Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Thank you Ivana for the edit/rewrite of the Italian. It made such a difference.
Author’s comments: This chapter continues the presentation of the ad campaign meeting for Eyeconics/Belluss Occhiali.
This chapter also contains sections where characters are speaking Italian. Understand when this happens, Brian and most of the people in the room will not understand what is going on, until the conversation returns to English. I opted to go with the Italian so you would get a sense of the atmosphere in the room. I provided an English translation of the dialogue so that you can keep up with the story dynamics.
Chapter 20 – Presentation Is Everything, Part 2
Later That Same Day…(Day 23)
Toward the end of lunch, Maria and Cristina gently pulled Justin into the lobby. The three friends were casually chatting among themselves, and decided to drift outside for a breath of fresh air.
“What happened to you Justin? You worked on father’s campaign, and then you disappeared,” Maria asked.
“When I finished my internship at Vanguard, I didn’t return to classes as the PIFA. I went to Hollywood to work on a movie. When the movie was cancelled, I came back here to Pittsburgh and started to paint. I received some attention from art critics, and I’ve been living in New York for the last year building my career as an artist.” Justin explained, deciding it best to leave out the details of the Stockwell campaign.
“We looked for you, you know?” Cristina added sadly.
“You did? Why?”
“Because we were both crazy about you. We had fun together. And you blush so easily,” Maria teased.
“Oh yes, well, there is that,” Justin joked in response.
“Seriously Justin, back then, you were the only one who understood what we needed. You understand us better than anyone. The campaign you worked on back then was right on target. The new campaigns are the same way. It’s like you knew precisely what we had in mind. You spotlighted the product. Anything else on the page was there to enhance the product. That’s what has always been wrong with our ads. We knew something was wrong with our ads for years, but we couldn’t put our finger on the problem.”
“Then why is Signor Silvestri …”
“Father is just being Father. You know how he can be.” Maria chimed in.
“I see,” Justin said quietly.
“Have you gotten married yet?” Cristina asked with a grin.
Followed immediately by Maria, who asked, “Do you have children?”
“How is it that you two always seem to conveniently forget that I’m gay?” Justin teased.
“Maybe because we still both think you would make someone the perfect husband. ” Cristina added with a laugh.
“But there IS someone special?” Maria asked quietly.
“Yes. We’ve been together for six years.”
“So there really is no hope for either of us?” Cristina asked, trying to sound forlorn, but failing miserably.
“I’m afraid not. You two are still pathetic.” Justin said, shaking his head. They all laughed.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just so glad to see you again. You have to come and visit us in Milan.” Maria bounced back quickly.
“I might just do that.”
Cristina joined in. “Yes come, we can do the museums and galleries together. It would be great to do them with someone who truly appreciates…”
Maria interrupted, “Meaning she hates visiting galleries with me and re-explaining everything over and over. Yes, please come, Justin. Rescue me!.”
“We’ll see.”
“Anyway, I’m glad that we found you again.” Cristina added. “Promise me, we can get together and talk after this is over? Maria and I have missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” Justin finally admitted, which caused both Maria and Cristina to blush. “We had better get back inside. I think they’re ready to re-start.”
***
“Signor Silvestri,” Justin began when everyone had reassembled in the conference room and taken their seats. “ In the past, when you created Belluss Occhiali campaigns, you had the luxury of directing the marketing and advertising campaigns in directions, which were unique to your company. However, in this case Belluss Occhiali did not create this collection alone. Eyeconics produced these products jointly with you. So any campaign must reflect the character of both companies, and any ad campaign must have input from both perspectives. For that reason, your usual strategy of us creating your advertising campaign, here and now, in this room, is not going to work. I believe that you might like to reconsider your plans.”
“I want to create a new campaign from scratch. There are significant problems with the campaigns that have been proposed.” Rudolpho continued. “We can’t resolve those problems. We need to start from scratch.”
“What are those problems? So I know where to start?” Justin quietly asked. “What are those problems so that adjustment can be made?”
“The problems are so severe we can’t work them out. We have to develop the entire campaign here and now from scratch. Can’t you see that?” Rudolpho insisted.
“Maybe if you would share with us your vision of your campaign, we would be better able to provide input, maybe refine your suggestion, and ultimately create the exact campaign you had in mind,” Justin quietly suggested.
