“You’re here again…” the keeper greeted us without much interest.
“Thanks for having us,” Jeremy replied cheerfully.
I plastered a polite smile on my lips when I sensed that we weren’t exactly welcomed there. Apart from us, I doubt that anyone went down there to visit the archives. It was quiet and very cold down there. The keeper willingly let us in without much comment. Although I had been there only once before, I remembered exactly where Ace’s works were.
“It might be worth checking other works as well. I’m not sure where the old marketing files are stored, though…” Jeremy said from behind me.
“You’re right. Do you want to split up and look?” I suggested.
“Good idea. I guess that you want to take a look at Ace’s past files, right?” Jeremy asked knowingly.
I wondered if it was that obvious to him that I was excited to dive into Ace’s past works again. His guess was spot on, and I wasn’t bothered to deny it.
“Yeah, I’ll take Ace’s part so you can see if you can find anything interesting amongst the old marketing files,” I replied.
“Great. Let’s pray that we find something…” he mumbled before he stalked off in search of the marketing files.
I headed straight for the cabinets that stored Ace’s past works. If I remember correctly his works should be organized in chronological order. That didn’t help that much because I didn’t know what exactly I was looking for. I sighed before I started going through the various folders in the cabinet.
“Marketing…marketing plans…where are you?” I mumbled to myself as my hands got to work.
My eyes scanned through page after page of documents. Ace’s handwriting looks so pretty, and his drawings and sketches look so neat even though they’re supposed to be rough work. Soon, I found myself reading through his storyboards and checking out how he organized a couple of different scenarios as back up ideas.
His work really is amazing…
“Karina…”
I jumped and turned around at the sound of my name to find Jeremy standing there with an unimpressed look on his face.
“Umm…can I help you with something?” I asked in a small voice.
“Yes, you can help me find something marketing plan-related instead of just gawking at Ace’s past storyboards…yeah?” he replied sarcastically.
“R-right…sorry…” I murmured as I instinctively hid the papers that I was holding behind my back.
Jeremy clicked his tongue at me in annoyance as he shook his head from side to side. I watched his back as he walked away from me.
Did he come here to check on me because he knew that I’ll lose focus and get lost in Ace’s past works?
Probably…
I guess I am quite easy to read when it comes to Ace. My eyes glanced down at the storyboard that I had in my hand before I forced myself to put it back where I got it from. I wondered how much time I lost going through and admiring Ace’s past work that had nothing to do with what I was supposed to be looking for. A slight pain stung my cheeks when I smacked my hands on the sides of my face.
Focus, Rina! Focus!
“Marketing plans…and ideas…marketing…” I mumbled as I began going through the files again.
After a while of searching, I did not manage to find anything in Ace’s past works that had anything to do with marketing. I moved on to the next rows of folders and that was when I miraculously stumbled upon a marketing plan for a commercial.
Finally!
I quickly pulled out the paper to read it in detail. However, the content wasn’t what I expected at all. The marketing plan was detailed enough and it seemed like Ace had put in a lot of thinking into it. The unfortunately thing about it was that it was a marketing plan for a very mass commercial product. The angle used anchored a lot on how to maximize the reach of the commercial to the target group that had enough purchasing power to purchase the product.
“It’s not charity related…it’s purely commercial…” I mumbled regretfully when I realized that this wasn’t what I was looking for.
This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.
I felt so stupid for not considering that to find a marketing angle or idea that would work, it had to be a marketing plan that was developed for a charity-oriented commercial or a commercial that was supposed to appeal emotionally to the viewer. Even if it wasn’t a charity or fundraising commercial, it had to be something emotionally appealing rather than just bluntly selling a product. That probably made it even harder to find and I was about to give up on trying to fish for something out of the archives.
I wondered if Jeremy managed to find something useful because he was going to be so disappointed when I tell him that I didn’t manage to find anything useful at all. Jeremy was right when he said that Ace probably didn’t have many marketing plans in the archives of his past works. I shoved the folder that I had been holding back into the shelf when I had resigned myself to give up for the day.
“Oh…” I murmured to myself.
A few pages of paper that were stapled together fell out and landed on the floor right at my feet. I closed my eyes and sighed before bending down to pick it up. The paper looked old and felt quite fragile from aging in my hand when I picked it up. My eyes landed on the first page and my eyes widened at the content on the page. I sucked in a breath before quickly turning to the next page and then the next as my eyes hungrily took in everything that was written and printed on the page.
Why is this here?
I never expected to find this here…
Ace’s past work. A marketing plan with an angle. An applicable commercial to what we were working on…
I finally found it.
--To be continued…