MUMBAI: A rather odd start to a day. A frantic call from an office colleague, "When are you getting in to work? There is some telegram that has come for you."

Never having received a telegram before (being a new age kid and all), the import of the event was lost on me. Noting my nonchalant response, my colleague then reiterated that it was a telegram, which could only mean bad news.

 
 
This got me moving of course and I zipped in to office. To my surprise, the telegram read that Everest Integrated communication was very critical and my presence was urgently required. I read it twice over and then laughed. I immediately called the concerned people, and they feigned complete ignorance.

Well, that was that. A couple of days later I received an envelope which said "From the registrar of Birth & Death." Once again absolutely perplexed, it was an official 'Certificate of Death' stating the following, 'This is to certify that the following information has been taken from the original record of death, which is in the register of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay.'

Name : Everest Integrated Communications Private Ltd.
Nationality: Indian
Date of Death: 17/04/2005
Name of Founder: Mr. Adi Patel (Founder of Everest)

 
 
Attached behind was an invitation of a condolence meeting. The venue: The Hilton Towers, Mumbai.

Post Script: Mourners will receive a press briefing, followed by lunch.

As must be clear to most by now, this was essentially the invite for the re-launch of Everest Communications and the birth of a new identity.

Talking to Everest Communications executive creative director Milind Dhaimade on the conceptualization of the novel invite, he states, "The re-launch is not about just creating a new identity, but in our whole approach internally as well as externally. Since we made a decision to kill what we currently stand for, we decided to communicate it in an equally strong manner."

Dhaimade also pointed out that the responses that they received were mixed. While some were very appreciative of the creative thought behind the invites, others opined that they had gone too far. Apart from frantic phone calls from clients who did not know what was happening, Everest also received a handful of visitors to check if all was okay.

 
 
What the real agenda is will be unveiled tomorrow (27 April). The agency is starting afresh with a new vision and philosophy. No doubt though, the start of this process has made some deep and no doubt morbid impressions.