Anant’s blog: Vanity will get me nowhere

You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you? Don’t you?

I heard this song when I was 13 or so on Carly Simon’s first album, No Secrets.

And I was reminded of it when I read Bawdy Copy in The Economic Times Brand Equity this morning, where they take a dig at me.

(At least I think it’s me they’re talking about, I’m so vain).

To quote from the piece: “Quite unlike another member of our fraternity who called us up to say that he had the results but he could not be irresponsible like us and publish – the same guy though also compared the industry to a fall in the Sensex…”

Yes, I did compare the industry to a fall in the Sensex.

However, I did not call anyone at Brand Equity. The last time that I called anyone at BE was when I called a senior writer there for a job at Campaign India, almost two years ago. As anyone who knows me for more than three minutes would testify, I make calls ONLY from my mobile phone. All bills for the past few years are available, and it is easy to prove that no such call was made to ANYONE at ET, mobile or landline. Similarly, all call records of all BE staffers are available as well, mobile or landline. There will be none from my mobile. There will be none from any of the landlines at Haymarket Media.

So why the bullshit on my calling “us” up? Huh?

To get back to the core issue, I didn’t have, and none of the edit team of Campaign India ever had, the results. We wouldn’t want to have them before the official announcement. We didn’t want them last year or this year and we do not want them till there is an official statement next year or the years after.

What is amusing is that BE calls us (we’re so vain, we think it’s us) rivals. The Times of India Response team (which is responsible for advertising sales, for the uninitiated) will not be too amused. A Glazed News Print supplement with a print order of over 4,00,000 calls us, with a print order now just short of 10,000, their  rival? Cool.

Yesterday, the shoe missed.

Today, it didn’t. It’s firmly in the mouth of someone at BE.

And what the hell, here’s the song.

 

Have a great long weekend.