“We don’t have specific ideas in mind, that is why we think you should suggest and develop a new campaign strategy for us, here and now.” Rudolph continued.
Justin continued, “Signor Silvestri, the idea is to have a memorable campaign that has your product on everyone lips. The two campaigns that we have shown you accomplish that goal. They stress the magnificence of your products and were painstakingly created after extensive research. Due of that fact, I firmly believe any campaign that we create here…now, will be significantly less effective than what has already been presented. Therefore, I see no reason to engage in our usual exercise when we already know the outcome.”
There was a moment of silence as Justin looked over at Maria and Cristina, who both nodded their support, but they said nothing. He also looked over at Susan, and she also nodded, confirming that she saw Justin’s point.
Justin looked back at Signor Silvestri, and he braced himself, for he had a feeling that he knew precisely what was going to happen next.
Signor Silvestri began to speak in rapid Italian. Justin remembered from experience that his first reaction would be to spout off in anger. Translation of what was said at this point was unnecessary, but judging by the expressions on everyone’s faces the lack of Italian expertise was a blessing.
While Rudolpho continued to rant, Justin calmly walked over to the side cabinet and poured a glass of ice water. He then turned around to Signor Silvestri and calmly handed him the glass of water. Finally, Justin interrupted Rudolpho’s tirade, this time speaking calmly in Italian, “Signor Silvestri, si calmi per favore. Questo e del tutto inutile. Ecco, beva questo. Pensi a cio che sta facendo. Brian el il migliore nel suo campo. Perche vuole cancellare tutti i suoi bei progetti? Perche vuole creare una campagna pubblicitaria inferiore per vendere dei prodotti magnifici? Mi perdoni, ma cio non ha alcun senso.” (Translation: Signor Silvestri, please calm down. This is totally unnecessary. Here drink this. Think about what you’re doing. Brian is the best in the business. Why do you want to cancel out all your beautiful designs? Why do you want to create an inferior ad campaign to sell magnificent products? Forgive me, but that just doesn’t make any sense.)
Maria joined in the conversation in Italian, “Non siamo mai stati soddisfatti delle nostre pubblicita in passato quindi e sempre stato necessario per te tentare di ricominciare da capo. Non siamo mai riusciti a identificare il problema delle nostre pubblicita in passato. Quindi abbiamo continuato a cercare soluzioni diverse che non hanno mai risolto il problema. Ma papa, non vedi, Justin e Brian hanno risolto quel problema. E’ inutile che noi interferiamo con cio che hanno fatto. Non lo vedi?” (Translation: We were never happy with our ads in the past so it was always necessary for you try to start over. We could never identify the problem with our ads in the past. So we kept trying different things that never seemed to fix the problem. But Father, don’t you see, Justin and Brian have solved that problem. It’s unnecessary for us to tamper with what they’ve done. Don’t you see that?)
Signor Silvestri began to speak again, this time in English, “It is important that we at Belluss Occhiali create a quality campaign.”
Brian was about to speak, when Justin silenced him with a knowing glance. Brian continued to hold back, and let Justin continue to handle the discussion.
Justin continued once again, “Just so you know Signor Silvestri, Brian and I can sit here all day and develop campaigns for you. And you can sit there and continue make suggestions. Now here’s the problem as I see it. You, Brian, and I may be able to work under these conditions, but I’m not sure your partners on the Eyeconics team could create under these conditions and have their perspectives adequately represented. So after we worked with you to create a campaign, we would have to repeat the process separately with Eyeconics. I could envision a protracted back and forth, creation process for us between your two companies. Although we would be happy to do this, what I see would be a never-ending ad campaign development cycle with products that NEVER reach the marketplace. I’m sure your partners at Eyeconics would have problems with this strategy, especially since you are already behind schedule.”
Susan Weaver nodded that she agreed with what Justin had just stated, but she was too stunned to utter a word.
Then Justin once again spoke in Italian, “Ed io, in quanto suo amico, non posso starmene da parte e lasciarglielo fare.” (Translation: And I as your friend, can not stand idly by and let you do this.)
“One final point,” Justin continued, “Kinnetik has worked very hard to build a certain reputation in this industry. Yes, it’s a small regional firm, but due to Brian’s efforts this firm has a sterling reputation. That reputation would be severely tarnished if we proceed in the direction that you’re suggesting. Therefore Signor Silvestri, since you and Eyeconics find the two campaigns we have already proposed to you to be totally unacceptable, it would appear that in spite of our best efforts, Kinnetik was unable to offer you anything of interest. For that we are truly sorry. And, the two ad campaigns, which were presented this morning, are no longer available for you consideration.”
