Jonah spun around. A Blutecc executive he vaguely recognised was hovering in the doorway.Christ.“I have to go,” he said into the phone and hung up.
His phone buzzed immediately with an angry text from Lily.
Lily:don’t you dare hang up on me!!!
Too late. But Jonah could handle her outrage. He just had to hope the Blutecc suit had rocked up to his office with his mind elsewhere, or he’d be in Sacha’s bad books more than ever.
* * *
“You’re joking, right?” Jonah flipped his gaze between his office window, and the Blutecc executive currently taking up space in his office. It wasn’t Sacha, but somehow the mild-mannered man was proving to be every bit as frustrating as the rest of his morning had been. “You’re asking me to find room on our books to conceive a campaign for your product within the nextthree months. Are you out of your mind?”
“Probably,” the executive said. “But in all honesty, we were expecting the development to bomb, or at least be so delayed we wouldn’t have a launch in place before next autumn. Our team have caught us off guard with their progress.”
“Your team? Or the person you hired to save this project?”
Person? That’s what you’re calling him?Lord. It had been three hours since Jonah had left Sacha in the café and he was still no closer to understanding what had happened to derail their breakfast so entirely. And now he had Blutecc’s director of marketing in his office begging for something Jonah couldn’t comprehend, much less deliver.This day just gets better and better.
The executive sighed. “Yes, okay. Sacha Ivanov has proved more effective than we could’ve possibly envisaged. The app is nearly ready, and the supporting infrastructure isn’t far behind, thanks to his ability to perform several full time roles at once. It is the marketing team that isn’t ready, and I’m coming to you for help.”
“You don’t have an advertising firm on retainer already?”
“We do. But they’re at capacity. Like I said, no one was prepared for anything but failure.”
“That’s a sad base point for your company. Your staff meetings must be fun.”
“Oh they are. Mr. Ivanov is quite…entertaining in his efforts to motivate.”
“And effective too, it seems.”
“Indeed.” The executive leaned forwards, signalling that their casual back and forth was over. “Look, I know it’s an audacious ask, but I’m aware that you didn’t get the Lucozade contract you pitched for last month. That you have material in your arsenal for a sports-based campaign?”
“You want me to transfer a pitch for an energy drink to your half-baked fitness app?”
“Yes. I’d sugar-coat it, but frankly I don’t have the time. If this conversation is about finances, rest assured we have the resources to cover your fees.”
“I know you do. My mother represented your CEO in his divorce.”
The Blutecc director winced, but kept his gaze fixed on Jonah. Begging. Pleading. All without words.
Jonah sighed and dropped into his desk chair. There was zero chance of him agreeing to recycle a concept from a failed pitch into something new, but as it happened, thanks to a delay in the La Glo campaign, therewaswiggle room in his schedule. His design team were mostly tied up on other projects, buthecould help if he wanted to.
“Fine,” he said around a heavy sigh. “Gather everything you have and I’ll put it to my creative team in the morning. Give us a day to pull a visual pitch together. If you like it, we’ll roll. If not, you can find someone else. Or crash and burn. Whichever comes first. Does that sound fair?”
The executive nodded and extended his hand. “It does. I’ll have Mr. Ivanov brief you before day’s end.”
Jonah closed his eyes.Wonderful.
* * *
The day was long. For most of it, Jonah remained convinced Sacha wouldn’t show up. That Blutecc’s marketing director had come to his senses before he’d approached Sacha and the ridiculous plan was off the table. But he briefed his team anyway, an entire day before he’d promised, and sent associates next door for more information.
They came back with a sketchy interface and graphics that looked like Jonah had drawn them in middle school. “What on earth?” He swiped through them. “Did they do these in Microsoft Paint?”
Winona shrugged. “I don’t know. Sacha said they’re all idiots. I don’t think he was including himself or Helga in that, though.”
“Helga?”
“The blonde. I think I love her.”