Do you THINK ?

“THINK IMC is not a Venture. It’s an Ad-venture”..... These are the exact lines, you would hear even now; from a man who is very much at loose in an organisation who is undergoing the most pitiful state in the fields of Advertising.

A few must have heard this name called 'THINK - IMC'... The man who heads it, calls itself the brand maker or the trend setter in the field of Indian advertising. The promises, and the comments which back this brand are immense and there is no way you going to stay away from those promises; until you meet the real thing. There are very many ways to run an Ad agency, and here's where I learnt to run the worst of them.

THINK IMC is a full-fledged creative agency and Integrated Marketing Communication agency, based at Bangalore. In early 2005, six men pooled their talents and expertise in different areas- communication/content, marketing, camera, music, direction/editing and public relations- and joined hands, with an objective of “thinking big; working big; achieving big”..... Well yes, they wanted to keep it big, but what they didn't know was 'Nothing about Advertising' !!!

Long long ago, I heard a quote "Jack of all trades, King of None" !! And that's exactly how THINK works.

When people come to you, you never hear the word "NO" you only hear Yes from every other angle of business, a creative - yes, a copy - yes, a video -yes, a banner - yes, a commercial - yes, a poster = yes.... Anything is a yes, and why has it all gone wrong ??? Because you don't have the right people behind it.

What is an organisation without its roots, and what is Business without its professionals ?

THINK was born out of frustrations and haste and the people behind it, really didn't acquire the quality not the potential in learning and understanding the values and the ideals of exact advertising. Just money and mind would never give you advertising, its the people who make your brands and bring values to it.

And all of this needs a man who can guide and lead the troupe all across un-chartered lands. A man who holds values stronger than his quest for wealth and a heart stronger for his employees than his own.

A man who we can look upto....... and not a craven who runs away hiding his back to the coming troops.

So what's really gone wrong with THINK ?

I respect a man who acts his words and I always admire a man who doesn't crouch when saving his people, but apparently the man behind THINK has proven himself to be the biggest coward I have ever come across and not only has he deemed his self respect in front of his so called clients, but also has become an impotent leader in front of his employees, who shed their sweat and blood for the company. Here's what I read of a leader from Bo Bennet - "A good leader is one who can tell another how to reach his or her potential; a great leader is one who can help another discover this potential for him or herself. "

A leader with just vision without action is like a boat without a row, it will go in all directions and never get you your destined path in life, yet what happened at THINK was exactly what was said here, it was a boat with no rows, and yet, the leader wanted the boat to reach upstream and attain its goal... Near to impossible  right !!    Yet he wanted to create a brand which would make the whole of India turn and look at this so called Advertising company..... For what ??  To probably show how not to run an agency with the most outrageous of company policies.

Being in Advertising for 20 or more years, I will tell you 10 things of what I've learned from an Agency:

1. Realize what you're great at and do it all the time. Realize what you suck at and stop doing it completely (and put the right person in place to do it). 

- In THINK it was always the wrong people at the wrong place, people who never had a clue of Advertising headed the company, and family and friends ran the Finance, and the HR was handled by a Insurance agent... Are you getting a clue here ? 

2. If you want to make a point that sticks, stop yelling. (Or keep yelling and look ridiculous.)

-  In THINK, yelling was ignored, it was constant lecture from the Chief man, which employees could no longer take, people soon ran for shelter when they saw this type of ridiculous lecture coming their way.

3. Work as hard on your presentations to your staff as you do on your presentations to prospects and clients.

- In THINK, presentations were usually done by the in experience youngsters who had no clue on what content or what project, nor even what client they had to work on. They just worked blind !

4. Tell your clients when you screw up and how something could have been better. They already know you blew it, but just want to hear it from you.

- In THINK, it was always 300% or more, the clients knows its all fcuked up, but still chief man (even if he has no clue on whats going) will still insist that the presentations are 300% effective. Ya right !! Bullshit !

5. One out of every 10 employees will actually be a help to you. Finding that one is the toughest part. The right one probably asks all the questions you hate.

-In THINK, the best employee is sent first, and the waste ones are kept for last !!

8. Do pro bono work for non-profit organizations that are trying hard to make the world a better place. You'll get more out of it.

