A Quick Guide to the Rumors inside SMART

The entire Smart organization has become a big corporate grapevine for tons of rumors these days. Many are confused and are afraid of being affected by the organizational change that might be implemented in the coming days.  Here is a guide to the rumors and we hope it will enlighten you and guide you properly.

1. Is it true that the head of our mobile business, Charles A. Lim, is out?

Yes. According to multiple reliable sources, after the company incurred a P5 Billion revenue loss due to the Free Internet Promo since September 2014 which angered MVP, Charles A. Lim also knowned as CAL was asked to step down early March of this year.  Inside PLDT group, the Free Internet Promo is called as the great free mobile data fiasco. The failure of CAL’s price war strategy did not work in Smart and it dragged down the revenue of the entire PLDT group. Another reason is our low morale as Smart Employees. Since he stepped in to take over the mobile business, CAL replaced good people in Smart with his people in Sun. This was known as the great Sun takeover. All key positions were taken over by Sun executives.  We even heard that he engineered the removal of Jane Basas out of Smart. Karma is a bitch!

2. Where will Charles A. Lim go?

There are reports from the same reliable sources that he is on his way to SMCTel to start their telco venture.  Hopefully, his marketing expertise will work there like what he did when he started Sun Cellular.

3. Who will replace him?

Temporarily, Ariel Fermin from PLDT Home will replace CAL and will head the mobile business unit. We hope that he won’t make any “wais” move like what he did during the Gilas vs. NBA Exhibition Game Scandal. There are also reports that former Smart boss and now TV5 head honcho Noel Lorenzana will make a comeback. 

4. What about Big Boss Polly Nazareno?

We should give the guy some break.  With all due respect, our most senior executive who led us during our glory days should be spared from all these rumors inside the company. But we heard from the grapevine that when he retires, PLDT’s Eric Alberto will be his shoe-in successor. 

5. What will happen to Sun employees who were transferred to Smart?

Like what our Chairman MVP said, job security in Smart is suspended unless everyone performs accordingly and unless we recover from the loss revenue brought about by our out-of-date-marketing-directions thanks to CAL. Whether you are long-time Smart employees like me or transferee from Sun, unless we perform, “we have no job security”.  But we think those who are close to CAL and hold key positions are in immediate danger of being replaced, removed and fired.

We hope that this guide helped you achieve clarity and not more confusion. More to come!

#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.