, and that would be that.
The project went smoothly. We sent the client the approved press-ready files per the provided specs and moved on to the next job. It was a "successful" project.
Or was it?
A few weeks later, I’m sitting at my desk when I get a frantic IM (yes, an IM…I've been at this a long time) from one of the account execs on my team. Bob is on the phone and he is FUMING. We jump in a conference room.
The conference room fills with the sound of a grown man SCREAMING at my colleague through the phone. It's immediately clear from the expression on her face that he’s already unleashed a heaping serving of verbal assault, and she's doing her damned best to keep it together in order to find some type of resolution. What had his dander up? Turns out, the bags we designed were too big for the product, resulting in the bag tie covering up some of the brand’s logo.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
I had to step in, calmly reminding him of the terms in our scope—the one he dictated and signed. Seeing a teachable moment, I further explained that this exact situation would have been avoided if he had allowed us to follow best practices. By removing the quality assurance measures from the scope to save money up front, he effectively eliminated any chance of us catching the problem.
“But, this is fixable,” I said, in an effort to be a good partner and talk Bob off the ledge. “We’ll just get the correct dieline, and revise the design accordingly.” I probably even offered to turn it around for free in under 24 hours (designers love it when I do stuff like that.)
It's at this point in the conversation that he informs me that he's already printed the full run. THE FULL RUN. 300,000 bags. Tens of thousands of dollars, down the drain, all to save a few hundred bucks. I'll spare you my thoughts on karma, and the string of expletives that were flying around my head while Bob continued to scream through the speaker about our collective incompetence. Eventually, he agreed to let us revise the design based on a new dieline.
“But” he threatened, "if you fuck this up again, I’m going to shove 300,000 snack bags up your ass.”
I’d officially had enough.
“Bob, you have absolutely NO right to speak to me or to anyone on my team in that way. This conversion is over.” I hung up on Bob, and then literally ran to my boss’s office.
“Heeeey, you’re probably going to get a call from a really pissed-off Bob.” I explained what happened. My boss agreed that his behavior was totally inappropriate, agreeing to say as much when he inevitably called. I thought I was going to be fired on the spot. Thankfully, I lived to fight another day.
Honestly, I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm pretty sure that the agency and Bob took a break for a while. What I do remember is the look on my colleague's face when I hung up on the client. It was a mix of relief, fear, shock, and admiration. I think I was the first person in the agency to stand up to the guy. It's also possible that I was the first person in the agency to stand up for the account team.
There's not much I detest more than a bully. Maybe cilantro.
——
Remember: To respect the privacy of individuals involved, names and brands have been changed in each story. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Unless of course you were there, in that case, IYKYK.
Today's Fireside Tale takes us back several agencies in Sarah Quackenbush's advertising career. Things got…heated, wonder why?
A few years into my career, I had a CPG client who we'll call Bob. Bob was a second-generation owner of a national snack food brand. Bob was a tough client. Not in the way that smart clients are tough, though. When it came to Bob, every request was last minute. Every project was a fire drill. He was cheap as shit, and he regularly went over my head, or my team's, to the owner of the agency if we gave him an answer or an estimate he didn't like.
But worse than that, Bob was mean. Verbally abusive, misogynistic, and unprofessional. He regularly made members of our account and project management teams cry. And, it wasn't just the agency he treated poorly—the culture within his own organization was equally toxic. You could just look at his admins and feel their fear, both about to crack at any moment. You get it, the dude was sinister.
However, Bob owned a national CPG brand, and we were a small agency desperate to have that client cache on our roster. So, we routinely licked our wounds and carried on like the loyal advertising soldiers.
Off The Rails We Go
One day, Bob asked us to design a bag for a new snack that was launching later that year. We were excited about the opportunity. We gave him a realistic estimate, and as usual, Bob came back with redlines. He would select and manage the printer himself. He did not want to pay for a proof, and did not want to pay for us to attend the press check. He wanted to keep costs down, and though we were very clear about the risks associated with removing such items from the project, he didn't listen. He would provide the dieline from his selected printer. We would design to the dieline spec he provided, and that would be that.
The project went smoothly. We sent the client the approved press-ready files per the provided specs and moved on to the next job. It was a "successful" project.
Or was it?
A few weeks later, I’m sitting at my desk when I get a frantic IM (yes, an IM…I've been at this a long time) from one of the account execs on my team. Bob is on the phone and he is FUMING. We jump in a conference room.
The conference room fills with the sound of a grown man SCREAMING at my colleague through the phone. It's immediately clear from the expression on her face that he’s already unleashed a heaping serving of verbal assault, and she's doing her damned best to keep it together in order to find some type of resolution. What had his dander up? Turns out, the bags we designed were too big for the product, resulting in the bag tie covering up some of the brand’s logo.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
I had to step in, calmly reminding him of the terms in our scope—the one he dictated and signed. Seeing a teachable moment, I further explained that this exact situation would have been avoided if he had allowed us to follow best practices. By removing the quality assurance measures from the scope to save money up front, he effectively eliminated any chance of us catching the problem.
