Meeting a celebrity
(The names of actual persons had been withheld to protect their identities)
Someone played matchmaking and introduced me to a "celebrity" fashion designer, on the basis of working on a collaboration arrangement.
The designer was alright on first impression - no air, simple and very Chinese, arty and very gay.
And I actually don’t mind working with people like this.
Then his partner came into the discussion.
That is when I knew I can’t work with this celebrity designer because of his partner.
This is an account of how it went, as according to my analysis of the situation:
First - establish the "I know people, you know" therefore "you can’t cheat me yea."
"I know so and so from McCann. I know so and so from Saatchi, You know him?"
This usually agitates me. It’s a silly power game people do to say that they do know people and am aware of fakes and cheats. To me it is pure insulting to first position one as having the upper hand and the other one on a lower level before any discussions.
Second - establish the "We are there. You are nobody."
"We are well established, you know? Not to say you are not established, but by working with you we are opening ourselves to risks and we have to be accountable."
Like I am coming in to work as a partner so that I could spoil his reputation. Like I don’t have a reputation to take care of. Even if I don’t have a reputation, I have to check my dignity and integrity.
Third - re-establish the "You are nobody."
"We know you are quite established as a designer, but still, we need to see your portfolio."
I responded with a cool smile stating that I have never carried a portfolio around from the first day of my career. I never had to show anyone any portfolio and had been able to find work with quite a number of multinationals. The most recent project was for 4As (the Kancil Book) - despite working under the scrutiny of a council consisting of the top creative minds in town - I never had to show any portfolio in any meeting. I stressed the importance of understanding in a partnership. In the very first place it was supposed to be a meeting to explore possibilities of collaborating, not me coming in as "another" supplier. What makes them think I would be drooling over their jobs?
Fourth - saying "Bye. Please reconsider whether you want to work with us."
"Our clients can be very difficult. You really have to consider whether you want to work on these kind of projects or not."
Perhaps sensing that I may not be the "supplier" they will be riding with a whip, this is equivalent to saying "get lost, we don’t really fancy working with you." Ah. Same here. Though I was doubting how tough could their clients be as compared to dealing with the bureaucracy of a typical corporate communications department.
Meetings as such normally end with "I will consider the possibilities. Let’s get in touch again", knowing clearly that we don’t quite like each other.
Which reminds me that I haven’t made that needed PR call to say "great meeting you, but unfortunately due to our current workload we can’t take on this project now. Maybe we could work together in the future?"
Funnily, I think the celebrity designer who sat through the whole discussion didn’t catch the underlying exchange of politics. He was friendly enough to let me out of his office, and in his Cantonese said, "Bye! Hope we can start working together real soon."
And I thought - actually I don’t mind - when you have a new business partner.
