MIDDLE EAST
14 OPINION
23 November 2008
Doing as little as possible
The quest for an easy living is one of mankind’s noblest pursuits. I’m off now....
ate was once paid £30,000 a month to live on
a disused oil platform off the Gulf, as inter-
national law required that it remained occu-
pied. With satellite internet, a well-crammed
tuck box and a stack of novels and DVDs, the
working week is more enjoyable than seven
nights in the Maldives.
Technology is responsible for many of
these nothing—or practically nothing—jobs.
There was a data centre in one Australian
town where staff on the graveyard shift spent
night after night videogaming with full man-
RONI HAD
agement approval. So long as the place was
manned 24/7, all was fine.
A bloke doing IT support for a small com-
ONE MAN’S job was to “come up with ideas” pany in the US once admitted on a web forum
for his company’s in-house magazine. This that he did less than five hours actual work
role did not involve sourcing, writing, edit- per month. Search for “world’s easiest job”
ing or in any way creatively contributing to and you’ll turn up a guy called Neville getting
the content at any stage. Or even to actually paid to do nothing—nothing—from dusk till
come up with any, let alone all, of the final dawn at the computer lab of Texas Univer-
ideas. The man did this handsomely paid task sity’s Law library.
for about ten years, and retired on a generous There are clever people who set up auto-
six-figure Saudi riyal pension. mated stock or currency trading systems, lie
Anyone who denies that the ultimate hu- back and watch the moolah roll in. Or did
man dream is to get paid for doing absolutely until the entire financial ecosystem collapsed
nothing is a sanctimonious liar. Of course the around their lazy ears. There are cunning op-
simplest way is just to inherit, but those of us portunists who buy misspelt domain names
born with bent tin spoons in our mouths have for a few bucks—britneyspeers.com or pa-
to create our own idle riches. rishitlon.net—plaster them with ads and
There are in fact many non-jobs through- watch as the coins tinkle into their PayPal
out the world. Being a night time security accounts.
guard for a small company with no valuables And finally there are supposed “technol-
in a quiet part of town. Sitting on reception ogy writers” with a web browser and fingers
in a tiny back office that attracts visitors less adept at CTRL+C and CTRL+V. If only we
frequently than Halley’s Comet. Some gradu- could find a job like that...
Paying for the ideas game
Campaigning for creativity at a price
HOW FAR to go in pursuit of winning a pitch Charging creative fees for a pitch is more
is an age-old industry problem and, if the common practice in Europe and agencies
best things in life are free, then how should will then commit the time and resource to
creative agencies make money and still de- delivering the highest standard pitch work Sam Armstrong
liver excellence? that they believe holds the winning formula.
PR director
The ideas business is notoriously diffi- At the recent Media & Marketing show,
cult to quantify and prospective clients held in Dubai, the creative standard of Mid-
Think PR
naturally need to see examples of work; dle East advertising was a hot topic. Equally,
but, in pitching, agencies are waving regional PR is often criticised for a lacklustre
goodbye to their intellectual property free and basic approach. Putting a price on cre- ing and creative stunts, which make clients’
of charge. ativity would be just the thing to lift the UAE money work harder.
In the UAE, agencies are in the midst of out of its creative rut. With a mutually agreeable fee pre-sign off
a quickly evolving environment, where the
value of their services is still gathering recog-
nition from clients. The industry remains in
Consultants have a responsibility to think bigger
its relative infancy and there is a lingering el-
in terms of strategy and explore less traditional
ement of scepticism that exists on both sides
of the client/agency fence.
areas of the industry, such as guerrilla marketing
From the agency perspective, I have found and creative stunts, which make clients’ money
companies in Dubai particularly prone to
work harder.
‘ideas gathering’ exercises packaged up as
invitations to pitch or requests for a proposal.
Losing out to competitor agencies is the na- In terms of PR, when opportunity is knock- (to be offset against any retained fee), agen-
ture of our game and a fact of life marketing ing on the sector’s door to demonstrate the cies would feel their efforts were being taken
professionals are used to dealing with. But value of its cost effective offering, consultants seriously and would be more prepared to in-
supplying ideas for brands to take in-house, have a responsibility to think bigger in terms vest time and resources into pitches. And the
or pass to cheaper freelance resources for ex- of strategy and explore less traditional areas creative stakes would be raised at a time when
ecution, can leave a sour taste. of the industry, such as guerrilla market- half-hearted offerings will no longer cut it.
www.mediaweekme.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42