“But, this is fixable,” I said, in an effort to be a good partner and talk Bob off the ledge. “We’ll just get the correct dieline, and revise the design accordingly.” I probably even offered to turn it around for free in under 24 hours (designers love it when I do stuff like that.)
It's at this point in the conversation that he informs me that he's already printed the full run. THE FULL RUN. 300,000 bags. Tens of thousands of dollars, down the drain, all to save a few hundred bucks. I'll spare you my thoughts on karma, and the string of expletives that were flying around my head while Bob continued to scream through the speaker about our collective incompetence. Eventually, he agreed to let us revise the design based on a new dieline.
“But” he threatened, "if you fuck this up again, I’m going to shove 300,000 snack bags up your ass.”
I’d officially had enough.
“Bob, you have absolutely NO right to speak to me or to anyone on my team in that way. This conversion is over.” I hung up on Bob, and then literally ran to my boss’s office.
“Heeeey, you’re probably going to get a call from a really pissed-off Bob.” I explained what happened. My boss agreed that his behavior was totally inappropriate, agreeing to say as much when he inevitably called. I thought I was going to be fired on the spot. Thankfully, I lived to fight another day.
Honestly, I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm pretty sure that the agency and Bob took a break for a while. What I do remember is the look on my colleague's face when I hung up on the client. It was a mix of relief, fear, shock, and admiration. I think I was the first person in the agency to stand up to the guy. It's also possible that I was the first person in the agency to stand up for the account team.
There's not much I detest more than a bully. Maybe cilantro.
——
Remember: To respect the privacy of individuals involved, names and brands have been changed in each story. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Unless of course you were there, in that case, IYKYK.
Today's Fireside Tale takes us back several agencies in Sarah Quackenbush's advertising career. Things got…heated, wonder why?
A few years into my career, I had a CPG client who we'll call Bob. Bob was a second-generation owner of a national snack food brand. Bob was a tough client. Not in the way that smart clients are tough, though. When it came to Bob, every request was last minute. Every project was a fire drill. He was cheap as shit, and he regularly went over my head, or my team's, to the owner of the agency if we gave him an answer or an estimate he didn't like.
But worse than that, Bob was mean. Verbally abusive, misogynistic, and unprofessional. He regularly made members of our account and project management teams cry. And, it wasn't just the agency he treated poorly—the culture within his own organization was equally toxic. You could just look at his admins and feel their fear, both about to crack at any moment. You get it, the dude was sinister.
However, Bob owned a national CPG brand, and we were a small agency desperate to have that client cache on our roster. So, we routinely licked our wounds and carried on like the loyal advertising soldiers.
Off The Rails We Go
One day, Bob asked us to design a bag for a new snack that was launching later that year. We were excited about the opportunity. We gave him a realistic estimate, and as usual, Bob came back with redlines. He would select and manage the printer himself. He did not want to pay for a proof, and did not want to pay for us to attend the press check. He wanted to keep costs down, and though we were very clear about the risks associated with removing such items from the project, he didn't listen. He would provide the dieline from his selected printer. We would design to the dieline spec he provided, and that would be that.
The project went smoothly. We sent the client the approved press-ready files per the provided specs and moved on to the next job. It was a "successful" project.
Or was it?
A few weeks later, I’m sitting at my desk when I get a frantic IM (yes, an IM…I've been at this a long time) from one of the account execs on my team. Bob is on the phone and he is FUMING. We jump in a conference room.
The conference room fills with the sound of a grown man SCREAMING at my colleague through the phone. It's immediately clear from the expression on her face that he’s already unleashed a heaping serving of verbal assault, and she's doing her damned best to keep it together in order to find some type of resolution. What had his dander up? Turns out, the bags we designed were too big for the product, resulting in the bag tie covering up some of the brand’s logo.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
I had to step in, calmly reminding him of the terms in our scope—the one he dictated and signed. Seeing a teachable moment, I further explained that this exact situation would have been avoided if he had allowed us to follow best practices. By removing the quality assurance measures from the scope to save money up front, he effectively eliminated any chance of us catching the problem.
“But, this is fixable,” I said, in an effort to be a good partner and talk Bob off the ledge. “We’ll just get the correct dieline, and revise the design accordingly.” I probably even offered to turn it around for free in under 24 hours (designers love it when I do stuff like that.)
It's at this point in the conversation that he informs me that he's already printed the full run. THE FULL RUN. 300,000 bags. Tens of thousands of dollars, down the drain, all to save a few hundred bucks. I'll spare you my thoughts on karma, and the string of expletives that were flying around my head while Bob continued to scream through the speaker about our collective incompetence. Eventually, he agreed to let us revise the design based on a new dieline.
“But” he threatened, "if you fuck this up again, I’m going to shove 300,000 snack bags up your ass.”
I’d officially had enough.