Justin stood up and crossed the room. All eyes were following him waiting to see what would happen next. Justin now stood by the opposite wall and began speaking again.
“Rather than take up any more of your valuable time, I suggest we simply end this meeting. I hope that Eyeconics and Belluss Occhiali will have much success as you deal with you next agency on this ad campaign. And, we anticipate that the campaign ideas shown to you today will not be incorporated in any future campaigns of your companies, either individually or jointly.”
Finally Justin smiled his trademark smile and said in Italian, “Signor Silvestri,, Maria, Cristina…e stato bello rivedere tutti voi.” (Translation: Signor Silvestri, Maria, Cristina…it’s been good to see you all again.)
He then addressed the entire room in English and said, “I seem to have pressing matters, if you will excuse me.”
And with that Justin calmly walked out of the conference room, closing the door behind him. As Justin exited the room, it erupted in chaos.
Brian recovered from his shock quicker than the others and smiled. Then he brought the room back to order.
Brian calmly said, “I guess we have nothing further to discuss,” and held up his hands stopping all discussion. Brian calmly returned to his office, leaving Cynthia and Ted to escort everyone from the conference room.
Entering his office, Brian went to his cabinet and located his bottle of Beam. He poured some in a glass and carried the glass back to his desk. As he took a sip, Brian remembered another time.
Beginning of Flashback
The scene is the darken room deep within Vanguard agency. It’s late a night and the only sound is that of a copier in action.
Brian appeared out of nowhere to investigate the source of the sounds, and he finds Justin making copies.
“Taylor, what are you still doing here,” Brian asked, continuing his approach. Let me guess, PIFA was too cheap to do their copying at Kinkos, so you agree to do it for them?
“I told you it was just an art project for school.” Justin tried to explain.
“Huh!” Brian remarked and then began to laugh, seeing that these were another set of protest posters of against Stockwell. “I’m sure you’ll get an A+ even if it is a bit crude and heavy handed,” he continued, using Justin’s own words back at him to describe his art.
“Look, I didn’t think anyone would be here this late. So… You found out my secret identity,” Justin responded.
Brian started to roll up the copies of the posters produced by the copier. “Well, fun’s over, Superboy,” he uttered emphatically.
“What are you doing?” Justin asked.
“You made your statement once, that’s enough. Now, it’s time to cut it out!” Brian continued to insist.
“I’m not going to cut it out. I’m doing what I believe in,” Justin protested.
“Fuck what you believe in. I’m telling you to stop!”
“You also once told me you wanted me to be the best homosexual I could possibly be, which includes not giving a shit what anyone tells me. Think for myself! Stockwell is a homophobe. He’s a fascist. He’s a threat to everything and everyone we know. I don’t care what you think.”
“You don’t know what I think. I don’t give a shit about Stockwell. But you’re not just fucking with him…you’re fucking with me. It’s my business. Now get the hell out of here!” Brian demanded.
End of Flashback
Brian pulled out his cellphone and called Justin, but the call rolled over into voice mail.
Brian then called down to his art department, but found out that they hadn’t seen Justin since this morning.
Brian called Thomas, and asked him to call if Justin arrived at the house.
Brian waited, trying to will his cell phone to ring.
Beginning of Flashback
The scene is the loft as Brian’s possessions are being carted away after Brian, presenting himself as the Concerned Citizens for the Truth, had risked all that he had, to pay $100,000 for the ads to stop Stockwell.
“Why did you do it?” Justin had asked him, touching him gently. “It’s so …”
Brian finished Justin’s sentence by voicing the word, “Noble?”
Justin corrected him by saying, “Out of character.”
Brian said, “Some asshole once told me…if you believe in something strongly enough, you have to be willing to sacrifice everything.”
End of Flashback
Taking another sip of his drink, Brian tried to put the pieces together, replaying the events in the conference room.
Justin had taken control of a very important meeting, then had abruptly ended that meeting, and finally had calmly walked out of the room.
Justin had exhibited no fear, no hesitation, no doubts, no apology, and no regrets.
And, Brian could do nothing now except wait to hear from Justin.