MANAGEMENT ISSUE

Order Description Like most people, you wake up in" rel="nofollow">in the mornin" rel="nofollow">ing and you check your phone …check Facebook … check Instagram. …surf the “headlin" rel="nofollow">ines” on the Internet and then head for the Kuerig. But this mornin" rel="nofollow">ing was different. You moved through your normal mornin" rel="nofollow">ing routin" rel="nofollow">ine and quickly rushed to turn on the television to see if you could confirm it. Yes, it was true. Emmie Hiltz, a breakout pop star and buddin" rel="nofollow">ing big screen idol, had been caught with “bag of pills and assorted paraphernalia” after she was pulled over for erratic drivin" rel="nofollow">ing at 3:00a.m. on Sunset Boulevard in" rel="nofollow">in Los Angeles. A pop star is a pop star is a pop star, right? Wrong. Emmie Hiltz is the spokesperson for your client’s skin" rel="nofollow">in care product lin" rel="nofollow">ine that is takin" rel="nofollow">ing the teen market by storm. The in" rel="nofollow">integrated product lin" rel="nofollow">ine was in" rel="nofollow">introduced nationally a little over two years ago – usin" rel="nofollow">ing Emmie as the spokesperson – and has achieved sales of close to $165M. And Emmie is just startin" rel="nofollow">ing year three of her five-year, $15M contract with your client. You’ve been in" rel="nofollow">in your office all of 15 min" rel="nofollow">inutes when the CEO and CFO of the agency show up at your door, and the first words out of the CEO’s mouth were “,we need to get on the phone with the lawyers to understand what it will take and how we begin" rel="nofollow">in gettin" rel="nofollow">ing the client out of Emmie’s contract. We need to be proactive on this before the client calls.” And the CFO chirps in" rel="nofollow">in, “and we need to get in" rel="nofollow">in touch with the media agency to understand how quickly we could begin" rel="nofollow">in cancelin" rel="nofollow">ing ads without in" rel="nofollow">incurrin" rel="nofollow">ing any penalties.” Not three min" rel="nofollow">inutes after the CEO and CFO depart, the Creative Director on the busin" rel="nofollow">iness waltzes in" rel="nofollow">in and slides down on your sofa and says, “thank God she got busted …I hated workin" rel="nofollow">ing with her, her mom and her agent. Frankly, I am the one who needs drugs to tolerate her. Good luck with this.” And saunters out. How could this get any worse? Well, the strategic planner on the busin" rel="nofollow">iness wanders in" rel="nofollow">in and proclaims, “this may be the break we were lookin" rel="nofollow">ing for. Our latest round of brand usage and awareness trackin" rel="nofollow">ing shows that the brand is begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing to skew younger and is becomin" rel="nofollow">ing ‘middle of the road’ …this is our chance to get a bit more ‘edge’ in" rel="nofollow">into the brand strategy and build momentum. Let’s not move to begin" rel="nofollow">in lookin" rel="nofollow">ing for a new spokesperson just yet … let’s see where this can take us. Give me a couple of days to pull a brief together …and never underestimate the power of momentum.” Your head is now spin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing. The CEO and CFO are in" rel="nofollow">in “heat-seekin" rel="nofollow">ing missile” mode; the Creative Director is clearly in" rel="nofollow">in a “thank God and Greyhound that you’re gone” min" rel="nofollow">indset; and the Strategic Planner is adoptin" rel="nofollow">ing an “every disaster brin" rel="nofollow">ings and opportunity” attitude with regard to the brand’s strategy. You need develop a clear and actionable poin" rel="nofollow">int-of-view to address key brand, consumer, client and agency issues associated with the overnight Emmie debacle. You need a game plan and you need it fast as you just received a “calendar in" rel="nofollow">invite” from the Brand Manager for a conference call that is bein" rel="nofollow">ing set up at 11:30am – that’s a little over two hours from now. And in" rel="nofollow">in the Brand Manager’s note, you have been asked to prepare and present the agency’s poin" rel="nofollow">int-of-view and recommendation, and act as the “lead” for the conference call which will be “highly attended” by the client’s senior marketin" rel="nofollow">ing management, corporate communications and legal team. The clock is tickin" rel="nofollow">ing…good luck. How would you approach this? Where would you start? What in" rel="nofollow">information will you need? Is this an advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing issue or a legal issue or both? Would you call the brand manager to gauge the client’s perspective to help you in" rel="nofollow">in developin" rel="nofollow">ing the agency’s poin" rel="nofollow">int of view? How will you handle all of the entire agency “in" rel="nofollow">input” you’ve received thus far? Would you even brin" rel="nofollow">ing up the Strategic Planner’s “new” idea at this poin" rel="nofollow">int? What is the best short-term (next 30-days) and mid-term (90-days) course of action for the brand in" rel="nofollow">in terms of strategy and marketin" rel="nofollow">ing communications?