Page 37 of Love.V2
BOTTO, she’d written in big, bold letters, taking the time to sketch in some rivets and bolts.
The international robotics company was building new manufacturing facilities in the U.S., and wanted a big rebrand to kick-start its push into the states. And they wanted us to bid for the job.
“Botto’s CMO said Jinx’s history of unique campaigns impressed her, but she’s equally excited by our position under Worther’s agency umbrella. Essentially,” Eric had drawled, giving us a conspiratorial look when he’d made the office-wide announcement, “they like that we work like a boutique with the firepower of the big guys.” He’d nodded to Dylan, who was standing by his side. “This is exactly what we wanted when we joined Worther. Perfect opportunity to show them what we can really do, huh?”
We had two weeks to pull together an initial round of proposed concepts for their company-wide re-brand, and I hadn’t wanted to waste a moment of it. I’d pulled everyone I could into the conference room to brainstorm. Victoria had grabbed a marker and stationed herself at the whiteboard before I’d even walked in, but I hadn’t cared.
The Botto proposal would be the biggest work Jinx had ever bid for. To compete with the larger companies with lower costs and an army of interns at their disposal, I needed everyone’s help.
Unfortunately, we’d been sitting there for almost half an hour, and all we had was rivets.
Before I’d zoned out, we’d had a few solid ideas floated. Maybe not fully baked, but the beginnings of something. Victoria had halfheartedly scribbled down a few words, but I didn’t see any of the bigger concepts on the board.
Just…metal.
As I looked around the room, no one else looked back. It seemed I wasn’t the only one distracted by my inbox. Or maybe Victoria’s high-handed running of the meeting had squashed everyone’s interest in collaboration.
Resignation set in as I considered my next move. Was there a way to salvage this without totally destroying the delicate dynamic Victoria and I teetered on?
“The creative brief requested something unconventional. I’m wondering if going with a metal and steel concept seems a little…” My brain scrambled to find a word that wouldn’t insult her.
“Basic?” Leave it to Dylan to cut right to the heart of things. A few of my colleagues shifted around the table, and I caught more than one smirk.
Victoria would have glared if anyone else in the room had said it, but she chuckled like she and Dylan were in on some kind of joke together. “It takes a lot of brainpower to get to a final design, but often the most effective ideas are the most obvious.”
Dylan shook his head, clearly unconvinced. That made two of us. “It’s something the Worther team would come up with. Don’t get me wrong, Worther has good talent, but we play it safe.” He leaned forward, giving her a bland smile, lacking his normal charm. “Worther is too traditional. That’s why we’re counting on Jinx to do what you do best and win this business with something truly extraordinary. Like that tablet campaign you did two years ago. The mural one?” Dylan’s attention shifted to me, and so did everyone else’s.
“Um…”
“That was you?” Noel leaned into the table to look at me. “I bought that tablet because of that ad campaign.”
“Well…good. It worked then.” I laughed, weakly, but I could already see the curious glances exchanged around the room.
“Wait, the one that featured all those local artists in major cities?” Henry asked. Noel nodded, still staring at me, looking a little…impressed.
“They had all the artists design and plan the murals on the tablets, then put them up overnight. They paired it with this massive campaign to showcase the artists and their stories. It made some of their careers completely take off.”
“Changed the brand narrative, too,” Dylan added.
“I, uh, can’t take credit for that part,” I assured them, sinking lower in my chair. The campaign had been fun, and it had been a hit. We’d known the company wanted to break into more creative applications, so the brand had doubled down on our work, creating scholarships and artist residencies, too.
“But that’s the power a rebrand can have.” Dylan may have been addressing the entire room, but I could feel his eyes locked in on me.
To avoid his gaze, I looked around the rest of the table. Bad move.
Everyone was waiting for me to say something. After months of sitting in this back corner, Dylan had put a big ole spotlight on me. I could practically hear his voice in my head.
Come on, Angel. Show ‘em what you got.
“Well, I,” I began, toggling back to my notes from earlier in the brainstorm. Where were those sparks of ideas I’d written down that Victoria hadn’t? I scanned them. Nothing. “That campaign was a true collaborative effort, you know. We had a lot of people with a lot of different backgrounds who worked to make that a reality.”
When I looked up again, they were still waiting, watching like I was supposed to say something profound.
“We knew they wanted to break into a new market, so we stopped thinking about the product and started thinking about what they wanted it to do, you know?”
Out of the corner of my eye, Dylan cocked his head. It was enough encouragement that my thoughts shifted into a somewhat more productive pattern.
“What do we know about Botto? They’ve been traditionally in the manufacturing space, making robots for assembly lines, but they feel like the future is in food service. Fast-food places; robots that can cook food faster and more safely than humans.” My brow furrowed, something tugging at my brain. I looked at Henry. “Didn’t you used to work at one of the big regional burger brands?”
