Career Guide: Assistant Manager Marketing Services

Post-breakfast

8.57am: I am at the office on time so that I don’t get another “you need to come at a respectable hour” lecture from my boss. She’s late everyday but then she’s not the newbie.

9.50am: The conference room has a broken chair and the AC remote is missing when the advertising agency team arrives. The department secretary gave me a pink notebook when I asked for some stationery and now every meeting I sit in, someone always quips “nice notebook”.

10.15am: Now a debate is going on. It’s on the print ads for the upcoming product launch, which has been shuttling back and forth. The product team declares that the agency isn’t creative; the agency retorts that the product team is indecisive. I make drawings in my notebook with a serious face so that it looks like I’m taking notes.

11.20am: Trying to figure printer settings while making follow-up calls to vendors on the work-in-progress. My neighbour is least helpful since he wanted my position. He dresses up like John Travolta in Grease, which is probably the reason he didn’t get the job.

12:10pm: The two older nice guys who helped me settle in announce that I have to give them a treat for getting my first salary. They take out an email inviting 13 other people to lunch on my behalf.

12.45pm: Email from the Area manager of Central region on the Motorway branding delay. He writes that his ‘nose’ is at stake. I call him before replying to his email, which has nine people marked in it. The manager is nice on the phone and keeps saying, “theek ho gaya?”

Lunch hour

Nine guys and four girls congratulate me and proceed to eat chicken chowmein and daal fry.

Post-lunch


2.30pm: Rewriting a memo for the sixth time now on the cost approval for the order of giveaways. Spellings are not my greatest strength.

3.31pm: The Brand Activation agency is here to resolve the payment dispute. The agreement says we will pay for 300 street theatre shows, but they say that the shows had to be utilised within 60 days. After an exchange of threats to blacklist each other, we agree on 30 more shows.

4.15pm: Head of Merchant Network summons me to his office to express his dismay over the colours of the plaques and certificates being designed for the year-end achievement awards. It’s always the people with the worst dress sense who complain about colours.

5.30pm: Meeting with South Sales team and the Outdoor Media agency — both parties accuse one another of delays and overcharging on fascia branding. There are five people at the round table, pointing fingers and shoving email printouts. I am really tired by now so I quietly sip my fourth cup of tea.

6.00pm: Client service guy who makes weird faces during meetings calls me to tell me that the posters and buntings artwork will be sent in the morning. This means that the deadline for the printed material distribution will not be met. Now I have to inform the printer to gear up for an urgent print job coming his way.

6:50pm: Boss off to the studio to see the first cut of the TVC. This is a cue for me to pack up and make a run for the Atrium to catch Kung Fu Panda 2 with my friends.

Key skills required for an Assistant Manager Marketing Services:

1) Advertising industry exposure.

2) Good time management skills.

3) Excellent Communication skills.

4) Above-average negotiation abilities.

The writer is a personal branding consultant.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2011.