Zero Forks - Cat Johnson Page 0,22

data analysis gave us all we needed for that.

Now came the hard part. The actual content for ads. Not to mention for social media. All of it was going to have to wow the client.

So far, Jerry’s babbling was the opposite of wow. In fact, it was going to put me to sleep.

I had a bunch of notes and random ideas in my notebook, but I had to admit none of them had the wow factor either.

Jerry began, “I’m thinking the ads need to be super sleek. Very high tech. Cutting edge. You know, like maybe showing a young family living on a space colony. Maybe on Mars. Futuristic. To show the consumer this isn’t like their parents’ cable subscription. It’s new. It’s better. Made for their generation.”

Mars?

I frowned, remembering Matt Damon being stranded alone on Mars in the movie The Martian and wondered if that was the best image to portray.

“We show the dad working out on a high tech treadmill or whatever while he’s streaming sports or something on a really modern, tiny handheld computer.”

“A tiny computer? You mean like a tablet or a smart phone?” I asked.

He ignored my attitude-laden comment and continued, “And the mom is in the kitchen snapping selfies and posting pictures to Instagram of the meal she’s cooking. Her favorite show is playing on a screen built into—I don’t know—the toaster or the coffee maker or something.”

“And where is the child during all of this self-absorbed parental behavior?” I asked.

“Perfectly happy sitting in front of the big screen television in the living room, also watching, of course, our client’s new streaming service.”

“No.” I shook my head.

“Why not?” he asked.

Where could I start? Everything felt wrong with Jerry’s idea.

Change the setting and the technology and he could have been describing the nineteen-fifties. Just putting this family in space and giving them gadgets did not change the fact Jerry had assigned them out of date, old fashioned, stereotypical gender roles.

Research showed that was the exact opposite of how Millennials wanted their lives to be portrayed in the media. I’d done my homework. I knew.

“Do you know anything about the younger generation?” I asked him.

“Yes.”

I didn’t believe him. “So you know they’re more likely to engage in family activities than solo ones. And to involve their children in the passions and hobbies they had before becoming parents, rather than searching for child-focused activities.”

When Jerry moved to his leather portfolio on the table and started scribbling notes, I realized my mistake.

The bastard was going to steal all my carefully curated research. No doubt he’d parrot it out at the next presentation as his own.

I scowled, glad I’d finally shut my mouth before I shared how this generation didn’t adhere to the gender roles Jerry had portrayed in his space family scenario.

The man of the house was as likely to do the cooking and cleaning as the woman, as well as his being actively involved in child rearing. The woman was often the breadwinner of the family.

More than that, half were single mothers. Often anxious and overwhelmed, they sought products and escapes geared toward self-care.

All of that information would be critical in crafting the perfect pitch for the client. Best to not share everything I knew with Jerry since I didn’t trust the man as far as I could throw him.

But, dammit, we were partners on this. Hopefully for this project only and never again, but it remained that this campaign had to be great or it could affect my career. And in order for me to succeed, Jerry had to succeed as well.

Dammit. As much as I’d love to watch him drown in his own ill-informed bad ideas, I couldn’t do it.

And that might just kill me.

“Look.” I let out a sigh. “How about you go back to your office and do a little research on Millennial parents and we’ll meet back here tomorrow with fresh ideas. Okay?”

My suggestion served two purposes.

One, I’d had it with him. Not to mention, I was hoping to sneak out early today since I had a long drive to my new home.

Two, I didn’t have any ideas that were well developed enough to share at this point anyway.

In my defense, I’d been a little busy this weekend, getting Stewie, moving into a new place to live, hiring Boone . . .

I swallowed at the realization I’d be going home to him again tonight. It was like a surreal game of playing house, except the roles were reversed.

How Millennial of him.

He’d promised