mid-jan updates

07:30, Tuesday, January 20, 2009

There can be no better start to a winter morning than with a cup of ginger tea in one hand and a book of ghazals in another. The first bleary-eyed page I came across gave me this gem:

तमाम दौलते-जान हार दी मोहब्बत में
जो ज़िन्दगी से लिए थे उधार क्या उतरें

बसाने-ख़ाक, सरे-कू-ऐ-यार बैठे हैं
अब इस मकाम से हम खाकसार क्या उतरें

You can read the complete ghazal here, on my other blog. The New Year has been a tough one till now, hectic but enjoyable. Almost the complete first week was spent in preparing for an extensive shoot of a series of audio-visuals for our biggest client, the Big N. After that came the mother of all pitches. The biggest one I've ever been a part of.

In advertising lingo, a pitch is a new business initiative, when the agency has to provide its creative, strategic planning and account servicing credentials to a future client on a given theme. If the agency performs better than its competitors, it gets the business (or account as we term it in our industry) from the client. The account we've pitched for this time is one of the biggest in Indian Healthcare industry. So, I do hope that we win this pitch. It surely involved a lot of back-breaking work with sleepless nights and zombied afternoons thrown in. I worked extensively with the senior mainline creatives which in healthcare is a chance that comes rarely. And to top it all, the person overseeing it all was our Asia-Pac creative director, amongst the top names in global advertising. Just two and a half hours in a crowded meeting room with him were better then two and a half months of work. I must say, I've learned a lot during this pitch. And I hope to apply all that learning to my future work.

Life has been comparatively relaxed for the last two-three days, but work is going to pick up again, sooner or later. Wellness has not been a top priority these days and am seeing the results now, will go to office with a very stiff neck. Cervical pain. Also trying to get my social life back in order. Two upcoming parties at home will surely help me with this.

Rest I really need to get back to the blogworld. And I've a surprise for you guys. Maybe in a week or so I'll unravel it. So you better keep in touch.

Till we meet again, c ya!

-adee