MANHATTAN – 18 MAY
It was a warm morning in New York. Arlene Thomas tried unsuccessfully to stifle an enormous yawn. It started Victor Dezner, Katie Keller, Mark Reynolds and Anna Milani yawning as well and that raised a good laugh.
‘Sorry, guys,’ said Arlene.
‘No worries, darling, we’re all exhausted,’ said Victor.
The yawning episode had broken a tired silence in the boardroom of Dynamic Communications. Most of the staff had been working twelve-hour days for two weeks now, weekends included. The partners, Victor and Katie, had been working eighteen-hour days and had taken rooms at the Plaza Hotel, half a block south, to save on the commute and for somewhere to crash.
‘Don’t know about you folks, but I’m just going on adrenaline these days,’ said Katie Keller.
‘Absolutely,’ agreed Victor.
Now that they were so close to the launch, they were beginning to get that tingle of excitement. Another buzz had been the bitching and moaning among their competitors about the amount of TV, radio and advertising pages they were booking. The gossip-rich bars and coffee shops in the area, from Fashion Avenue to midtown Madison, were awash with wild speculation as to what Dynamic Communications was up to. Had they landed some new accounts? Or stolen key accounts from another agency? Another bonus for Dynamic was that Arlene Thomas, its principal buyer, had been able to screw an extra five per cent discount out of the newspapers and magazines because of the volumes she was buying up. That would add nicely to the standard fifteen per cent discount on advertising expenditure that the newspapers, magazines and some TV and radio stations paid back to the advertising agency, and would go straight to the bottom line.
Wow, Victor Dezner had thought, if Yamoura and BurgerFantastic keep spending like they’re shaping up to, this could make us the No. 1 agency in New York in two years.
He wondered if they should maybe think about selling the business in a year or so while the name was strong and increasing market share. He couldn’t keep working at this pace. He knew that Katie Keller was having similar thoughts.
‘Okay, boys and girls,’ said Victor, slapping himself across the face to perk himself up. ‘TV advert. How are we looking?’
‘Good,’ said Katie. ‘The daytime version will start first, then we’ll shoot a new version every few months. Radio advert sounds great, thirty seconds, ties into TV campaign, same messages, same soundtrack.’
‘Okay,’ continued Arlene, opening another file. ‘Outdoor advertising’s good to go on Friday, starting with postering of the first hundred and fifty billboards on the island.’
Mark Reynolds whistled. ‘One hundred and fifty sites?’
‘Yep. And we’re adding in every electronic site we can grab on a good traffic route, good retail pitches and in the locations Yamoura ordered.’
Mark frowned. ‘Why those specific locations?’ he asked, having a quick look down the list. ‘They seem kinda random?’
‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged, ‘but if Yamoura want it, they get it.’
‘Absolutely, Arlene, great work,’ said Victor.
‘Thanks, guys. Now, full newspaper and magazine campaign starts Friday week also, the first of June. Everything using the healing colours of blue and white.’ She shoved copies of the advertising schedules for the next six months across the table and they all took a moment or two to scan them.
‘Mark, I.T., what’s the latest?’ asked Victor.
‘Sure, Vic, we’re on track with the SuperVerve website – going live on Friday and ready for a lot of hits from that campaign. The usual soft, warm, professional and caring feel. It draws the consumer in, gives them a good feeling. Plenty of emotion. Within a minute or so, they’ll be convinced that SuperVerve is the answer to all their problems,’ he chuckled.
‘Awesome, Mark,’ said Katie appreciatively.
‘Absolutely,’ said Victor. ‘And Anna? Any update?’
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Anna said in a mock announcer’s tone, ‘I am pleased to confirm that at 11 p.m. yesterday, I signed contracts with Max Sherry, agent for Christopher White of the Knicks and Ricky Morgan of the Giants.’
‘Wa-hey!’ cheered Victor and Katie.
Anna went on. ‘Christopher White is box office. He’s a real hot item for New York’s basketball fans – all six feet four inches of him. He’s the complete blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American hero.’
They all cheered.
‘Aye, and in case you’ve missed it, he’s currently pictured on a thirty-foot billboard outside Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks.’
More cheers.
She grinned at her colleagues. ‘And, after a bit of a struggle, I got Ricky Morgan too. He’s currently rated the most valuable player with the New York Giants. Just twenty-five years old. He’s the quintessential black kid from the Bronx made good. Big street cred with the younger sports fan and black demographics.’
‘Anna, you could hardly have come up with two better known names in the city.’ Katie Keller beamed.
‘Yeah, I’m pleased. Ricky Morgan had some reservations over endorsing a burger, says it’s not a healthy image, but I got him over the line. Money talks.’
‘How much?’ asked Victor.
‘Two million dollars each for a one-year campaign, plus an option for another year at one million bucks.’
Victor Dezner let out a long low whistle.
‘These guys can practically name their own price at the moment,’ continued Anna. ‘Christopher White is going on the SuperVerve campaign. Apparently, he was plagued with stomach trouble until he discovered SuperVerve last week. And Ricky Morgan – turns out he couldn’t run ten yards until he discovered how much energy BurgerFantastics gave him!’
They all laughed again.
‘We’ve got a half day’s filming time with both of them next week. We reckon we can get their TV and radio adverts in the bag within ten days.
‘And,’ Anna went on, ‘I’ve got a strong commitment from The Times editorial side. They’ll give us a half-page interview on Saturday week, lifestyle-type piece on Christopher White, how he stays healthy, etc. – we’ll work in SuperVerve. And a week later we’re going to give them an exclusive interview with Ricky Morgan. They nearly took my arm off. We’ll get him to talk about BurgerFantastic, how the burgers are such an important part of his diet and lifestyle, so on, and so on . . .’
‘Fantastic,’ said Victor, punching the air with his fist. ‘Guys, we are on fire here! Well done everyone. Now let’s ram these campaigns home!’