Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Author’s Comments: Once again, we have a sidebar. This sidebar is complete in only one chapter, which spans two days. Events from this chapter will reconnect with the actual story in Chapter 24.
Chapter 23 – Glimpses (Sidebar) After the Meeting…(Day 23) The air in the car from Kinnetik to their hotel was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and the silence between the family members added an extra heaviness. “Well, are either of you going to say anything?” Rudolpho asked, when they finally settled in their suite at the hotel. “What’s there to say?” Cristina commented as she slumped into a comfortable chair. “You did what you always do.” “Now, we have a collection and no advertising campaign. This little stunt of yours, father, is going to cost us a fortune,” Maria insisted, beginning to pace so her father could see her agitation. “All they had to do was create with me,” Rudolpho tried to explain. “I would have admitted that the original campaigns were better. We could have signed the contract, and I would be on my way home to Milan. Instead I sit here trying to explain myself to my daughters.” “This is clearly your fault his time, father. With the other agencies, it didn’t matter because we didn’t like the campaigns. The other agencies truly didn’t understand us, so we really DID think we could do better by trying to create a new campaign. We really thought we could do a better job. But this time was different. Kinnetik gave us precisely what we hoped for in a campaign right from the start. There was no reason for your antics. I tried to tell you that in the meeting, but you wouldn’t listen.” Maria recounted, letting her frustration with her father show through. “That ad campaign would have been the buzz of Europe. Now we have to start all over again with yet another agency. We will never get the products to marketplace. Now everything is a mess!” Cristina added her frustration to that of her sister. “So tell me father, why did I and the design team waste all this creative time? We had other projects we wanted to pursue. But you insisted on this project with Eyeconics. Why did you do that? Just to bring us here to this point?” “So what do you want me to do?” Rudolpho finally asked, conceding defeat against the tirade of his daughters. “You…have…to…fix…this!” Maria insisted. “Look, I’m as disappointed as you are. I was already starting to imagine our products in Kinnetik’s hands. With all the extra press coverage, our sales’ projections could easily be double our original forecasts,” Rudolpho commented. “Well that’s not going to happen now. Is it?” Cristina said, with resignation as she stood up and walked out of the room. “So what do you want me to do?” Rudolpho kept repeating in defeat. “Make it up to Justin?” Maria demanded. “Really make it up to Justin.” “Justin, don’t you mean Brian? Brian Kinney is CEO of Kinnetik, not Justin,” Rudolpho reminded her. “Yes, but it was Justin, who withdrew the campaigns. Brian only ended the meeting. He merely supported Justin’s decision.” “I wonder why he did that? Eyeconics and Belluss Occhiali are large companies. The collection would have been a major account for his agency. Why would he risk all that on the temperamental ravings of an artist?” Rudolpho wondered aloud. “Kinnetik may be a small, boutique agency. But they handle some rather large accounts. Their survival doesn’t hinge on getting our account. They probably only created the ad campaign as a favor to Eyeconics,” Maria explained. “Besides, I’m not sure that Justin is temperamental. He sure handled you expertly enough during the meeting. When we dealt with the other agencies, they were so interested in the possibility of the Silvestri Holdings account that they kept falling all over themselves to try to make you happy. But Justin never waivered, he held to his position that creating another campaign would be a waste of time, and the outcome would be predictable. All you had to do was agree with him. Also he didn’t attack you. Instead, he saved you from a lot of embarrassment. All he said was you needed to reconsider your position.” “So what do you want me to do?” “You’re going to have to figure out something. You’re still going to have to deal to Eyeconics. If you think Cristina and I were difficult to deal on this, you can imagine what trying to talk with Susan Weaver is going to be like. It’s going to be soooo much worst! Couple that with the fact that you have been difficult for her to deal with during this whole joint venture. I’m not sure that she is going to have any patience left. So I suggest you remember to turn on the charm in dealing with her tomorrow.” “I don’t know. For Eyeconics there is no real issue. Susan and Brian have been dealing for some time…I could tell that by the banter between them. All Eyeconics has to do is ask nicely. If they want the campaign, Brian would probably let them have it. Our joint designs would sell under the Eyeconics name.” “Sure father, we would make our percentage on the deal, but we