Read Online The Crunch Campaign by Kate Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

idea.’
    â€˜We’re not getting involved in politics!’ said Katie, shaking her head, ‘Did you even listen to what we said? All we want to do is make it easy for people who produce good food to make good ads, and harder for the companies who make rubbish food. That’s not political; it’s good sense.’
    â€˜You start pitching that stuff to the prime minister and it’s political. I don’t want to be involved. I’m happy to come up with ideas for ads, but not laws. We should stay out of it.’
    â€˜But we’ll be doing ads!’ Katie’s voice was rising. ‘The only reason for this is so we can keep working on Parfitt’s. And who knows, we could do cool ads for – I don’t know – lettuces.’
    Joel’s laugh was mean. ‘Listen to yourself, Kato. Cool ads for lettuce. You’ve lost the plot. You’re as crazy as Quiche trying to flog her ugly raincoats.’
    â€˜Hey, Joel, come on –’ Clementine couldn’t stand people being cruel.
    â€˜Nah, I’m over this. Besides, Dad says Clara Whiting’s a loser. He says she’s bound to get booted out at the next election. Meeting with her would be a waste of time.’
    Katie had been standing by the window, but walked over to Joel and tried to eyeball him. She had to look up, though, and it felt ridiculous. ‘Have you got any better ideas?’
    â€˜Going home and watching TV will have just as much effect as your . . . Lettuce Levy, or whatever you want to call it.’ He hitched up his shorts. ‘So yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. That sounds like an excellent idea to me.’ He walked past her and left them in the tree office like debris after a storm.
    It was getting dark, so Katie turned on a light. ‘Okay, that didn’t go so well.’ She tried to smile at Lorraine, whose shoulders slumped inside her stripy raincoat.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Viper Advertising occupied an old but slickly renovated warehouse at the end of a wharf on Sydney Harbour. More than 200 people worked there and they all wore red. It was a condition of employment. Red was the company’s signature colour. The walls were red, the felt on the pool table was red, so were the glasses they drank from. But it wasn’t just any red: it was Pantone 032, specified by the head of Viper Advertising, Tania Mantelle. Tania had ten beliefs and they were printed in white on the red wall behind the reception desk. Caesar Maxwell read them as he waited to see her.

The best idea is the most profitable idea.
If you don’t play politics you can’t win the game.
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the agency.
Profit is our only reward.
Our clients are not our friends.
Be where the money is.
Charity begins at home. Leave it there.
Loyalty lasts as long as success.
Advertising is business, not art.
Coming second stinks.
    Caesar Maxwell smiled. Tania Mantelle’s father Brian had been his best friend, so he’d known Tania since she was born. She was now 31 and had taken her agency to the top. Her father would be so proud. He had started a printing shop in Ipswich as a sixteen-year-old school dropout and had grown it into an international corporation.
    When Tania was only thirteen she told her father that he should do more than just print what people wanted him to print – he should offer better designs and smarter headlines. Brian was able to charge more for his services and business increased. Tania left school two years later and headed the creative arm of Paw Print – a small printing company he’d set up to save on his own printing costs. By the time she was twenty, Tania wanted to do more than improve flyers and newsletters, so she talked her father into helping her set up Viper Advertising. It was the easiest sell-job she’d ever done. Brian was proud of his only daughter and wanted to see her succeed. He didn’t want her to start