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“This is us,” she says, turning to face me as she extends her arms, presenting the desks.
The one at the right angle is clearly Carter’s, a large mug emblazoned with the Lego logo, a notepad cluttered with messy scribbles and a scattering of pens and paperclips haphazardly strewn across the surface.
The desk in front of me is blank aside from a computer monitor, keyboard, a large Catalyst Media branded notepad that says “Welcome Lila” in cute pink handwriting, and a branded notebook with a branded pen.Of course a marketing company gives its staff all branded stationery.Although my first instinct is to cringe, it’s actually really cute.
“Stephen says you had some great ideas for the Sunrise Smoothie campaign,” Carter says, dropping into his chair. “We’re absolutely desperate for something on it.”
“Especially after the disaster that was their last promo,” Angela adds with an eye roll. “We were just going over the absolute travesty of the comments.”
“Can I see?” I ask, my nervousness givingway to curiosity.
Angela picks up the iPad off Carter’s desk and shows it to me, bringing up a post on Instagram containing some very poor design choices, before scrolling through the comment section which has clearly taken a turn for the worst. I scan it quickly, already mentally cataloguing ways to improve it.
“Oh wow,” I murmur. “That’s… something, alright.”
“Tell us what you’re thinking,” Carter says, a curious look in his eye as he picks up a purple stress ball from his desk that also happens to be branded.
“Well, for starters –” I say, then stop myself. “Wait – did either of you two design this?”
Angela cackles, the sound slicing through the dry hum of the office air like a knife. “Oh God no,” she says. “This is a new client that’s just come to us last week, and we’ve got a rebrand meeting on Thursday.”
“This campaign is begging for fresh ideas,” Carter says, standing up as he throws the ball in the air and catches it again. “Go on. Demolish it. Put it out of its misery.”
I feel myself relax slightly, my rigid posture softening. “Well, you can see from the rest of their posts, the image is completely inconsistent with their brand. They’re trying to present themselves as wholesome and natural, but these graphics look like a tech startup from 2010.”
Carter and Angela exchange an excited smile.
“Told you she’d be good,” Angela says and Carter nods.
The warmth of their approval washes over me, and for a moment, I forget all about my too-stiff blazer and carefully applied make-up. Maybe I do belong here after all.
“Ah, Lila, there you are!”
I turn to see a man approaching us, instantly recognising him as Stephen Ackton, my new boss who I had my interview witha couple of weeks ago. He’s in his forties, medium build, medium height, medium everything really. His mousy brown hair is thinning slightly at the crown, and he’s wearing a grey suit that’s just slightly too loose on him, almost as though he’s intentionally making a statement against the slim-fit styles that dominate the clothing racks.
“I see you’ve met the terrible twosome,” he says with a hint of affection in his voice.
“We’re keeping her,” Angela says. “We’ve decided.”
“Glad to hear it,” he grins. “Ready for the grand tour?”
I nod, surprised at how much I’m already looking forward to coming back to this corner of the office.
“Don’t let him bore you with the history of the building,” Carter whispers theatrically.
“And we’re getting lunch later,” Angela says. “Non-negotiable. That’s when you’ll get therealinduction.”
“The unfiltered gossip, she means,” Carter says with an eye roll.
“Looking forward to it,” I say, following Stephen back down the corridor towards the lift, the knot in my stomach loosening just a little.
Maybe this proper job in this proper building won’t be as intimidating as I thought.
Chapter 2
Thirty minutes later, and I couldnothave been more wrong. Despite it being January, I’m sure I must be sweating through my blazer.
Stephen has marched me around the entire fourth floor, introducing me to what must have been at least forty different people, and now we’re half-way through the fifth floor as I try desperately to remember every new name and job title thrown in my direction. A sea of account managers, creative assistants and copy editors all blur into one big cloud of marketing lingo I can only hope to understand one day.