StrawberryFrog Head of Planning Seeks to Remove ‘Cancer from Adland’

By Kiran Aditham 

Well, this item we were tipped on is quite a doozy. On her blog, “Buy Me, I’ll Change Your Life,” Heather LeFevre, who lists herself as head of planning at StrawberryFrog Amsterdam, goes off on an employee she once hired by the name of Sam Ismail, who from what we read could be one hell of a bullshit artist. Her basic, blunt message: DO NOT HIRE THIS GUY. Here’s one of the more interesting excerpts from LeFevre’s rant:

“At first I was sympathetic and then his story started to unravel. I had breakfast with another planning director last week who knew of at least two other occurrences of the same story. That planner put me in touch with a recruiter who had been burned. Agency after agency began to surface. Several lovely planners instantly responded at the mention of his name – SAM ISMAIL – in the subject line. With the help of some incredible planner friends, we’ve uncovered FIVE instances of claimed accidents, one claimed bone marrow donation, one claimed kidney donation, one claimed liver donation and one claimed personal blood disease. We have also uncovered theft, lies, loads of international travel, and multiple passports with at least two different names.”

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Now, we don’t know Ismail from a hole in the wall, but with those serious allegations against him,  we’ll be fair at least to the man (who LeFevre herself considers “so intelligent” and “switched on”) by posting his rather brief, and not too convincing side of the story here. Saying he’s “disappearing” doesn’t really help his cause either, but whose side are you on? After the jump, check out a slideshow that offers more insight into LeFevre’s investigation.

Update: As we somewhat expected, LeFevre has gone ahead and removed her incriminating post.

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