Tongue Tied

Chapter 7

Graphic design was not something that interested me - mostly because I had absolutely no blanking clue what I was doing. I'd given it a try once or twice but couldn't get into it. Maybe if I'd worked at it harder and longer I would've enjoyed it, and possibly become fairly decent at it. Instead, I left that task to the real graphic designers at Corbin and Hilliard. They knew what they were doing and they were brilliant at it.

I'd given the poster boards to Shelby, who was head of our graphic design team, and told her what Sean had said, and what kind of changes I thought he might be looking for. I made sure to stress to her that I wasn't sure of anything one hundred percent though, and that if she came up with something different that they thought would work better, I'd certainly be open to hearing it.

I put my frustration over Alec leaving me hanging at the restaurant aside and tried to focus on the semi-pep-talk he'd given me, attempting to convince myself that my second shot at impressing Sean Ashworth would be my winning presentation.

What I lacked in confidence, I usually made up for in determination. Sean was just another big wig in a sea of executives who probably wouldn't be pleased if the tissues they sneezed into were made of twenty-four karat gold. Yet, though it seemed nearly impossible to win his approval on my pitches, I was bound and determined to get it. I just hoped my second try would be the last try and I'd get a yes. Rarely did the "third time's charm" idea work out in my favor - with clients or otherwise.

While Shelby and her team edited my posters, I holed up in my tiny office brainstorming ideas for the commercial Sean had kicked to the curb. I detested having to redo things. I wanted to get everything done right the first time. Of course, that was unrealistic, but I didn't care.

I listed the pros and cons of two ideas: my original happy, positive idea, and the darker type of commercial that focused on bad things health-wise that could happen to people who didn't lead healthy lifestyles. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get into the latter idea. Those types of commercials sounded like they only belonged in relation to alcohol, illegal drugs, and other similar addictive substances. Healthier Is Happier was focused on less dramatic and controversial things like eating fruits and vegetables instead of potato chips and chocolate, drinking water instead of soda and energy drinks, and going for a thirty-minute walk every day instead of lounging on the couch. Rutherford Laurence wasn't interested in trying to tell heroin addicts that they need to stop using, or alcoholics to put down the bottle.

It seemed simple enough to create a positive commercial for a positive campaign. I was sure I could perfect the ad. I just hadn't come up with the perfect idea yet.

It didn't make sense to me to even give the other ad idea a try. Sure, a lot of dark and gloomy scare-tactic commercials, generally about smoking, got people's attention. But most of the time it was the wrong way - the wrong kind of attention. If a two-pack-a-day smoker sees a depressing ad begging them to try some miracle drug to stop smoking, yeah, it might get their attention for a minute. The problem comes when said smoker gives it a little more thought and gets stressed over how they know they should quit, but it's so hard and there's pressure coming from every direction about cigarettes. Then boom: they're lighting up to knock off the tension.

It seemed to me that if the same individual were to see a happy, positive commercial featuring a former smoker smiling and laughing, talking about how they feel so much better and they're so much happier since they quit, and informing the viewer of tips on how to start the road to being a nonsmoker, the viewer would feel a lot less pressured and be more inclined to give those tips a try.

Rarely did I see the sense in negativity. Though Healthier Is Happier was more focused on diet and exercise, they had expressed interest in trying to influence the smoking crowd too. Thus, a new idea found its way into my mind. I decided to give Sean double what he'd asked for: two commercials - both positive. My initial pitch had been focused solely on the diet and exercise ideas Rutherford Laurence wanted to project. My second would be the ad I'd inadvertently thought up about quitting smoking. I figured if Sean didn't like one, he'd at least like the other - I hoped - and maybe I could impress him at the same time, giving him more than he'd asked for.