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Chapter 52: Creativity is King
🕑 Added 2024-09-29 18:23:01 +0000 UTC"The commercial will start in a prehistoric cave. A mother is cooking beans for her messy-haired son, and they are both wearing animal skins, like primitive humans."
Ethan began to describe the first scene, and behind him, Kaiden pulled off the white cloth to reveal Ethan's hand-drawn sketches, exactly as he described, only more vivid.
After a few seconds, Ethan continued, "Next, it's a Greek mother in a robe, cooking beans for her shepherd boy in a wooden house."
Kaiden flipped the drawing, showing the next scene.
"Then it's Cleopatra and her young prince, cooking beans in the palace."
"Next is the Queen of the Plains and her little pioneer boy…" The Queen of the Plains refers to the American female pioneers who played significant roles during the early days of frontier exploration in America.
"After that, we go through the 1980s, the 1990s, until modern times, where a mother takes a pot of beans out of the kitchen, her child helps to serve it, and they share a smile while eating together."
At this point, Ethan didn't stop but continued as Kaiden flipped to the next page.
Thomas and the others were now completely intrigued, their thoughts moving in sync with Ethan's description.
In the next moment, they saw a new drawing of a moon.
Ethan stopped teasing and revealed, "Then, from modern times to the future, in a kitchen on the moon, you can see Earth through the window. The people are wearing futuristic clothes, and on the table is a peculiar bowl. A child takes off their astronaut helmet and happily takes a bite."
"Brilliant," Thomas's eyebrows shot up, his face showing excitement.
"Our lives are too busy now. Every day is a rush, and we hardly have time to relax, let alone time to enjoy entertainment or chat. But I believe... a mother and her child sharing dinner together is something that will never change."
Ethan expressed the inspiration behind his idea, then concluded, "So I think the slogan should be: *kerr's Beans, The unchanging feeling."
As soon as Ethan finished speaking, Thomas immediately began to applaud.
"Brilliant idea, Ethan! You did not disappoint me!" With Thomas leading, the other executives also began to clap, this time completely dismissing Ogilvy's concept, fully immersed in Ethan's creative proposal.
Ethan smiled and bowed, accepting their applause. Jimmy also grew excited, feeling there was a good chance they would win the commercial contract.
Behind him, Kaiden couldn't help but have stars in his eyes, thinking his boss was simply amazing.
Once the applause ended, Thomas sat back down and said to the executives, "This is a tough decision. We now have two great concepts."
The brown-haired man next to him spoke up, "I think Supreme Creative's slogan is better. It fits the positioning of our kerr's Baked Beans."
However, someone immediately countered, "But Ogilvy's slogan, 'The classic flavor of kerr's,' is just as good."
"But in the end, it's about the execution, isn't it?" Ethan kindly reminded them, "The form of a creative idea is key to capturing the audience's attention."
"Ethan has a point," Thomas furrowed his brow, deep in thought. After a moment, he stood up to escort Ethan to the door.
"Please wait in the meeting room. We'll make a decision as soon as possible."
"No problem."
Ethan politely bid them farewell, leaving with Jimmy and Kaiden.
As they walked out, they noticed the curious and surprised looks from their peers in the waiting area. It seemed everyone was shocked that Supreme Creative, a new company, had received applause from Jia's team.
Could it be that they came up with something extraordinary?
Ethan paid no mind to this. Once they entered the meeting room, he resumed enjoying Kaiden's gentle massage.
Time passed slowly, and by 6 PM, all the presentations had concluded.
The meeting room grew noisy with chatter and dinner, but Thomas soon appeared at the door.
"Everyone!" He walked to the front of the room, nodding to both Ethan and Ole Moss from Ogilvy before picking up a card and speaking, "Thank you all for participating in kerr's commercial competition today. I know you're all tired, so I'll get straight to the point."
The room immediately quieted down. Seeing this, Thomas put on a serious expression and said, "After listening to presentations from eight companies, and after a discussion among the executives, we have unanimously decided which company will handle the advertisement for kerr's Baked Beans."
Everyone held their breath. Even those from Ogilvy, who felt certain they had won, had young members nervously fidgeting.
Jimmy was the same, hardly daring to breathe.
As for the other companies, they hadn't taken their eyes off the card in Thomas's hand.
With a slight smile, Thomas didn't delay any further and announced the name of the chosen company.
"The winner is... Supreme Creative!"
"Huh?"
"Why?"
"Ogilvy lost?"
"How is that possible?"
"Could Supreme Creative's idea be better?"
"It can't be that three-line repetition style again, can it?"
For a moment, many people in the room turned to look at the three-person team from Supreme Creative in disbelief.
Even Ogilvy's team couldn't hide their dissatisfied expressions, except for Ole Moss, who remained calm, likely having experienced such moments many times before.
But in advertising, creativity is king. No matter how brilliant or glorious an old king once was, they will fade into the background when a new king ascends.
Ethan stood up, meeting all the questioning stares as he walked over to Thomas and firmly shook his hand.
"Thank you for trusting us, kerr's."
"You earned it."
With Thomas's final word, the battle for the $400,000 advertising contract came to a close.
As Ethan and his team left the kerr's building, Jimmy still felt like he was dreaming.
Before, working at Lion Advertising, a single ad would bring in only a few thousand to ten thousand dollars. Now, just one successful pitch had earned them $400,000?
Was money really this easy to make?
But on second thought, without Ethan's creative vision, his bold decision to invest heavily in New York advertising, and his confident, precise presentation, Jia's would never have given Supreme Creative the opportunity.
In the end, it all came down to creativity being king, just as Ethan had always said.
Only now did Jimmy truly grasp the weight of those words.
As the three walked down the steps, ready to drive back to the office, they suddenly saw a simple yet crude ad playing on a large screen in the plaza.
"Gio Cars, your travel companion!"
The line was repeated three times, each time showing a car and a beautiful woman, accompanied by a voice-over.
It was clearly an imitation of Supreme Creative's brainwashing-style commercial, and there were many similar ads.
"What shampoo do you use? Use Connett Shampoo, it works!"
These ad slogans repeated like garbage talk, desperately trying to brainwash the audience in a short amount of time.
But to Ethan, these imitations were too clumsy and far from achieving the desired effect.
Jimmy, however, thought differently. "Look, Ethan! Our ad is a hit! Everyone in New York is copying us!"
"Yeah!" Kaiden laughed, amazed as she looked at Ethan, not expecting such a simple commercial to turn into a trend.
"Who knows? Maybe more cities or even other countries will imitate us in the future. There will be plenty of these moments, so don't be too surprised." Ethan smiled, hands in his pockets. "Let's go, we have the next thing to take care of."
