Page 8 of Strictly Business

I start by doing a mood board and then as things begin to clarify for me, I write a company mission statement that I think fits the brand perfectly. I start working on colors and font choices next and once I am happy with those, I design the logo and the packaging for the food.

My stomach is rumbling by the time I have finished, and I check the time. I am shocked to see it is almost three pm. The day has flown by so far, but I’m not surprised I am hungry. I get up and grab my handbag and go to the kitchen. I feel weird going into the fridge and helping myself but that’s what Ruth said it was for and so I open it and peer in.

I take a can of soda and a cheese and ham baguette, and I go and sit down at one of the tables. I eat the sandwich and drink the soda and then I go to the lady’s room. I use the toilet and then I wash my hands and study my reflection. I like who I see looking back at me. She looks confident and happy, her cheeks slightly pink and her mouth locked in a permanent smile.

I spread a bit of pink lip gloss over my lips and run my fingers through my curls, teasing them back into place and then I head back to my office. I’ve barely sat back down when there is a knock on my office door. My first visitor. I smile to myself and then I shout come in and the door opens. Ruth comes in and I smile at her. She smiles back and I think that maybe I was wrong about her earlier. That smile seemed to meet her eyes.

“How are things going? Are you finding your feet alright?” Ruth asks me as she plonks herself down in one of the chairs opposite mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to come and check in on you earlier, but I’ve been busy.”

“Oh, that’s ok, I’ve been busy myself,” I say. “First of all, there was a loose cable on my computer, then I got that fixed and the computer on and I had no logins, so I went down to IT and got that taken care of. I also went to finance while I was out and about and got all that side of things set up. And then I’ve been working on the branding for Hislop’s.”

Ruth raises an eyebrow and then smiles her ice queen smile at me. Great, we’re back to this again, I think but don’t say.

“You definitely have been busy,” she says. “It sounds like you don’t need me. Most new starters panic if they don’t have a login and come running for someone.”

I swear when I mentioned the cable and then the login, Ruth’s expression changed. I told myself I was imagining it, but that, coupled with her words now make me think I wasn’t imagining it at all. I think Ruth pulled that cable out and I think she was supposed to get my login details sorted but didn’t, because she wanted me to panic and look stupid and not get enough done. Well, if that was her game, it backfired and hopefully showed her that she’s wasting her time playing silly games with me.

“Oh, I find that hard to believe,” I say with a smile. “It is really just common sense isn’t it – you need something computer related; you ask the IT department.”

“I think some new starters are worried about overstepping their roles,” Ruth says.

“I get that,” I say. “But I figured if I needed my request authorized by someone higher up, the IT department would have told me that and I didn’t want to disturb anyone unnecessarily. Anyway, it’s all sorted now so let’s not worry about it.”

Ruth looks taken aback that I have basically just dismissed any further questions or comments she might have had.

“Of course,” she says, smiling tightly. “So, you’re up and running and you’ve completed your forms for finance. I take it you’ll be starting to look at your client’s brief soon?”

“I’ve already made a good start on that actually,” I say.

“Well, you clearly don’t need my help then,” Ruth says. “I may as well just leave you to it.”

I should just let her go, but I can’t do it. As much as she’s a bitch and I don’t owe her a thing, I still somehow end up feeling bad for her and I shake my head.

“No,” I say. “Of course, I still need your help. In fact, I’d be grateful if you would take a quick look at what I’ve done so far while you’re here.”

“Ok,” Ruth says.

She waits while I open the first file. I turn my screen so that we can both see it and I talk her through my thinking with the brand aesthetics and their mission statement. Ruth nods along with me and when I’ve finished, she smiles at me.

“That’s really good, Serena,” she says. “You definitely understand the brand and who their target consumer is and how to appeal to them. Wyatt will be very pleased with this. Of course, he might make the odd tweak here and there as is his right, but overall, I’m confident that he will approve this.”

“Thank you,” I say, relieved to hear that, especially from Ruth. It must be true if Ruth is saying it. There’s no way she’d give me praise if she didn’t have to and I don’t think she’d let me send something awful to Wyatt, because she would as much to blame as I would be if she had signed off on it.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then, you know where I am if you do need anything else,” Ruth says. I thank her again and she moves towards the door to my office. She starts to open it and then she turns back to me. “Oh. I almost forgot. Like I said everything you have there is good, but when you come to write the pitch, don’t forget to mention the advantages of vegetarianism in dogs.”

“Vegetarianism?” I asked.

She rolls her eyes good naturedly and laughs.

“I know. It’s crazy right. They’re dogs. Give them meat and have done with it. But this company’s unique selling point, USP for short, is vegetarian food for dogs so make sure you make a big point about this and the benefits of it,” she says.

“Ok, I will,” I say.

CHAPTER6

Serena

I’m shocked that I missed such a big detail, and I’m also a tad disappointed because my lovely little campaign just got one whole hell of a lot harder, and I can see why Wyatt palmed it off on me now. This brand needs more than an ad expert. The USP might appeal to vegans and the odd tree hugger, but generally speaking, people aren’t going to spend extra money on dog food for it to not even be meat.

---