Sloan, his graphic designer slash user experience manager, crossed her arms and looked down, trying to hide a smile. With her looks and stature, she had probably dealt with the same thing herself more than once and was glad it was him this time.
“Whether you appreciate being on the cover or not,” Charli said, “it is a gift. It’s what got those investors you’re meeting with this morning to be interested. They saw the ‘shiny car’ on the front cover and opened up the magazine to get the specs. It got their attention, just like it’ll get the attention of others. It’s a good thing and we need to capitalize on it.”
Roman folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t like it, but she had a point. It was enough that he should at least hear her out. “Okay. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“There is a YouTuber who has a good-sized audience, and she often does interviews with people. Six days ago, she put out a poll asking viewers who they would most like her to interview, and anyone could add a name to the list. The results were fairly predictable—various celebrities—until four days ago when Business Success’s latest issue came out. Shortly after it did, BuzzFeed picked up the online feature, and another YouTuber who makes videos also aimed at our target audience posted about it. Then someone wrote in your name as who they would like her to interview. Fast-forward four days and you currently have forty-two percent of all the votes.”
One of Roman’s biceps flexed involuntarily and he raised an eyebrow. Forty-two percent. That was pretty impressive.
“My team has defined a very specific audience we believe it is vital to reach for the product launch of Nudge Out, and we’ve been brainstorming ways to reach that audience. We looked at the demographics of these viewers, and they are exactly the audience my team defined. An interview there might get people talking enough that it makes a real boost.”
“How big of an audience are we talking about?”
“She’s got over two million subscribers. Not all of them voted, of course, and she probably had a lot of people vote who haven’t subscribed, but as of about five minutes before I walked in here, an interview with you currently had six hundred seventy-five thousand votes.”
Roman sat up straight. That was a lot of people he could reach. “And you think we can get this interview?”
“If six hundred seventy-five thousand of my viewers wanted me to interview you, I don’t think you’d have a hard time talking me into it.”
“Okay, tell me about this YouTube channel.”
Charli grinned, probably sensing victory. “One of the things that I think definitely swings in our favor is that it’s run by a woman who lives here in Oregon, so I think we’ll get some extra hometown support.” She pulled a manila folder out of her stack of papers and slid it across the table to him. “Her viewers are rabidly loyal. She’s no stranger to interviews, but she doesn’t pimp products often, even of the people she interviews. When she does, her fans jump at whatever she suggests, so if you can get her to suggest they use our app, it’ll likely make a huge difference.”
He opened the folder to see a picture of the YouTuber, her opening screen logo, and her YouTube stats. He immediately slammed it back closed. “Yeah, this isn’t going to work.”
“What?” Charli said, looking around at everyone else, a bewildered expression on her face. “Why? Roman, this is perfect.”
He shook his head. “I met her two weeks ago at my buddy’s wedding—she was one of the bride’s best friends. I know her and her channel well enough to know it’s just fluff, and not the direction we need to go.”
“Are you sure?” Wells, his finance guy, said. “It sounds like Charli found a potential advertising avenue that could have a great ROI.”
Of course Wells was focusing on the money aspects of it. One of the reasons why they were in such a great financial situation was because Wells guarded their money like a mamma bear guarding her cubs. That wasn’t the only factor at play, though.
Roman held up the magazine with his picture on it. “You want to capitalize on this, Charlie? Great. There are some important things in here. But there are also parts that are ridiculous and irrelevant. Those are exactly the same parts that Bex Sterling will try to capitalize on—not the important parts.”
“I disagree. If she can get her Bexlandians on board, it’ll be exactly the kind of boost we need.”
Roman wanted to roll his eyes. Bexlandians. Not only would it embarrass his dad, but his brothers would even get in on the ribbing.
“I think it would be a mistake to not jump on this,” Charli continued. “Since you’ve already made a connection with her, it would probably be best if you reached out, but if you’d prefer, I am happy to as well.”
With as happy and energetic as Charli was, she often gave off the impression that she was easy-going. But she didn’t back down when she set her mind to something. It was one of the reasons why he hired her and why she was a department head. But he was still the boss, which meant that the decision rested with him.
“No.” He pushed the folder back to Charli. “Don’t contact her.” He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see that it was his dad calling. Probably about Roman’s meeting with the potential investors. They had already discussed everything they needed to in this meeting anyway, so he might as well answer it now.
“But—”
“Charli, it’s a firm no. Thank you all for your input this morning. Meeting adjourned.”
As he was walking out of the room, tablet in hand, he answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi, son. Today’s the big day, right?”
“It is.” He headed down the hallway toward his office.
“And you’ve got a spit-shine on your business plan?”
“It’s all ready to go. I meet with them in thirty minutes.”
“Okay, listen up. You may sell some apps that they might consider ‘entertainment,’ but you’re a serious businessman. Show that to the investors. Don’t fall for the same tricks that interviewer at Business Success used on you. You’re young and don’t have a lot of experience with the media yet, so you didn’t know how sneaky they could be. I don’t blame you for the article turning out the way it did. But ‘fool me once’ and all that. Fall for it again, and it’s on you.”
Roman ground his teeth at the young and inexperienced comment, but kept his mouth shut. His dad was probably sitting in his office behind his massive mahogany desk, floor-to-ceiling windows behind him. He might be leaning back in his chair, looking relaxed, but the man was a boulder the size of a house and impossible to so much as budge. This man would hate every single thing about Roman being interviewed by Bex Sterling.
He set the tablet on his desk and started flipping through the pages in the first of four manila folders, checking to make sure he had everything.
“Keep things professional with these investors. If they start asking personal questions, steer it away. Show them you can keep your eye on the ball. And son?”
“Yeah?”
“Land these investors, and we might just have to celebrate by going on a rafting trip down the Columbia.”