I didn’t answer right away, giving myself time to really consider what he had said. Was it true that there was no excuse for his words? I didn’t think so. I didn’t like it, but he had been well within his rights. He’d had twelve years of radio silence to formulate a whole bunch of theories—and God knew what else—about me. If I’d found out he’d made a voodoo doll of me and stuck pins in it, I wouldn’t have been shocked. All he was doing was voicing that opinion. No he wasn’t polite, but why should he have been?
“Apology accepted,” I conceded. Beck slowly released a heavy breath.
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” I wasn’t doing it for him. I was doing it for me, but he didn’t really need to know that. I was doing it so that I could draw a line under the whole episode and move the fuck on—even more important now that there was a chance we’d be working with each other for the foreseeable future.
“I’m also calling you to let you know that after extensive consideration with my partners, BR&ND is withdrawing from the pitch process, for the Beyner Toys Inc business, effective immediately.” Wait, what? “Mel?” Understandably, he sounded concerned at my total silence.
“Umm…yes, I heard you. I’m just curious as to why you would do that.”
“Well, given the ‘circumstances’”—I could imagine him air quoting with his fingers on the other end of the line— “we figured it was best for us to take control of the situation before it went any further. We’re putting out a press release this afternoon.”
“You haven’t read my email.” It was a statement, not a question.
“No. I’ve been…in meetings all day, since…returning to the office.” He sounded nervous, and…guilty?
“I suggest you read it now. I’ll wait on the line.” My voice was carefully and artfully neutral. I didn’t want to give anything away before he read the email. I’d worked hard on my poker face or in this case voice, over the years, as a matter of necessity. I had it down to a fine art now.
“Okay.” There was movement on the other end of the line, and them Beck humming faintly. My guess was that he was scrolling through his inbox trying to locate the email I had sent him forty minutes earlier.
“Ah, here we are,” he murmured, almost to himself. There was another silence while he obviously read the email. I mirrored his action, re-reading the email in my sent items folder.
From: Melissa Reid
To: Beck
RE: Beyner Toys Inc. pitch feedback
Message:
Dear Mr. Beckett,
On behalf of my colleague Martin Lorde and myself, I would like to thank you and the rest of the BR&ND team for the pitch presentation you shared with us yesterday. I would also like to extend our apologies again for the last minute change in attendees. As we mentioned at the time, it was unfortunately unavoidable.
However, as we have started the process, Martin and I have been tasked with continuing the pitch proceedings with the agencies involved, passing on our recommendation to our colleagues in Geneva.
To that end, I would like to let you know how impressed we were with your pitch, both in style and substance. The strategic insights you shared were extremely accurate, commensurate with the information we currently hold about our target audience and competitive set, while the conclusions you drew from those insights highlighted the rigor of your strategic process, and your unique approach to working with consumer data.
Speaking of creativity, that brings me on to the work you presented. We were awed by the four routes presented, each for different reasons, but our overall feeling was that your team showed creative prowess beyond our expectations.
The ads you presented, along with the effort and attention to detail with dressing the room for the meeting signaled your commitment to excellence in advertising and marketing on behalf of your brand partners.
Overall, every aspect of the presentation and experience left us with the feeling that we would like to explore the possibility of working with BR&ND further. To which end, I have attached documentation pertaining to the next phase of the pitch process.
We have a small amount of more in-depth feedback about the strategic information, and each of the routes presented, which is attached.
Please feel free to let me know if you have any further comments and questions about any of the information above or attached.
Congratulations, and I look forward to working with the BR&ND team on the next phase of the process.
Best Regards,
Melissa Reid
Senior VP Marketing, Beyner Americas Inc.
I imagined it took a lot to render Beck silent, but I seemed to have managed it. I let the silence stretch out between us for as long as was decent before inquiring after him, the same way he’d asked after me earlier.
“Beck?”
“Hmm…?” I swore I could literally hear the cogs of his mind whirring.
“So, coming back to our conversation at the beginning of this call—in light of my email, is your intention still to resign the account?”
“I…we…So you’re not…?” He really was caught off guard.
“Mad at you?” I supplied for him.
“Yeah, that.”
“Oh, I’m absolutely livid with you, for a number of reasons, make no mistake about that. But also know this: I’m a professional. I haven’t made it this far in my career by letting my personal mess cloud my judgment or affect the performance of my job. I leave that baggage at the door. Despite the history between us and our regrettable indiscretions yesterday and this morning, I have approached this process—and intend to continue doing so— fairly, and based on merit. I’m mature enough to keep our personal history where it belongs, and I trust you’re able to do the same. Are we clear?”
The intent in my tone and words was unmistakable: stop hassling me about the past, and we can move on like it never happened.
Beck recovered himself quickly this time.
“We’re clear. Thank you for the quick response, and of course, for the continued opportunity to demonstrate BR&ND’s fit for the role, and our desire to work with Beyner as long-term partners in creative excellence. We will review the documents you’ve supplied, and will be in touch again shortly with any questions and/or comments regarding the next steps.”
“Great, I’m glad we understand each other.” As I had already told Beck, my ability to literally continue with business as usual, no matter what kind of shitstorm was raining down on my head in other aspects of my life, was one of the secrets of my success. I wasn’t about to ruin that track record with this most recent skirmish.
“Me too. Thank you. Goodbye Melissa. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
“You too, Beck. Goodbye.”
Beck
We had agreed it was best for me to call Mel, sooner rather than later, to let her know of our decision. Not only did we want to beat them to the decision of firing us—a highly likely outcome of today’s confrontation—but the media release citing “an unexpected conflict of interest” (the agency world equivalent of “irreconcilable differences” in celebrity divorces) had been scheduled to go out before close of business, with the first announcements appearing the following morning. We had wanted her to hear it from us before reading it in the press.