“They’ll cost a little bit more. But they speak to the young romantics of today.” I finish, holding my breath as the board contemplates my presentation.
On the screen behind me, pastel squares feature images of heart emojis, the American Sign Language “I Love You”, and people hugging. Some have little acronym greetings like LMK (Let Me Know), FTW (For The Win), JW (Just Wondering), ISO U (In Search Of You), HMU (Hit Me Up), WDYT (What Do You Think), AMA (Ask Me Anything), ILY (I Love You), and OTP (One True Pairing).
The members of the board ponder the images a moment longer and exchange looks. My lip slides between my teeth as the chairperson looks up with unreadable eyes and softly speaks.
“Let us have a moment to discuss this. You’ll find some fresh donuts in the break room.”
“Thank you,” I force myself to speak clearly and confidently before exiting in search of sugary courage.
I have nervously nibbled through half a donut when the stenographer comes to invite me back to the meeting. She smiles reassuringly but deflects my shallow attempts to get a hint at my idea’s fate. She quickly takes her seat without glancing at anyone. My eyes, however, rove with questioning hopefulness over every face. They all look back at me impassively, so my eyes return to the chairman.
“We love that you want to appeal to a younger demographic, but we feel like they won’t go for the chalky candy even if we shape it like a tiny cellphone. We also fear making it too much like another product that has been on the market a long long time might leave us open to a lawsuit.” He pauses to look at me kindly and let me process.
I nod my head, preparing to face rejection of yet another seasonal idea.
“But we like the idea enough that we would like to do some research and see how younger people react to your Love-texts if they are molded into chocolate or maybe a hard candy. Would you be willing to help with that research and development?”
I stand numbly taking this in until he clears his throat. “Yes. Thank you.”
—
A year later, I am head of the Textual Love division. Our products may cost a little more than our competitors, but they taste better and say more.
~~~
Oops. Another later entry. Sorry, dear readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment