Marketing Director: You betcha. But I do think our ‘First past the Post’ campaign was willfully misinterpreted
E: Time to move on. We need to promote things we're good at, things we excel in, things we believe to be true (he jots the phrase down for the next day’s editorial)
MD: You mean crime? Right?
E: No, no, I'm talking something fresh. We can't lead with crime all the time
MD: OK, sport. That's the way to go. We do pages and pages of sport
E: That's true but it’s not very classy, is it? I want classy
MD: I suppose news is out of the question? (pause) … how about business! … (another pause)… no I guess not.
E: I've got it! The world. Now that’s a big topic that we do big things with. I’m thinking THE WORLD.
MD: Hmmm, but is it big enough? We really only give it a page, maybe two if there’s a crisisy…world war sort of thingy ....
E: (tightly) I’m getting slightly tired of this negativity. We need to think different. (a light bulb flashes above his head) Now there's a big idea. ART. We’ll feature ART. I’m told art is totally hot at the moment. We’ll feature ART…. we do have an art section .... don’t we?
MD: Um, I think so. We probably have an art critic…or did we get rid of him? No, I'm thinking we got him back
E: Then art it is. Lead with it. Put it above the crease. Make it the first thing they read and go with it.
And that is what they did.
