24. Great Wall

I joined former boss Lucky Borbon in Great Wall Advertising, an agency in Makati. I was making great progress I thought. A Makati office evoked bigness, sophistication and plush environments.

Lucky was an astute title giver. I couldn’t resist accepting the appointment to be Radio-TV Director and Senior Account Executive. I guess he knew me well and was wise to the fact that I was easy to please, a man of simple joys. The title and the doubling of my monthly pay were good enough reasons for me to join him.

I met the owner of the agency on my first day. We talked for about half an hour. She did most of the talking; a bit of corporate history, the company’s philosophy and some of the rules and terms of employment. Lucy David must have been in her mid forties at that time and was looking every bit the lady-advertising executive I expected. The executive office was tastefully modern with oriental accents. She probably was second generation Chinese, well educated and presumably enlightened to modern management practices.

Lucky ushered me around the office to meet the rest of the agency crew. I was a bit disappointed by the sleepy almost lethargic atmosphere in the lobby. This seemed to have permeated through out the whole establishment. I told the Lucky this and he agreed with me. “Look at it as a challenge. Between the two of us and other recruits who will soon be joining us this office will be noisy and jumping with activity”, he said almost apologetically.

The redeeming grace of the agency was its clientele. It had some of the biggest and oldest businesses in the industry in its list. I looked forward to getting involved in the servicing of the plum accounts. The owner was handling most of the big and established businesses herself. The reason for this was that she had personal connections with the Chinese families who owned these businesses and they were happy that the owner herself looked after their requirements.