1
Dax
#PRextraordinaire #powertop #slay
“Hacksmore Designs hasthe most highly anticipated men’s apparel line of the year,” I said, giving credit where it was due as fashion mogul Jerrick Hacksmore leaned back in a leather chair, his arms folded, expressionstiff.
I was midway through my presentation, pitching my company’s history, credentials, and stats. We’d rented this hotel suite in Thailand—where Hacksmore had been staying for two weeks—as the venue to try and win him over. To his left, his assistant sat in another leather chair, appearing totally uninterested in my pitch as she scrolled through heriPad.
I’d dropped everything in Hollywood the moment my business partner and I discovered Jerrick Hacksmore was in the market for a PR firm to handle his new commercial line ofapparel.
We weren’t about to lose this opportunity to any of our competitors. Hacksmore Designs received some fabulous publicity over the past year, including exposure in a recent reality series with Anna Wintour, and Hacksmore’s latest plan to transition into commercial fashion with a line for several department stores was the talk of the town. It was an account every PR firm was eager to manage, and with Hacksmore in the market for the best, I was ready to fight for ourshot.
“This is fashion,” I pressed on. “We understand aesthetic, image, and brand. Your consumers want it to be big and hot…a campaign that sizzles. They want to know why they need this, and we at KlineSmart Global can give youthat.”
I pressed a button on the remote in my hand, changing the projector slide, then indicating the screen to myright.
Hacksmore sighed as though he was already exhausted, and I hadn’t even made it to the pitchyet.
“Okay, okay, I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to level with you, Dax, because I’m not interested in wasting your time. As you know, it’s only because of your partner that I was even willing to take thismeeting.”
If Elliott hadn’t been climbing to base camp on Mt. Everest, he would have been here. But since he was unavailable and I had no doubt in my ability to reel Hacksmore in, we’d madedo.
“Freyda Inc. has expressed serious interest in our account,” Hacksmore added, “and on the heels of their success with Vinny Creed’s H&Mline…”
I struggled to keep from growling at the mention of Freyda Inc., a rival PR firm that had seized an opportunity I’d been working up for months with Vinny Creed. Their company had hit a grand slam with their successful campaign, making them the current envy of the PRworld.
We were number two, and I didn’t live my life by being a numbertwo.
“I’m certain I can persuade you guys to work with our firm on this campaign,” I assured him, more determined than ever. “Freyda Inc. had a good year, yes. They’re the trendy firm, but our firm has had far more success, particularly with brands that aren’t already established, finding a way to bring them into the market. We can give you the best launch in the goddamnworld.”
“The reputation of your confidence precedes you, Dax Munro. However, confidence isn’t what we’re interested in. We wantresults.”
“We have the numbers and the history, same as Freyda Inc. We are pioneers on the social-media front. Not only are we innovative and one of a kind, but we promise to make your account our number-onepriority.”
I shared a look with my assistant, Carter, seated in another leather chair on the opposite side of the boardroom table from Hacksmore and his assistant. I could tell by the way Carter frowned that he knew this wasn’t going well forus.
Hacksmore turned back to his assistant. “Could you pull up the image,Ferah?”
Ferah rose from her seat and walked to the front of the boardroom, where she unplugged my laptop from the projector and swapped the cable with one of her own to connect her iPad. She moved around the screen on her tablet, then clicked on anicon.
The image of a firefighter popped up—hot as sin, with six-pack abs framed perfectly by walls of muscle and a bulging chest and biceps, he held a Shar-Pei, both of them soaked. The firefighter had short dirty-blond hair, a damp lock of his bangs curling over his forehead. He looked at the camera with these big, deep blue eyes that appeared to be able to see right through me, smirking as though he owned the goddamn world with that beautiful face ofhis.
“Do you know who thisis?”
“Everyone knows Hottie Firefighter,” I said. “He saved the Shar-Pei from the car in the river. Kid caught this picture when he came out of the water, hashtagged the hell out of it for Instagram, and it wentviral.”
It was my job to be on top of what was vogue, and Hottie Firefighter was one of the top trending images of the past fewweeks.
“This guy’s got modeling and reality-show offers,” Hacksmore went on. “He’s probably the most coveted commodity right now. I know image, and this guy is the image wewant.”
“If it’s a hot model you are interestedin—”
“A hot model? You think I struggle to find hot models, Dax? That’s not what this is about. You and I both know there are some things that just work. I have a white wedding dress, very simple design, that sells like hotcakes, and then I have the same one with a little extra fabric here and there, a couple of decorative pieces, nothing else, that sells a quarter as much…maybe. I have other dresses, same care on my part, don’t sell for shit. I could spend years marketing them, and no one would give a damn. They’d sell, yes, but not like the simple white dress. So why waste my time promoting the other dresses when I know I already have ahit?”
I waited for him to bring us back around to his point, though I was fairly sure I knew where this wasgoing.
“This firefighter,” he continued, “what is it about him that appeals to people more than the rest of the hot guys in the world? He’s built like Adonis. He’s cut like it’s been years since he’s seen a carb, but probably eats at Dunkin’ Donuts every morning. His eyes fucking see right through you in a photo some lazy-ass teen took thinking it’d be cool to share with their friends. He’s saving a goddamn Shar-Pei! HeisSuperman! Men want to be him, women want to fuck him. Hell, I want to fuck him!” He paused for a moment. “But all of that can be replicated. All of that can be imitated. And yet, one thing changes and the rest falls apart. No.He’sthe hit. Something about him has infected the zeitgeist and is the reason that picture, out of every goddamn image on the Net, went viral. He’s goddamned lightning in abottle.”
