Off with his head: Smart Executive may secretly own a retailer store

We all thought that all is lost for our company given the what seems to be the endless politicking and bickering among the different forces here in Smart Communications.

A lot of us are happy that the organizational cleansing has finally begun. The internal crackdown has resulted to almost 300 employees due to different types of fraud in both Smart and PLDT. Yes, an estimated 300 employees have been suspected to be involved in fraud. Yes, we are like a government agency with the high number of people involved allegedly with corruption.

It's disappointing but at the same time, it's a welcome move for all of us here who honestly work our butts out day in and day out. It's an open secret in the grapevine that these under the table activities happen.

We just hope that the cleansing happens not only among middle management and rank and file but also up there in the executive level.

I am writing now to let management know that we, concerned Smart employees, are watching to see this organizational cleansing goes up to the top. And at the same time, give top management the lead on who to check as well.

We urged the bosses to audit one of the retailers called SIMPLUS in Bulacan and trace who is the rightful owner of the said business. This is again an open secret. I can't believe our former sales head who recently got sacked missed this one or he knew but remained quiet about it. Everyone knows that one of the top honchos has a major stake in this retailer. Others believed that he actually owns it. The stories said that he set this company right under the nose of the previous owner of Sun Cellular. Many of us wondered that how come this was not seen or checked by his new employers here in Smart before they made him head to lead our future?
Let us give you a clue: He appointed one of his many lieutenants from his previous company which became a part of this company to head a major business segment and discreetly calls her “Babe” (figure this out)

Another clue: He was positioned as the “Messaiah” of Smart because of his so-called innovative marketing mind only to lead us with a -14% financial performance slump this year. Because of the financial downtrend of the company, all of us here won’t have any of the bonuses Smart is known for this year except this guy. He will get his bonus in full because it’s part of his contract. I wonder what our PLDT counterpart will say if they find out about this? PLDT performed well this year but their bonuses will not be in full as well because of Smart poor performance. Damay-damay na.

Again, we call on our top bosses and even to our beloved Chair Manny V. Pangilinan to check and audit the retailer SIMPLUS and unravel its real owner.

#OurSmartStory: How Smart Social Media Team destroys Smart's company reputation

I pity our chairman Manny V. Pangilinan. He meant well when he announced the free internet last Friday. We believed that with all our pride. I believed that with all my heart. But our company now is being to put in bad light again by our social media team headed by Abbie Real. 

Since the late 90's, we all know that the telco is a highly competitive industry. I am one of those who saw how Smart beat the hell out of Globe in the past with Talk 'N Text and Smart buddy campaigns in a "fair" marketing battlefield. We were always ahead of the game. We always outsmarted competition in all media and market. We were the market leader, we still are! 

However, competition gained some grounds in the market share for the past 3 years now. Plus, the morale inside the company has been down because of lack of job security since the merger with Sun and since Charles A. Lim took over Noel Lorenzana. 

I am happy with Charles or CAL as we call him here. Many were excited on how CAL would lead us. We have high hopes for the innovation CAL would put on the table and kick the ass of Globe because a lot of Smart employees blamed Noel for the failure of Smart to maintain the market leadership. You see, Noel was the one who refreshed the corporate brand through Live More. Though the intention was great, the marketing campaign execution was terrible and unethical. 

We hit Globe with disparaging advertising campaign by highlighting their bad signal, bad service. Most of all, our attacked on Globe in the social media was the most unethical that I have seen in my 16 years in the industry. Hashtags like #globesabaw, #ihateglobe hit the twitter and damaged their reputation in 2012 and early 2013. Our social media team was so proud of these initiatives. Who wouldn't. We are kicking Globe reputation in the social media. Our social media team managed to create a snowball of negative sentiments against Globe. 

But many Smart employees felt this unethical attack was not right in 2012. We thought that Smart, the wireless leader was better than this. The campaign was so low and even if it was successful in damaging Globe reputation, we can't even celebrate the victory openly. 

But by the end of the year, the result was that Globe obtained big market share from us and their profit margins are bigger than us. As marketing and brand practitioner, I know that a negative campaign will always boomerang and affect the brand reputation of the company. As a consequence, Noel was thrown away to TV5 and was replaced by Sun Cellular's CAL. 

Again, I am writing anonymously because I don't want the same thing to happened to us again. We have something big last Friday. A game changing promo targeting the mass market which is the strength of Smart. We all know that Globe will respond. But we did not anticipate that they will respond on the same day with their free Facebook crap. 

Last Friday night, Globe was able to trend their free Facebook campaign on twitter. Ours didn't. Our social media team had to resort to advertising via Twitter just to overtake Globe in the trending. This was a big blow to Abbie Real and her team. You see, our social media has so much budget to make bloggers and influencers under their wing to create a positive sentiments for our brand in the social media. They have been spending left and right, paying these bloggers and influencers at least 30k a month with free phone and monthly service fee. Yet they fail to trend and use these clout to promote positive image for Smart. 

I am concerned because instead of countering creatively the social media campaign of Globe, they are resorting to dirty tactics again much like in 2012. They are now implementing a campaign of accusing Globe of black ops. This will only backfire again. Why? Because they are also doing black ops by accusing Globe of black ops. 

And it reflects bad on our company image. It reflects bad on our chairman. It reflects bad on our Public Affairs head Mon Isberto. I don't think Mon Isberto approves of such negative approach of Abbie.

Why can't Abbie and her team use our resources creatively instead of whining. Are we really this desperate? Are we really this low? It's not helping our brand. This is bad PR. I think it's high time for top management to shake up our social media team and to rethink our digital consultant who give us nothing bad social media tactics. 

And I speak for other Smart employees who are against such unethical and dirty tactics. I think it's high time that we put a stop to this negative PR campaigns in the social media. 

I hope I am heard. 


Just a concerned Smart employee.

Epic Irony: Sun Cellular takes over Smart Communications

It was December 2012 when Smart Communications started firing hundreds of their loyal employees disguised as early retirement to pave the way for an ironic hostile "Sun Cellular" take over. Who would have guessed that people from Sun Cellular would eventually take over Smart? And everyone thought Smart bought Sun Cellular.

And this is sad for me because I am one of the Smart employees who availed the so-called retirement package because I can't bear the thought that I would be reporting to my Sun Cellular counterpart.

I used to be proud of being part of the Smart organization especially when it was announced that Smart would be taking over Sun Cellular. We just killed one of the competitions by buying it out. And when we changed the Smart Communications logo under the "Live More" brand positioning, I said to myself that this is the beginning of a new great era in the Telco industry and I am part of it.

But I was wrong.

I feared for my job. I got scared of losing  the only source of my family's livelihood. Will I be next? I held on for as long as I can. My dad told me to always prepare for the worst. I did. But I still gave my best. I was able to stretch it until November last year (yes, 11 months after the first wave of cutting manpower, it's still happening till today, sad. :( )

When Charles Lim of Sun Cellular took over from Noel Lorrenzana as big boss of the wireless business of Smart, it was time that I realized the hopelessness of the situation for true blue Smart employees. Little by little, Sun Cellular executives took over key positions in Smart from marketing to customer care. And oh, Charles Lim also put his "babe" to be in charge of the broadband business of Smart.

And again, everyone thought that Smart bought Sun Cellular. Anyare?

Until now, no one is safe from Smart. Anytime, an offer sheet would come to anyone. Unless of course, your name is Mitch.

As for me, I want justice for my hundreds of colleagues who lost their source of livelihood after giving their life in the service of what was once a great organization. Good thing I managed to still interact with Smart as one of their contractors! ;)