‘Agreed. And this can run happily alongside what we’re already doing,’ said Clemmie. She was Head of Branding and Marketing, so what she thought was all Lotta was interested in. This statement alone made Lotta feel like she might have a chance of winning the business.
‘Who’s going to come up with the ideas?’ Positive Paul asked.
‘I don’t think we want to be too prescriptive, right Lotta?’ Clemmie said. ‘Perhaps we choose the place, like this Folk Museum, and then ask the store managers to invite their makers to pitch ideas.’
‘We could put it out to influencers to help choose a collaboration target that fits with their audience. We’d probably get more traction then,’ said Lotta.
‘Sounds great!’ Clemmie said. ‘Would you mind stepping out for a few minutes so we can have a quick discussion?’
‘Not at all. Thank you.’ Lotta smiled and made eye contact with everyone around the table as she spoke, before picking up her lukewarm cup of tea and heading out to reception.
‘It’s a good sign if they’ve asked you to wait,’ Harry said, seeming to have warmed up a bit. Perhaps he wasn’t a morning person.
‘Thanks.’ It might be a good sign, but she wasn’t counting her chickens yet. She’d done plenty of pitches in her time but none as important as this. She couldn’t let herself believe it might actually be happening.
The phone rang, and Harry picked it up. ‘You can go back in,’ he said, making Lotta feel as if she was on an episode of The Apprentice.
She left her tea behind, smoothed down her skirt, and headed back into the meeting room.
‘Lotta, we’d very much like to offer you the contract for this campaign,’ Clemmie said, standing and offering her hand.
She had to stop herself from exclaiming,Really?orWow!Instead, she simply said, ‘Thank you,’ and shook Clemmie’s hand.
‘Congratulations. We’ll send the contract across straight away so you can get your people on it because we’d like to start straight away.’
‘No problem. I can shift some things around and start next week.’
‘Ah, we were hoping you might meet Elin, the store manager of Snug Oslo, the day after tomorrow. We’re keen to get this rolling using Norway as the blueprint, like you suggested. It makes sense for it to come from you since you’ve done so much work on the vision. You’re best placed to pin down all the detail for this first, and it should feed the strategy for the rest of the stores.’
Lotta had absolutely nothing else to do in the next few days other than make a few posts to go out on social media for various clients. Nothing that couldn’t wait, and nothing that would be anywhere near as exciting as this project. ‘That’s fine, Clemmie. I’m happy to travel to Oslo and get it off the ground.’
‘Brilliant!’ She stopped talking while the others filed out, then closed the door. ‘Take a seat.’
The bubbly atmosphere had disappeared, and Lotta felt as if she was about to be told it was all a joke.
‘I’m thrilled that you started with Oslo and, if I’m honest, that was why you got the contract. Oslo is a huge concern for us. This is highly confidential, by the way.’
Lotta nodded, hoping she conveyed a serious enough expression. ‘Of course.’
‘This campaign needs to change the fortunes of the Oslo store. We haven’t been able to identify any particular reason why the store is failing. If you can get this to work for them, it’ll be a breeze doing the others. And you’ve done most of the work already. Go to Oslo, meet with Elin, but remember that you’re driving this campaign, however collaborative we want it to look. The success of it is in your hands.’
Lotta walked away from the Snug offices with very mixed feelings. She should be thrilled to have won the biggest contract of her career, something she could really shout about and that would inevitably lead to new and bigger clients. But she already felt as if there was a cloud hanging over it. As if there were an ulterior motive to the whole thing that could blow up in her face.
3
Mats had found his London trip very different to what he’d expected when Ole had marched into his office on Monday. Thanks to Hanne, it had been a relaxing couple of days that had helped him recover from the hectic few weeks of combining work with his hotel project.
Now, he was taking advantage of the airport lounge she’d booked. His suit was safely folded in the carrier on the chair opposite him with his coat, and instead he was wearing his favourite worn-out jeans and a cable-knit wool jumper which had seen better days and needed mending. He hadn’t bothered shaving that morning; it had seemed like too much trouble after his decadent lie-in, so he’d just showered. His leather travel bag was at his feet, and he was enjoying a beer while he read the news on his phone, waiting for his flight to be called.
A woman was shown to the table next to him. From the corner of his eye, he watched her place her bag on the chair on the opposite side of her table to where he was. She took a step towards the other chair, going to sit next to him, then thought better of it, picked up the bag again and swapped it to the chair next to him instead. He looked up to find a woman with blonde hair wearing a denim jumpsuit. She looked ill at ease, especially so once she’d sat down and they might as well have been on the same table.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, standing up and reaching over to grab her bag again. ‘It’s weird that I’m facing you. I’ll swap.’
‘It’s fine,’ he said, thinking she might find it just as weird sitting next to him. When it was quiet, the lounge felt spacious, and in his experience it was rare for it to be so busy that every single table was used. But when that happened, some tables, like these, were quite close together.
She sat down again, purposefully looking slightly to her left to avoid his gaze. Her hair, which must have been tied up in one bunch on the top of her head at some point, was escaping here and there, further giving the impression that she was flustered.
‘The beer is good,’ he said, thinking that perhaps she needed to take the edge off. ‘Nervous flyer?’
