PARAMOUNT BUILDING, MANHATTAN – 10 APRIL
‘Oh, yes, good morning, Mr Yohoto, good morning Mr Kinotoa,’ chirped Sonya, the bubbly receptionist at Dynamic Communications. ‘Victor and Katie are ready for you.’
I should hope so, thought Tsan Yohoto, considering all the money we’ve handed them over the years.
‘Please take a seat, they’ll be with you in a moment.’
The visitors sat into an enormous white leather couch and took in the expensive minimalist lobby with its central water feature. Lumo Kinotoa, the Yamoura chairman, who had not visited Dynamic’s office before, stood to examine a framed print of the famous skyscraper. The narrative down the side told him that Jack Benny, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and many others had performed in the theatre on the ground floor. Just as he learned that the building had hosted the Alan Freed show and had brought the phrase Rock’n’Roll to the world, the door burst open and out came Victor Dezner and Katie Keller, the two founding partners of Dynamic Communications.
‘Gentlemen, you are most welcome,’ they said in unison.
Not surprisingly for someone in their business, Victor and Katie had long perfected the civilities of greeting Japanese business guests and there was a drawn-out sequence of stiff bowing and handshaking as Tsan Yohoto introduced Lumo Kinotoa and business cards were ceremoniously exchanged.
‘Come in, come in,’ said Victor as he flounced his way ahead of his best clients and into the main offices. Victor Dezner wore tight black trousers and a tight black poloneck that accentuated his slim frame. The typecast dress code was topped off with a pointy chin, a neatly trimmed beard and longish sideburns. Kinotoa had long ago formed the impression from telephone conversations that Victor Dezner was gay, and now decided that he had been right.
‘The team are all waiting to meet you in the boardroom,’ sparkled Katie. ‘We are super-excited to hear about this new product!’ The advertising executives ushered their guests into a large boardroom, dominated by a shiny chrome table, flanked by chrome and black leather chairs.
‘Mr Yohoto, Mr Kinotoa, let me introduce you – this is Mark Reynolds, Head of our Healthcare Communications Team.’
The thirty-year-old, in a black suit and with spiky black hair, launched into his rehearsed procedure of deep bowing.
‘And this is Arlene Thomas, who works alongside me on print media communications, stakeholder education and outdoor advertising.’ Arlene, a young woman from Harlem, in a very tight pair of black leather trousers and black Armani T-shirt, joined in the greetings.
‘And last, but not least, this is Anna Milani, who looks after our celebrity endorsements and product placement. Anna, this is Mr Yohoto and Mr Kinotoa.’
Anna stepped forward, beamed an enormous smile and bowed respectfully to these important clients. As they shook her hand, both Yohoto and Kinotoa were struck by the woman’s natural beauty. The ritual exchange of more business cards took another minute or so.
‘Sit down, gentlemen, please,’ said Katie, as Victor filled everyone’s glasses with Perrier water and pushed forward bowls of exotic fruit. ‘Gentlemen, we can’t wait to hear about your exciting new product. We’re so looking forward to getting involved.’
Tsan Yohoto and Lumo Kinotoa settled into two seats at the centre of the table and the attentive executives sat around the table, facing them. Tsan Yohoto jiggled a floating cube of ice in his Perrier with his right index finger and started.
‘My friends, together we have had many great years of success in marketing our drugs into the US – enormously helped by your skilled advice and dynamic campaigns.’
The beaming Victor Dezner almost burst with pleasure.
‘We have decided to rebrand and relaunch one of our existing products on a global scale. We are convinced that creative marketing and pricing techniques can guarantee even greater sales. We are going to pilot this campaign in Manhattan. If it proves successful, as I’m sure it will, we will be asking your team to roll it out across the world.’
Victor began to stroke his beard furiously.
‘Also,’ Yohoto added, ‘as you know, we want to start this campaign as soon as possible.’
‘But how long will the FDA approval take?’ asked Katie.
