resignedly. ‘Then that’s what you’ll get.’
‘I’m getting a bad feeling about this,’ said Greg as they made their way out of the boardroom. ‘The man is a complete nutjob. His Rihanna themed recruitment video is going to be ridiculous.’ ‘I know,’ Mollie replied, walking towards the lift. ‘But you know what they say. The client is always right, even when they’re wrong.’
There was nothing that Greg could say to that. Empressario was a big client, and they needed a cash injection right now. Greg had taken almost as much of a risk as Molly had when he’d decided to leave his secure job and set up with her. And let’s face it; if Calvin couldn’t get his ‘vision’ taken care of by them, then he’d just get another company to do it.
‘There’s only one thing though,’ said Greg.
‘What?’
‘I think we should make our company logo really small at the end of the credits.’
‘Oh completely,’ said Molly. ‘Miniscule. Like, completely indiscernible to the naked eye.’
‘Do you think he’d like it in 3D?’
‘Probably.’
‘With one of those floating heads of himself? Kind of like Mugatu in Zoolander?’
‘Maybe, we could theme it around Frankie Goes To Hollywood lyrics?’
‘Wouldn’t that kind of thing just make it seem like Empressario is full of sexual harassment cases waiting to happen?’ asked Greg.
‘Maybe,’ said Molly.
Greg shrugged at her. ‘I don’t know, he seems proper loco. Unhinged, even. Is there any chance we can get in touch with Tim?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Mollie. ‘I’m not sure whether or not that would make things even worse. It would look like we didn’t rate Calvin’s opinion.’
‘Yeah, because we don’t,’ said Greg bluntly. ‘This video is going to look more like a sketch from The Office than a serious business advertisement.’
‘True, but we can’t just come out and say that, can we?’ said Mollie. Greg was a master at editing footage, but had little patience when it came to managing the fragile egos of their clients. That’s where she really came into the equation.
‘What do you say we go back to the team and try to come up with something that will impress Calvin but won’t make any half sane company run a million miles from us?’
‘That,’ said Greg ‘sounds like a plan.’
‘Team’ was probably too grand a term for her company. There were six in all, handpicked by Mollie and Greg when they’d left to set up on their own. They’d all been made unemployed by the recession, and she didn’t want to be the reason they lost their jobs for the second time. She had to find some way to make it work.
‘How about we do a milder version?’ suggested Kim, a camera woman with a great eye for visuals. ‘Yeah, we have the good looking line of executives in the lobby; yeah we show some shots of stock exchanges from around the world. But we use slick changes between the shots, and some instrumental background music. It can still be modern, maybe a music only song from a current popular hit, but nothing garish. It might not be as crisp and professional as Tim wanted, but it would be a good compromise.’
‘Pulling music from a major hit would send our costs sky-rocketing upwards,’ Greg pointed out.
Kim just shrugged. ‘He wants young, he wants hip. That doesn’t necessarily come cheap.’
‘I’m not sure that’s going to work,’ said Mollie ruefully. ‘He’s very clear that the brief for this project is ‘sexy’. He also wants graphics of a spinning globe with red lines linking every major financial city with Empressario Corps. Can you do that, Harry?’
Harry was their graphic designer. He winced. ‘I could do that,’ he conceded. ‘If we wanted to look like we were aiming for a nineties business programme look. Which isn’t exactly young or hip, is it?’
‘I think it’s non-negotiable,’ sighed Mollie.
After a couple of fruitless couple of hours trying to think of some way to meld both
‘I’m getting a bad feeling about this,’ said Greg as they made their way out of the boardroom. ‘The man is a complete nutjob. His Rihanna themed recruitment video is going to be ridiculous.’ ‘I know,’ Mollie replied, walking towards the lift. ‘But you know what they say. The client is always right, even when they’re wrong.’
There was nothing that Greg could say to that. Empressario was a big client, and they needed a cash injection right now. Greg had taken almost as much of a risk as Molly had when he’d decided to leave his secure job and set up with her. And let’s face it; if Calvin couldn’t get his ‘vision’ taken care of by them, then he’d just get another company to do it.
‘There’s only one thing though,’ said Greg.
‘What?’
‘I think we should make our company logo really small at the end of the credits.’
‘Oh completely,’ said Molly. ‘Miniscule. Like, completely indiscernible to the naked eye.’
‘Do you think he’d like it in 3D?’
‘Probably.’
‘With one of those floating heads of himself? Kind of like Mugatu in Zoolander?’
‘Maybe, we could theme it around Frankie Goes To Hollywood lyrics?’
‘Wouldn’t that kind of thing just make it seem like Empressario is full of sexual harassment cases waiting to happen?’ asked Greg.
‘Maybe,’ said Molly.
Greg shrugged at her. ‘I don’t know, he seems proper loco. Unhinged, even. Is there any chance we can get in touch with Tim?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Mollie. ‘I’m not sure whether or not that would make things even worse. It would look like we didn’t rate Calvin’s opinion.’
‘Yeah, because we don’t,’ said Greg bluntly. ‘This video is going to look more like a sketch from The Office than a serious business advertisement.’
‘True, but we can’t just come out and say that, can we?’ said Mollie. Greg was a master at editing footage, but had little patience when it came to managing the fragile egos of their clients. That’s where she really came into the equation.
‘What do you say we go back to the team and try to come up with something that will impress Calvin but won’t make any half sane company run a million miles from us?’
‘That,’ said Greg ‘sounds like a plan.’
‘Team’ was probably too grand a term for her company. There were six in all, handpicked by Mollie and Greg when they’d left to set up on their own. They’d all been made unemployed by the recession, and she didn’t want to be the reason they lost their jobs for the second time. She had to find some way to make it work.
‘How about we do a milder version?’ suggested Kim, a camera woman with a great eye for visuals. ‘Yeah, we have the good looking line of executives in the lobby; yeah we show some shots of stock exchanges from around the world. But we use slick changes between the shots, and some instrumental background music. It can still be modern, maybe a music only song from a current popular hit, but nothing garish. It might not be as crisp and professional as Tim wanted, but it would be a good compromise.’
‘Pulling music from a major hit would send our costs sky-rocketing upwards,’ Greg pointed out.
Kim just shrugged. ‘He wants young, he wants hip. That doesn’t necessarily come cheap.’
‘I’m not sure that’s going to work,’ said Mollie ruefully. ‘He’s very clear that the brief for this project is ‘sexy’. He also wants graphics of a spinning globe with red lines linking every major financial city with Empressario Corps. Can you do that, Harry?’
Harry was their graphic designer. He winced. ‘I could do that,’ he conceded. ‘If we wanted to look like we were aiming for a nineties business programme look. Which isn’t exactly young or hip, is it?’
‘I think it’s non-negotiable,’ sighed Mollie.
After a couple of fruitless couple of hours trying to think of some way to meld both
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