- In THINK, a few fish heads still keep thinking that working for an NGO will fetch a 100 million !!

9. Don't obsess about the financials (I can hear a million Wharton grads groan). You'll get lost in them and forget what the hell your agency stands for in the first place. When I think about my score in golf, I completely tank. I apply that to everything.

- In THINK, nobody knows how much money is there in the first place, because the family is busy spending them for their vacations !!

10. You aren't thanking people who work for you enough.

- In THINK, if they love you too much, they will send an early mail to make sure you never ever get to stick around with them ever....

So what finally happened to THINK IMC ?

Oh yeah, no brains, gave them no gains..... !

When you talk to this so called "Chief Thinker" you will get an idea that he will certainly be a man who can bring this whole world down to its knees in making it understand that he runs an agency so splendid that agencies like JWT and O&M have to piss their pants when they get to hear from him.... he he, well I've learnt the true lesson only after knowing him way too well, he's not born to be a leader, he's born to be a cowardly joker. A joker who's senses are far emptier than the fathoms of the deep drains of the pacific.

The worst of THINK comes from its promises which it makes. Am sure everyone promises something of what they can do, but here at THINK, promises are made in heaven and broken to hell. And clients have no idea what the deadline is, what the creative is or no matter what goes wrong, you will never find who is the one to blame. This is where the so called Chief Thinker comes in senses and accords decisions to others in terms of disaster management, which otherwise he still has no clue.

So in all senses of an agency, its run by a coward who feels he is a War General, and has a bunch of jokers who he has labelled as warriors, and he runs an agency which has no name tag still. What do you call this sad place ?? An Agency ??? No-Way !!
It's a Top Joker on the top, followed up by a family of jokers who take care of Operations and Finance and Admin...... It's totally a whole JOKE !

From June 2010 to Aug 2010, THINK started a rigorous hiring of professionals from all parts of an agency and landed them in various positions within the company, promising them good salaries, and from a 20 member team, it rose to a 100 member team in a matter of 3 to 5 months. I was one of the very first employees to be brought in on this manner. Even though many things were promised in the beginning I later realized that THINK is a place which should always be given a second or even a third thought before joining. Run by a bunch of local heads, with a joker on the top, it was the ultimatum for disaster.

In the later periods, I understood that salaries were to become a joke ! At time we ended up having no salaries for 3 months in a row and whenever salary topic comes in, it was a mind boggling 2 to 3 hrs lecture in a row on how to overcome from being a soldier to a warrior to an ass maker !!!


Now by the middle January 2011, THINK is now in total desperation and has fired around 13 people across the board (including me) from creative to copyrighters, to people who were ready to give their fullest to the company. Even after all of this has happened the top joker still tries to achieve a target of 5 crores....!! God give him some sense plss.....!!

Anyways, the modus operandi of THINK IMC is now well established..... and this is how it goes.

1) The Interview session - Here the chief joker promises you the big candy and the unfit lolly pop - Don't you dare take it !!!

2) They will put you in a position or under someone who will just not care to take you under his role nor teach you what ever your signed up to do

3) If you know how to sell bananas, they will give you potatoes and ask you to sell it for the price of gold. If you can't do that your busted !!

4)After a month, they will ask why people never bought the potatoes for that price, if you say its a lie, they will ask you fill an fcuked up appraisal form for no reason.

5)If you fill the form too low, you should fire yourself, if the form is filled too high, they will question you until you fire yourself !!

6)One fine morning, there will be a neatly sent mail asking you to move your ass away from the company and seek some much better place !!


For all what the people have done for this company, all they got back was a slap on their face and with no salary for the many months they worked tirelessly to achieve a jokers dream.
Well if you still really think you want to go through this hell by working there, take my advice and..... Please do re-Think !!!

THINK IMC of Bangalore is a sad place, a place so pathetic that even the worst of agencies wont play ball with these guys. Run by a family of  jokers, its the absolute entertainment you could have if you want to see how an Advertising agency shouldn't be working.... !!

The only funny thing which happens in THINK is just 'No Thinking at all'.................!!

THINK IMC is no agency, its a collaboration of jokers who can't play cards !!