“Bob, you have absolutely NO right to speak to me or to anyone on my team in that way. This conversion is over.” I hung up on Bob, and then literally ran to my boss’s office.
“Heeeey, you’re probably going to get a call from a really pissed-off Bob.” I explained what happened. My boss agreed that his behavior was totally inappropriate, agreeing to say as much when he inevitably called. I thought I was going to be fired on the spot. Thankfully, I lived to fight another day.
Honestly, I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm pretty sure that the agency and Bob took a break for a while. What I do remember is the look on my colleague's face when I hung up on the client. It was a mix of relief, fear, shock, and admiration. I think I was the first person in the agency to stand up to the guy. It's also possible that I was the first person in the agency to stand up for the account team.
There's not much I detest more than a bully. Maybe cilantro.
——
Remember: To respect the privacy of individuals involved, names and brands have been changed in each story. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Unless of course you were there, in that case, IYKYK.
Today's Fireside Tale takes us back several agencies in Sarah Quackenbush's advertising career. Things got…heated, wonder why?
A few years into my career, I had a CPG client who we'll call Bob. Bob was a second-generation owner of a national snack food brand. Bob was a tough client. Not in the way that smart clients are tough, though. When it came to Bob, every request was last minute. Every project was a fire drill. He was cheap as shit, and he regularly went over my head, or my team's, to the owner of the agency if we gave him an answer or an estimate he didn't like.
But worse than that, Bob was mean. Verbally abusive, misogynistic, and unprofessional. He regularly made members of our account and project management teams cry. And, it wasn't just the agency he treated poorly—the culture within his own organization was equally toxic. You could just look at his admins and feel their fear, both about to crack at any moment. You get it, the dude was sinister.
However, Bob owned a national CPG brand, and we were a small agency desperate to have that client cache on our roster. So, we routinely licked our wounds and carried on like the loyal advertising soldiers.
Off The Rails We Go
One day, Bob asked us to design a bag for a new snack that was launching later that year. We were excited about the opportunity. We gave him a realistic estimate, and as usual, Bob came back with redlines. He would select and manage the printer himself. He did not want to pay for a proof, and did not want to pay for us to attend the press check. He wanted to keep costs down, and though we were very clear about the risks associated with removing such items from the project, he didn't listen. He would provide the dieline from his selected printer. We would design to the dieline spec he provided, and that would be that.
The project went smoothly. We sent the client the approved press-ready files per the provided specs and moved on to the next job. It was a "successful" project.
Or was it?
A few weeks later, I’m sitting at my desk when I get a frantic IM (yes, an IM…I've been at this a long time) from one of the account execs on my team. Bob is on the phone and he is FUMING. We jump in a conference room.
The conference room fills with the sound of a grown man SCREAMING at my colleague through the phone. It's immediately clear from the expression on her face that he’s already unleashed a heaping serving of verbal assault, and she's doing her damned best to keep it together in order to find some type of resolution. What had his dander up? Turns out, the bags we designed were too big for the product, resulting in the bag tie covering up some of the brand’s logo.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
I had to step in, calmly reminding him of the terms in our scope—the one he dictated and signed. Seeing a teachable moment, I further explained that this exact situation would have been avoided if he had allowed us to follow best practices. By removing the quality assurance measures from the scope to save money up front, he effectively eliminated any chance of us catching the problem.
“But, this is fixable,” I said, in an effort to be a good partner and talk Bob off the ledge. “We’ll just get the correct dieline, and revise the design accordingly.” I probably even offered to turn it around for free in under 24 hours (designers love it when I do stuff like that.)
It's at this point in the conversation that he informs me that he's already printed the full run. THE FULL RUN. 300,000 bags. Tens of thousands of dollars, down the drain, all to save a few hundred bucks. I'll spare you my thoughts on karma, and the string of expletives that were flying around my head while Bob continued to scream through the speaker about our collective incompetence. Eventually, he agreed to let us revise the design based on a new dieline.
“But” he threatened, "if you fuck this up again, I’m going to shove 300,000 snack bags up your ass.”
I’d officially had enough.
“Bob, you have absolutely NO right to speak to me or to anyone on my team in that way. This conversion is over.” I hung up on Bob, and then literally ran to my boss’s office.
“Heeeey, you’re probably going to get a call from a really pissed-off Bob.” I explained what happened. My boss agreed that his behavior was totally inappropriate, agreeing to say as much when he inevitably called. I thought I was going to be fired on the spot. Thankfully, I lived to fight another day.
Honestly, I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm pretty sure that the agency and Bob took a break for a while. What I do remember is the look on my colleague's face when I hung up on the client. It was a mix of relief, fear, shock, and admiration. I think I was the first person in the agency to stand up to the guy. It's also possible that I was the first person in the agency to stand up for the account team.
There's not much I detest more than a bully. Maybe cilantro.
——
Remember: To respect the privacy of individuals involved, names and brands have been changed in each story. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Unless of course you were there, in that case, IYKYK.
Ready for more? Keep bantering.
