Read Room 1208 for Free Online Page A

sometimes banding together to work on a larger account.
    There was a buzz of excitement in the air when
Rob and Tim entered the room along with Mike Brosky, the agency’s top account
manager. Rob began to speak before he reached the front of the room. Forty
something, he had an energy and enthusiasm that was infectious, playing
counterpoint to Tim’s more laidback demeanor. “Hey, gang, thanks for dropping everything
on such short notice. I’m going to get right to the point. We have the
opportunity to land a major national account. Major . If we get it, this
will be our first client outside of our Midwest base. I can’t begin to tell you
how excited I am about this. I’m really confident we can pull this off. Mike,
tell us what you got.”
    Maggie’s pulse gave a little flutter as Mike
strode to the front of the room. An Iowa native, born and raised on a corn
farm, former college quarterback, tall, broad-shouldered with blond hair, blue
eyes, square jaw and a captivating grin, he was the poster-boy for the All
American male. He was the first guy she’d felt any real attraction to since…
    Focus, Maggie. Now’s not the time to go there.
    “Like Rob said, this is major, people. It
literally fell into our laps. The CEO of this company came across our Goldfinch
Beer ad while he was on business in Chicago last week. He liked what he saw and
had his CMO track us down. Based on that ad alone, we’ve been selected to pitch
our ideas to them. Only two other agencies are in the running. So, before I go
any further…” He started clapping his hands. “Major kudos to Maggie and Team
Tim for putting the Goldfinch campaign together in the first place.”
    Damn her propensity to blush! Maggie grinned,
sharing high fives with Dan and Samantha but avoiding looking directly at Mike
as she felt heat spreading across her face. Rob and Tim both came over to slap
her on the back. Mike even gave a wolf whistle.
    “So, who’s the potential client, Mike?” The loud
voice, carrying an undertone of whatever, let’s move along , sliced
through the commotion.
    Maggie shared an eye roll with Samantha before
swiveling her chair around to look at Kayla Polson who was sitting directly
across the table from them, giving them an evil eye that she quickly masked
when Mike looked in her direction. Kayla was their counterpart on Team Rob.
She’d been snide and rude to Maggie since Maggie’s first day on the job, and
Maggie still didn’t know why, in spite of several attempts to make nice. She’d
eventually given up. Some battles just weren’t worth fighting.
    Mike couldn’t tamp down his boyish grin. “Ever
hear of Jagz Vodka?”
    There was a moment of silence before Dan said,
“You’re shitting me.”
    A few people in the room, the non-drinkers,
Maggie guessed, looked confused. Someone said, “Who?”
    Emily, the fresh out of college receptionist who
was enthusiastically vocal about her weekend club outings and celebrity
crushes, rolled her eyes. “It’s only one of the hottest vodka brands in the
country, dumbass. The A-listers love it. Adam Levine had it served exclusively
at his last birthday party.”
    “Who’s Adam Levine?”
    Emily threw her pencil at the jokester.
    “They’ve had a pretty decent campaign running for
a while as I recall,” Samantha said. “What do they want to change?”
    “We have a video conference call scheduled with
their CMO this afternoon to get the full briefing,” Mike answered. “In a nutshell,
they’re now ready to expand the brand internationally and target a more
sophisticated, upscale demographic. Their brand is hot with the young celebrity
crowd as Emily so graciously pointed out,” this with a wink at Emily, “but they
want to become one of the top three vodkas in the world.”
    Dan whistled. “No small task.”
    Tim, who’d been standing quietly in the corner,
stepped forward. “No, it isn’t. And the kicker is we have to come up with our
concept and pitch by next Wednesday.