Marketer says he will never hire Grey unless agency returns awards won for ‘I Sea’ app
A senior marketer has publicly declared never to use the services of advertising agency network Grey after the Singapore office’s award-winning app marketed as a new way to save stranded refugees was exposed as a fake.
Ali Bullock blasted the agency in an open letter on LinkedIn
In an open letter to the agency published on LinkedIn, Alastair Bullock, who is global senior manager, sponsorship and social media, for Hong Kong-based Formula One team Infiniti, said that he would not “entertain a pitch, submission or award” from Grey until the company returns the awards that it has won for the controversial ‘I Sea’ app.
“If I was a client of Grey Singapore, hell Grey Global, I would give them one chance to return that award and not resubmit anything next year. That would be a generous 24 hour deal. No excuses, no clever PR release. Just a simple return or they should not be working for me in any capacity,” he wrote in the post.
All this and it wasn’t even gold…..
If there’s an international award for ostentatious moral vanity, this “open letter” would win hands down. Republishing the picture of the dead child, simply to shock and attract attention; then the echo-chamber of armchair social engineers leap into action, pompously republishing it on LinkedIn to prove their compassionista status. Really? And in the context of the supreme, shameless wankery that Cannes is? Really, again? A huge whatever. This is a really boring topic. Move on.
Absolutely right. Couldn’t agree more.