‘We don’t need it,’ said Yohoto. ‘This drug has long been approved by the FDA – all we will be doing is rebranding, repackaging and promoting it more heavily.’
‘Oh, superb,’ interrupted Victor. ‘So, we can get straight on it.’
Tsan Yohoto frowned. He wanted to proceed in an orderly fashion.
‘Firstly,’ he said, ‘the drug is used to cure a whole range of problems from bowel and urinary tract inflammation, to sore throats, ears and sinuses. It has been in successful use for many years. However, our ongoing clinical trials have also shown that people taking the drug are finding it helps alleviate headaches and gives them more energy. Some consumers also find that they lose weight and generally feel fitter. It will be some time before we have full long-term data to prove these side effects clinically, but in the meantime, we would like to get the campaign underway. Our advertising needs to find a way to highlight these beneficial side effects and yet we do not want to overstate them and draw the FDA down on us, before we have the full clinical back-up.’
‘Absolutely, absolutely,’ nodded Victor.
‘For once, we come to you with our own brand name chosen,’ continued Yohoto. ‘The drug will be called SuperVerve.’
‘Brilliant!’ Victor exclaimed.
Tsan Yohoto continued. ‘We envisage targeting the health conscious, who are trying to cope with a busy lifestyle here.’
Doesn’t leave many out in Manhattan, Katie thought.
‘We have a marketing outline for you, for a saturation coverage campaign, to include TV, radio, print media, social media, billboards, websites, celebrity endorsements – you name it. We want to throw everything into this pilot programme and see which works best.’
‘No problem,’ said Victor, leaning forward to assure Tsan Yohoto of his undivided attention.
‘Absolutely,’ said Katie. ‘We can get the guys started straight way. Arlene?’ she said, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
‘Yep, I’m on it,’ said Arlene. ‘We’ll have a logo, strapline and branding fully detailed and costed, read to roll out as soon as you need.’
‘Anna?’ Katie enquired.
‘Yeah, I’m good to go. I’ll start thinking about a suitable celebrity to front the campaign for us. Sounds like a sports personality who has successfully battled a weight problem and gone on to greater heights. Or perhaps a supermodel with kids and a busy life.’
‘Or both?’ said Yohoto, impressed with Anna’s suggestions.
‘Why not?’ she said. ‘But these celebrities don’t come cheap.’
Katie broke the pause. ‘Mr Yohoto, can I assume that there will be some new high credibility medical endorsement of the product?’
‘Yes, indeed, Katie, that is already commissioned and you will have a paper within a week or two.’
‘And do you want us to set up a programme of Continuing Medical Education for the doctors?
‘Certainly, Katie. That’s an important part of the strategy,’ Yohoto replied.
Lumo Kinotoa interjected. ‘Or, as we call it – educating the doctors to continue prescribing our drugs!’
Everyone laughed.
‘So, when do you see us launching?’ asked Victor as he took a sip of water.
‘We have set a target of six weeks from now,’ replied Yohoto.
Victor coughed out a mouthful of mineral water.
‘What – what – six weeks?’ he gasped, as he frantically dabbed his poloneck with a tissue. ‘That’s impossible!’
‘Impossible is not what we came to hear,’ said Yohoto quietly. ‘By the way, did I mention that our budget is one hundred million dollars over the next two years?’
Victor’s eyes bulged. ‘No, not yet.’
‘This campaign is particularly important to us, which is why we have allocated that budget. We want your media buyers to negotiate the best rates for us – and, of course, your agency takes its normal fifteen per cent commission. With the same commission for the global rollout. So, can you do it, or should we be talking to one of your competitors?’
‘No, no, no,’ said Victor as he jumped up and began to shake Yohoto and Kinotoa’s hands. ‘Take it as done. You have my word.’
‘Excellent,’ smiled Tsan Yohoto as he and Kinotoa stood to say their goodbyes. ‘And when can I expect to see a first draft of the marketing plan for our consideration?’
‘Three days, three days,’ said Victor. ‘We’re starting right now. Absolutely.’