would be ruined in the industry. Our reputation would be ruined. There has already been a lot of publicity about our joint venture with Eyeconics. If they alone were to market our jointly created products, no one would ever work with us again. So father, I suggest that you to fix this!” Maria said emphatically to her father, before she also left the room to locate her sister. Rudolpho stretched out on the sofa in the suite to think. Oh how he wished that he were anywhere except in Pittsburgh at this moment. *** Meanwhile…(Day 23) Susan Weaver was sitting in her office at Eyeconics, trying to replay the events of the meeting in her mind. Kinnetik had, as always, fulfilled all its promises and created a campaign that exceeded her expectations. Yet Eyeconics still didn’t have the campaign they needed, because some artist was allowed to remove the campaigns from consideration. Then she paused to reflect. That’s not what happened. Justin Taylor merely told Rudolpho that he needed to reconsider his position. It was only when Rudolpho was rigid in his position that the campaigns were removed from consideration. While Susan was sitting there pondering her options, her partner Kellie Mc Quaid entered and immediately made herself comfortable in a nearby chair. “Kellie, what are you doing back?” Susan asked, upon seeing her partner. “We got those licensing deals I went after. I saw no reason to prolong my visits to strange countries any longer than necessary. So here I am. I know Kinnetik had the presentation today. How did it go?” Kelly asked, showing her intense interest. “Don’t ask? Brian abruptly ended our meeting. Now he isn’t taking our phone calls.” “That doesn’t sound like Brian. What happened?” “What do you know about Justin Taylor?” “Justin Taylor? What does he have to do with this?” “Brian brought him in on the art direct our joint campaign. I know he’s an artist. The graphics that Kinnetik created for the ads were spectacular. They created a great name for the products, Collezione Fiero. What do you think?” “ I love the name? What about a slogan?” “The Look That Says It All. He also came up with a second slogan: Hide the Fire In Your Eyes. You should see the campaigns Brian came up with to go with the slogans.” “Were they as edgy as always? Were they sexy?” “Oh yeah! This was Brian. Of course, they were.” Susan went on to relate the components of the ad with the woman rising out of the water, the four sunbathers, the fifth sunbather, the looks, and the racy ending.” Kellie was laughing, “Yes…that’s pure Brian.” Then her mood became more somber as she asked, “So why did you ask about Justin Taylor, and what did he have to do with this?” “Did you know that the Silvestris and Justin Taylor know each other? I think they’re old friends. They were speaking to each other in Italian and hugging each other. Cristina and Maria wouldn’t stop holding on to him. Someone on the Belluss Occhiali design team told me that they heard that Rudolpho wanted Justin to marry Maria or Cristina several years ago. You should have seen the Silvestris with him…so unguarded…so agreeable…so at ease. Then Justin directly challenged Rudolpho in the meeting,” Susan relayed quietly. “What?” Kellie interrupted. “Where was Brian? Brian is very careful to always control his meetings.” “Not this time! When we came back after a wonderful lunch, Brian seemed to just sit back and let Justin take over the meeting. I don’t know,” Susan continued. Kellie immediately started to laugh. “What’s so funny?” Susan asked, trying to figure out why her partner was behaving so strangely. “Do you know who Justin Taylor is?” “Sure. He’s an up and coming artist. I’ve seen his work in the lobby of Kinnetik. I’ve also seen a few of his paintings at The Bloom Gallery about a year ago. I’ve been reading about him being in New York. His recent show in Santa Barbara got quite a lot of press. It seems he adopted the unorthodox strategy that his paintings should be seen for the pure enjoyment of them. So he exhibited without the intent of selling any paintings. If you would read something else beside the financial pages, you would know these things. Over the last few weeks, every time I would casually drop in at Kinnetik, Cynthia kept telling me we were lucky to have him working on our campaign. Now I understand why she kept saying that. He is an amazing artist.” Susan relayed. “But, why do you ask?” “Is that all you know?” Kellie asked, implying there was so much more to the story. She leaned back in her chair and waited for her partner’s reaction. “What else is there to know?” “Susan, Justin Taylor is the only person with enough balls to challenge Brian’s opinion in a open meeting. He’s blond haired, blue eyed, and looks like a kid. But if you ask him a question, he will speak his mind. This kid gave his opinion in a meeting that contradicted Brian’s opinion back when he was an intern at Vanguard. Anyone else would have simply dodged the question or deferred to Brian or Gardner. Justin was asked, and he gave an honest answer. And, he lived to tell about