Chapter 64: Particularly Jealous

The Time Cigarettes ad campaign was held at their headquarters, but compared to Heinz and Kerr's, Ethan noticed that this building seemed much older upon arrival.

The hallways were filled with introductions about the founder and company culture. The employees, dressed in dark suits, hurried through the various offices.

"It feels a bit too serious here," Jimmy muttered, looking uncomfortable.

"Well, it's a tobacco company, you know, an old one," Ethan replied. Time Cigarettes had been around since 1956, and the Sommer family had controlled it ever since. With a fixed product line and steady personnel, the company had inevitably become somewhat rigid. Naturally, the atmosphere couldn't be relaxed.

The current company president was Mark Sommer, son of the chairman, Abby Sommer.

Ethan, Jimmy, and Cindy entered the conference room, where, once again, all the advertising agencies gathered. This time, however, there was a clear change in the expressions of the other companies when they saw Ethan's team seated behind the Supreme Creative nameplate.

The reason was clear: they were a company known for claiming top-notch creativity. Although that sounded a bit exaggerated, they had indeed won their first campaign in style, even beating out New York's industry leader, Ogilvy.

That said, Ogilvy wasn't strong in every field. In fact, in the tobacco sector, IPG and DDB (Hengmei Advertising) were New York's top ad agencies and main competitors.

IPG aside, Hengmei Advertising was part of Omnicom, one of the world's largest media groups, well-funded with abundant talent. Surprisingly, Hengmei had only sent a two-person team this time, which left people scratching their heads.

Ethan observed the different company teams and got a sense of the fierce competition for the Time Cigarettes campaign. Typically, the more a client was valued, the more people the ad agency would send. Besides smaller agencies, the bigger companies usually started with three-person teams, with some even sending five or six members.

But Supreme Creative had maintained their steady trio: the boss, the manager, and an attractive assistant.

Cindy was already giving Ethan a shoulder massage, perhaps tipped off by Kaiden. Jimmy watched with envy. "Damn, I have to bring Lillina next time!" Jimmy had been getting closer to his pink-haired girlfriend lately.

Meanwhile, across the table, IPG's team leader, Gilmore, frowned slightly. He hadn't expected Supreme Creative to compete for the cigarette brand's ad campaign. Did they think they could replicate their previous success with Jarvis here? He scoffed at the thought. A cheap creative idea wouldn't attract customers to a tobacco brand.

No slogans hinting at health benefits could be used, not even indirectly. Most agencies focused on branding elements to expand their creative ideas, but Gilmore didn't think Supreme Creative could grasp such deeper advertising concepts.

After all, they were just a fledgling company, only a few months old, without his level of experience.

He was much more concerned about Hengmei Advertising, whose deep roots and broad industry experience made them a formidable opponent.

Just then, the conference room door opened again, and a stern-faced middle-aged secretary led three people in.

"Maroney?" Jimmy exclaimed, clearly delighted.

"Yeah, who'd have thought we'd run into them here?" Ethan smiled at Maroney, who was still dressed flamboyantly, pairing a white suit with a red tie, like he was heading to a nightclub.

Maroney noticed their gazes and turned to look at the nameplate in front of Ethan.

"Supreme Creative? That's them?" asked Phoebe, standing behind Maroney, along with Torian.

Maroney walked over with a forced smile, his expression surprised, but also displeased: "Long time no see, Ethan. How have you been?"

Jimmy extended a hand. "Oh, thanks to you, just fantastic!"

"Oh? Seems like your new boss trusts you a lot," Maroney replied before Cindy interjected, "No, you're mistaken…"

She reintroduced Jimmy and Ethan with a smile: "This is our manager, and this is our boss."

"Boss?" Maroney's face stiffened, his fake smile vanishing. "Didn't expect you two to start your own company."

Jimmy grinned. "Which is why I said thank you, Maroney. If not for you, I wouldn't have known how profitable it is to be the boss."

Ethan chimed in modestly, "Don't say that, Jimmy. We're just starting out. We're far from being in the same league as Lionheart Advertising."

"That's right, Maroney. We still need your guidance. How about letting us have this campaign?" Jimmy joked.

Maroney's two younger team members glared angrily. But nobody was as furious as Maroney himself. To him, they were traitors, unworthy of their current status and company.

But in this setting, with all the other competitors present, he couldn't openly show his anger.

Fortunately, Phoebe took over. "So, you're Ethan, huh? Ever heard of gratitude? If it weren't for Maroney, you'd still be in some backroom lighting up trashy adult movie sets."

Ethan raised an eyebrow but remained calm. He wasn't worth getting angry over. Jimmy, however, couldn't stand it and raised his fist. "Who are you calling trash, punk?"

"Whoever's mad must be the one I'm talking about!"

"Looks like some people don't know their place! Should I teach you a lesson?"

"Oh yeah? You want to fight?"

"Sure! You think you can intimidate me? Bring it on!"

"Cindy, don't stop me. I'm going to teach this guy a lesson!"

Cindy rolled her eyes and stepped aside, thinking to herself that if her boss wasn't stepping in, neither would she.

Others quickly moved out of the way, giving Jimmy and Phoebe space.

Fights weren't that rare in the business world. When words fail, fists often speak. Look at Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg years later, making headlines with their octagon fight. It's almost a tradition in the West.

Ethan knew this, too, and sized up the two as he stood behind Jimmy.

Cindy leaned over, whispering, "Boss, you think the manager can handle this?"

Ethan smiled. "Do you know what Jimmy's nickname was in school?"

"What was it?"

"Violent Monkey."

.....

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