Contract Marriage starring Love and Revenge
Chapter 91. Rebecca’s marketing proposal.

Chapter 91: 91. Rebecca’s marketing proposal.

Aunt Evelyn’s birthday is on the 13th of March and the week that led to that day was rather busy. Even Duke, who doesn’t like working, was busier than I’d ever seen him. If he was not at work, then he had his head buried in some papers at home or had gone on a short trip with Alan.

Acquiring all the legal rights to the projects I stole from Gold foods was going smoothly, in fact I’ve already had a meeting with the production team and they like all the ideas presented.

"Well, my proposal for a marketing strategy is rather simple." Rebecca Scott says as we hold a short meeting regarding a marketing strategy for the chocolate bar that’s about to be launched.

The marketing already came up with something and they’re already working on that, but I want something more. It’s never too much to market a product in different styles and ways.

"Why don’t I have a copy of this proposal of yours?" I ask.

"Because I didn’t think it was something that needed to be printed out. I can just explain it to you." This woman is as rude as ever. And the worst part is she does not even know she’s being rude. She just thinks she’s talking normally.

"Really?"

"Yes ma’am." She says.

"Being able to explain it doesn’t mean a written proposal should be thrown out the window Miss Scott. There’s an order by which things are done and I like it when that order is maintained." If I let it go like this, she might do something else in the future thinking it’s okay to act that way.

"Please always make a detailed, printed copy of your proposal before presenting it. That being said, let us hear this idea of yours but I want the printed copy on my desk before noon tomorrow, are we clear?"

"Yes ma’am." She nods.

"Then carry on."

She clears her throat and lets out a small almost unnoticeable sigh before she opens her mouth to speak, I guess I threw her off balance.

"Schools." She says.

"Huh?"

"It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book but also one of the most efficient." I sink my back into my seat, cross one leg over the other while silently tapping my pen on the desk as she begins to explain.

"We go to schools and hold friendly competitions, then we arrange our products in little gift bags for the children, the major gift won’t be the new Hola Chocolate bar, rather it would be like one out of five candies and cookies inside the gift bags." I see what she meant when she said it’s the oldest trick in the book.

Visiting schools as a means to create awareness for a certain product has been in existence for quite some time but it is also true that it’s a very efficient method too. You get to interact with the final consumers of the products one on one and tell them how nutritious and good it is for their bones and teeth.

"But even though it’s an insignificant little chocolate bar in the midst of other cookies, the kids’ attention would be pulled to the Hola chocolate bar because they’ve never seen it before."

"One second," I interrupt her, "You did not present a printed copy of your proposal so I have to cut yoh in the middle to understand what you’re saying." I’m only saying this to make her feel a little bad for not bringing a printed copy.

"No problem ma’am." She says with a straight face.

"Good. So my question is, are we going to talk about the nutritional values of the chocolate bar to the kids? Or are we just handing it over to them?"

"We don’t really need to." She says.

"How will they like what they are eating when they don’t even know what it adds to their body?" I ask.

"With all due respect ma’am as a kid, my mom would always make sure she explained the importance of the vegetables and other things she was making us eat but the truth is, I never cared about all the foods that my mom told me were nutritious. In fact I didn’t want to know what it was adding or subtracting from my body. All I wanted was candy that no one ever told me had any nutrients in them. I believe it is safe to say that children don’t care about nutrients and all that stuff. They care about the taste in their mouths. If we need to tell them anything we could just tell them it makes them feel good. Every other nutritional value is not their business."

When you think about it, in a way, she’s right. Shelly and Renny also don’t care what the stuff they eat is made of. All they ask is, ’Mummy is it sweet? Can I taste it? It’s bitter, I don’t want it. It’s delicious, can I have one more?’ It all has to do with taste.

"Convincing. Go on." I say.

"The children will be fascinated to know what that new chocolate bar tastes like. And when they do taste it and are not able to forget the taste, they’d want more. I believe the main advertising team is already working on a TV and YouTube ad and from what I’ve heard, the song comes with a memorable song."

True, Alan showed me the edited version of the ad and the song is easy to catch on.

"Now, the kids taste a new and delicious chocolate bar, then they start seeing that chocolate bar on every station and channel. They already know what it tastes like, so their want and desire for it will increase a hundred fold." With everything she says, I try to imagine the twins and if I’m to work with the reaction I’m getting from them in my imagination, I’d say Rebecca is right.

"What do you think will happen when a child sees something he hasn’t seen before, and tasted for the first time and now they are suddenly seeing it on television and tabs, in retail shops around them?" She asks.

"They will be happy that the new chocolate bar they tasted is available for purchase?" Anita says.

"Exactly, and have you seen how kids act when they find out that something they want actually exists and is attainable? They will drag their mothers and fathers to the retail shops around them to get the Hola chocolate bar. They will bug them and sing the advert song to their parents till their ears bleed."

Indeed, children like Sherlock and Irene can be very annoying like mosquitoes buzzing close to your ear if you don’t give them what they want. It’s funny how they remain cute even when they are bugging you.

Her idea is making sense, but has she thought about the costs?

"In this state alone, we have over five thousand schools and that is just me making a very rough and inaccurate estimation. Are you saying we should hold competitions and give out free stuff for that many schools? And we want our chocolate bar to reach all states, that is a bit much, don’t you think?" I ask.

"No, we could circle it down to elementary schools alone." She responds and that makes sense but the amount of elementary schools is still very high.

"I’m almost certain the number will not decrease that much." I say.

"Well," Andrea speaks up and all eyes turn to her, "I don’t think we really have to go to all schools to pass the right message across. How about we pick five different states, and in those five states, we pick one hundred elementary schools each, fifty public schools and fifty private schools." When you think about it, that makes sense. Fifty private schools, and fifty public schools. I guess we could select schools district by district.

"That way, we can minimize cost and still market our products to a good number of people." Andrea concludes. Everyone seems to agree with what she just said. Rebecca doesn’t seem to be against it either.

It’s going to cost us, we will not only be paying for transportation, but since we’ll be holding competitions in the schools, we’ll end up incurring other expenses. Coupled with the fact that we will be giving out free gifts.

That’s a lot of expenses, but... Nothing draws people’s attention like free stuff.

"Aright, I’ve listened to you. I’ll discuss it over with Mr Grand but don’t forget, I need the printed copy of the proposal on my desk by noon tomorrow and add that fifty-Fifty public and private school detail that Miss Goodfellow talked about. Does anyone have any other thing to propose?" They all shake their head, "Well then," I say as I rise up, picking my phone and pen from the desk, "this meeting has come to an inconclusive end. We’ll meet tomorrow again to decide."