Paul Syng’s SQUAD
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Chapter Eight
Zara Steals Too
Read Time: 4 minutes
Hello
When Zara — yes, them too — steals your work, one’s gut knee-jerk reaction fulminates resulting in a stubbed toe, concrete wall intact. Try replacing “Zara” with your favourite brand. How does that feel? Fucking sucks, right?
Why does our — a creative professional’s — heart sink? Because we’re eyeing great brands hoping that one day working with them would put an end to the “Craigslist” addiction (and spec work alike). But sadly, they (not all but a few) are no better.
“Devils don’t come from hell beneath us. No, they come from the sky.”
—Lex Luthor
Welcome to Chapter Eight. The unofficial third part in a series with “What To Expect” being the first.
For the longest time, I coddled the notion bad clients are bred only in India (and developing countries alike). Having worked and lived in North America and Asia, I can assure you — like good ones — bad clients are everywhere. Thank you, Zara.
By the way, I’m not trying to pull a Trump on you. Scaring you or pressing on your deepest fears isn’t how I comb my bald head.
So why do — the likes of Zara — do it? How are they any better than your average lunch box bully? How do ruthless strong-arm tactics and scaring independent creatives make sense? Considering the hyper socially-connected world we live in.
Come on, man! Seriously? You’ve got, like, a gazillion dollars sitting around — earned by selling millennials a $150 polo made in Bangladesh, which you cleverly pulled out of an 8-year-old’s ass for a nickel. Doesn’t all the bad press, kicking you in the nuts, hurt?
I’ve encountered a few snake-oil businesspeople in my career — I’m sure you have, too. Here’s an account of on one such instance.
It happened while working with a family-run business, industrialists known for textile. They, like Zara, produce clothing and sell it across the country under their name labels, and act as an OEM for international brands. This is one division of their many businesses.
It all began with VP of Marketing, having heard of our work, contacting the studio. Being the client-facing partner, I took the call and listened to what the man described as an “OPPORTUNITY to get NOTICED!”
The call had come from out of town. At the time, neck-deep in projects, and lazy to travel, we decided to put the industrialist on hold. But the VP was persistent, “We want you to do the work! At the least, come and meet us, once!” he said speaking louder than before, into the phone, feeling ignored.
I — new to the business, unknowingly, had been ‘pushed’ over — yielded to the man fixing a time and date. Two weeks later we (my partner and me) stepped into a wood panel office adjoining one of their factories.
We were greeted by the VP himself and his boss’s son (heir to the loom). They had all the bells and whistle at play. For the first meeting, we had prepared rough ideas, knowing the verbal brief.
3 hours later — reminiscing in applaud — a retainer agreement was signed and the copies left, for their “legal” department’s dissection.
Over the course of 18 months we helped build an idea into 5 boutique stores— doing all the branding, advertising and strategy work. This is, about the time, when it began to fall apart.
Before one could smell the roses they had meticulously prolonged months of retainer fee — meeting several polite reminders with dilly-dallying responses.
To one day, looking at our bank statement, and with no other option left, I sent out an email freezing all their digital accounts — chiefly Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and website. In their response, it had become clear, why they deliberately chose us — they were Goliath; a harsh truth we swallowed.
What followed the threat got us into a big fix. They sued us for not paying us. Yes, you read that correct. A morning, not so distant from the email, we received a legal notice, putting in motion their threats.
As a small business, and new to the game, I panicked. Sitting at my desk late that night, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve never been to court.’ Worried this could blow up in my face I made a call.
On the other end was a friend and mentor, a retired lawyer, who patiently took into account the situation. Within two days, we met another practising lawyer for advice.
“This amount is nothing! There’s no point in pursuing this. Just give them the details and get out while you can,” the man told us. We walked out of the lawyer’s office feeling small, helpless and frustrated. With repercussions of the legal notice looming over our head, we knew something had to be done, and quickly.
In between all this, they managed to hack into our account and take control of their accounts. But, we were quick to our feet and reversed it.
How did we, in the end, make it all go away and have them pay us? A connection with a high-ranking government official serving the elected state minister. The man brought us to an equal playing field.
“Why are you troubling these boys over an evening liquor bill,” is how he jokingly put it, over the phone as I sat and watched, to the industrialist. Yep, a simple fucking phone call.
The next day a man arrived at our studio with full and final payment. We obliged with the login details. At no point, during this entire episode, did we delete or remove their social accounts. We kept it civil despite all the signs pushing us to pull the plug.
In the end, it’s what helped end the ugly episode. But wait, it doesn’t end there. Guess what happened 6 months later?
Their President called. He played nice and pleaded to hire us. “Let bygones be bygones, Mr Paul,” he said, trying to patch up as if this were an episode of Suits. But this time, we were wiser and learned to never return the call.
We’ll continue to talk about evil clients this week. In the meantime, I’m leaving you with two fantastic resources.
Clients From Hell
Mike Monteiro: F*ck You, Pay Me
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Have an epic week!
Yours truly,
Paul Syng
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