it.” Kellie said, with a smile as she thought back to that meeting a long time ago. Then she continued, “Remember the Stockwell campaign a few years ago? There were rumors circulating that Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor were responsible for the campaign loss of the then Chief of Police. Lincoln Stiles sits on the board at PIFA, and he told me that Justin was expelled from PIFA because he refused to compromise and apologize to Stockwell. Justin is truly a man of principle. Then, the rumors go on to say, that Brian and Justin were also responsible for Stockwell’s subsequent conviction. So, don’t let the blond hair and blue eyes fool you. He may look like a kid. But he’s a fearless force to be reckoned with.” “So that’s who he is.” Susan started to get the picture. “Oh yeah, and Justin Taylor is also Brian Kinney’s partner,” Kellie continued. “But, Kinnetik isn’t a partnership.” “Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor are a couple. Didn’t you notice his picture in Brian’s office?” “So that’s why he was so involved in the meeting!” “No, that’s not why he got to present. Brian doesn’t mix business with personal stuff. If Justin Taylor got to present, it was because he did quite of bit of the work. Believe me, Brian believes in only giving credit where credit is due. So if he was sharing the credit, believe me, the campaign would have been different without Justin’s involvement…that much I know.” “You should see the website graphics he created to go with the new collection. You should see the ads that were created for the collection, the graphics were really different. The long shots are gone. They so focused only on the details of the products. This collection could be our biggest seller ever. Now that you’re back, you can figure out how to get Brian to let us have the campaign.” “From what you’ve been telling me the campaign is wonderful. What’s the problem?” “I’m not sure exactly. Something happened between Justin and Rudolpho. They were speaking in Italian.” “Don’t tell me Rudolpho pulled the ‘let’s create a new campaign from scratch’ bullshit again?” “Afraid so.” “So what happened?” Kellie asked with a sigh, knowing she didn’t really want to hear the answer. “I know that Brian was ready for this. Justin must have warned him, because you know Brian takes less than 2 hours to present a campaign. This time he told me to allocate the entire day to the meeting. So I know he was prepared for something to happen.” “Yeah.” “Then Justin stepped in. He said it would be a waste of time to create another campaign. He and Rudolpho went back and forth in Italian. Evidently Rudolpho wouldn’t budge. Then, Justin calmly removed the campaigns from consideration and walked out of the meeting.” “Justin did?” “Justin said that the two campaigns were no longer available for our consideration, and Brian immediately ended the meeting.” “And, that was it?” “Yep. That was it.” “Don’t worry. Everything is probably still salvageable. But we just have to handle this carefully. Let me talk to Brian. You deal with the Silvestris. We have to come up with a strategy to change Kinnetik’s mind.” Kellie suggested. **** The Next Morning …(Day 24) “So Rudolpho, what are YOU going to do about the campaign problem?” Susan asked impatiently as their meeting began. “What do you mean?” Rudolpho innocently asked. “We love the campaign.” “Then why didn’t you say so yesterday?” she demanded. “I would have, but Justin didn’t me a chance. He suggested I change my mind, but then he didn’t give me chance to do just that.” “Well, you two are friends with Justin.” Susan said, gesturing with her arms to Rudolpho and Maria. “Have you talked to him?’ “He hasn’t returned our calls.” Maria said quietly. “But I do have a couple of ideas,” Rudolpho added. “By the way, where is Cristina? “She mentioned something about going to the museum. I guess you can tell my daughters are not very pleased with me, right now.” “They and I share that lot in common.” Susan commented sternly. “Look Susan, I really want to apologize for this mess. I want you to know that you have my full cooperation to set things right.” “Well, that’s a welcome change in attitude.” “I never meant to be difficult in the past. It’s just that people being afraid of me has always worked to my advantage before.” “But how can that be? I saw you with Justin.” “Justin has always known how to handle Rudolpho,” Maria added. “I think you saw that yesterday. We’re all rather fond of him.” “So can’t you get him to change his mind?” “We’re working on it. Just give us a little time.” “What about Brian? You have a long standing relationship with him,” Rudolpho tried to remind Susan. “Kellie is working on that angle. But Justin is really key to this deal, since he was the one that removed the campaigns from consideration.” “We’re working on this.” Maria acknowledged again. “We need to work fast. Everything has been so delayed, and we don’t want to waste anymore time,” Susan emphasized again. “I fully understand,” Rudolph said quietly. “Plans are already in motion.”