Devina Joshi
Advertising

David plays a prank on JWT

David, the agency known for its ‘David and Goliath’ philosophy, recently put up a provocative hoarding in Chennai

Perched on one side of Marshall’s Road in Chennai is the David office, on the other side is the office of JWT. In between is a hoarding, on the left side of which in white against a black background is written ‘David’, with a red arrow indicating the location of the office.

On the right side of the hoarding, with an arrow pointing right, is written ‘Goliath’. In small print at the bottom of the hoarding is a line: ‘To join the winning side, mail deborah.thomson@david-ap.com. We need brand executives and copywriters.’

For those who missed it, David was a young boy, who fought bravely with a giant called ‘Goliath’, and finally killed it.

What’s going on here?

Melvin Jacob, creative group head, copy, David, says, “We wanted to put up a hoarding that was both a recruitment ad and an ad for our rebranding. While looking for a suitable location, we noticed that most of the biggest and the smallest agencies in Chennai shared a common road – Marshall’s Road in Egmore. So, we thought, taking advantage of our location was the best way to do it.”

And what do the officials at JWT have to say about it? Says Anita Gupta, senior vice-president and general manager, JWT, Chennai, “I haven’t seen the hoarding myself. But if David did put up a hoarding like that, I would still take it as a fun. It’s not at all offensive in any way. I’m myself a great admirer of Davids, and their philosophy. And I guess this is their way of brand building. In that case, all I can say is, ‘each to his own’.”

Gupta adds, “As far as being on the winning side is concerned, I think our work speaks for itself. Just to cite one example, JWT, Chennai, recently won a silver at Cannes for its work on the ‘Red Cross’.”

Jacob says lightly, “We weren’t intending to offend anyone. The hoarding was put up in a spirit of fun.”

For the record, both David and JWT are WPP Group agencies. A case of sibling rivalry?

© 2005 agencyfaqs!

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