bored on the board (tagged)

As it was nearing the end of the year, the three directors of Plunkett & Pleasegood had their annual meeting to discuss everything currently happening in the agency, to voice any concerns, and to engage in any future developments. It had been another excellent year for them, although there was some unexplained expenditure that needed to be addressed. Dick just wanted to stay away from that topic, because he was mostly the one responsible.

He was the first into the meeting room, and was sat at the long table seated for up to sixteen. It always felt stupidly big, this table, when you were sitting at it alone. At least he had his best friend to keep him company though: Whiskey. Nothing else could get him through this, after all. Unless he was miraculously getting serviced under the desk...

Yeah, those days had gone.

@William Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

William had just gotten off of a phone call with Professor Voclain to discuss the idea of having bi-weekly focus groups at Hogwarts; what better way to figure out how to reach out to today's teens than by actually seeing what appealed to their senses? He had observed over the past few months how sales of communication crystals had skyrocketed since the summer, and he knew it was a phenomenon they needed to capitalize on. How else would they keep their reputation as magical Britain's greatest ad agency?

Entering the meeting room, he prepared himself a cup of joe and took a seat across from his twin. "Hello, Dick. I just got excellent news that I'll announce during the meeting."

@Richard Pleasegood

Ronnie had been looking forward to the annual meeting, and had asked her daughter to sit in, and watch, so that she could a taste of what she’d one day be doing if Ronnie choose to step down. She entered to see Dick, and gave him a smile. “Did you get my favorite whiskey?” she said giving him a smirk. She had respect for her co-workers, because they held a damn good business if you ask her.

Taking a seat, she directed her daughter to sit by her, and she looked around. This was going to be a good meeting, pouring a glass of whiskey, she began to drank it, as she waited for meeting to start. She had plans on showcasing their connections in more of her work while they were.

That was until William entered, and she had heard him talk about the exciting news. She was here to hear any kind of information surrounding the company. “I am excited to hear your news, and I’d like to pose an idea I had involving my sister’s children.” she spoke with a soft smile. She do anything to one up Tabby right now.

@Richard Pleasegood @William Pleasegood

Excellent news? Posing of ideas? He was positively stunned! At least they brought the enthusiasm today, he thought, cringing on the inside as Ms Plunkett already started pouring out his whiskey. He eyed up his daughter as she followed her into the room.

"Great, great. Let's get the whole family in here! Sounds like Willy's about to announce that I'm going to be an Uncle, anyway. We might as well get a crowd in." His sarcasm was as rich as the liquor on his breath. It wasn't even midday yet. He sighed at Veronica. "Sweetheart, it's touching that it's Mamma-Daughter day to you, but this is the only time we get to sit in here without everyone snooping in..."

"I don't suppose I can distract you now with a box of crayons. You've all grown up and everything..." He was talking to her daughter now. "Tell your Ma to do things properly and go somewhere for lunch instead. You understand, don't you? You always were a good girl."

@William Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

William blinked as he downed down his first cup of coffee when Veronica brought her daughter in.

He had to resist using filler words. It wasn't professional. "Uh, um, I'm not sure if she's allowed to be in here during our biggest meeting of the year and quarter," he stated softly obviously referring to Veronica's daughter.

Taking a deep breath, he glanced around at the filled table thus far. "Hold onto your seats as the news I have will be a great boon to the company."

@Veronica Plunkett @Richard Pleasegood

"So that's a no to the Uncle thing then..." he sighed sadly to himself.

"Yes, Dick, no uncle..."

William was perfectly content being the only uncle.

Ronnie should have known that her daughter would be unwelcomed. She was trying to teach her daughter how to run a company, or at least know her position, so this company didn’t go to shit. “For god’s sake, Richard, she’s going to one day take my position, and I’d like tor her to not be clueless when it comes to meetings like this, and I’m sure if it was your children, you’d bring them in.” she spoke with anger. She sometimes hated Richard, and when he started to talk down to her daughter, she got angry. “Excuse me, she’s not a child, but is a highly educated woman.” she spoke, she didn’t spend tons of money to have her daughter be clueless.

She’d been sueing the school if that was the case, and not showing any remorse. Ronnie looked at her daughter, “Could you please leave since, apparently Mr. Pleasegood is having a pride attack.” she spoke giving him a dark glare. No one spoke to her children like they were nothing. Ronnie cared about this company more than anything, and when her daughter walked out, she crossed her arms, “You’re an asshole. I do a lot for this company, mind you.” she spoke in a dark tone. This was her baby aside from her actual babies, and she’d be damned if she let their secrets out.

@Richard Pleasegood @William Pleasegood

Richard was very pleased to watch her walk out as well. He'd known a few Plunkett women over the years, but he was seeing the benefits of the American side. Their hips were nice.

"Coming from you that's the best compliment I could ever hope for," he said, chuckling into his drink. He then looked at his brother.

"Well now that everyone's been insulted in the first five minutes, it's time for that good news of yours I think." He nodded to Willy to reveal it.

@Veronica Plunkett @William Pleasegood

Sighing, he nodded at Veronica's daughter as she left and gave her a cordial smile. William cleared his throat feeling proud of this deal he had been working out with Hogwarts for the past few weeks.

He clasped his hands together and announced, "Starting next week, we'll be allowed to have biweekly focus groups on Hogwarts' premises. And how is this good, you ask? This gives us the chance, the ability, the opportunity to find out what's appealing to today's generations of teens. As noted by the demographics of this room, there is a heavy generation gap, and being able to connect with one of our biggest audiences will help us bridge it. Are there any questions?"

@Richard Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

Ronnie liked the idea of having the new generation finally having a voice. They were there future after all, and she had taken a sip of her whiskey. “I admire that idea a lot, but I’d like to know how will I go about that, would you like me to go and investigate certain subjects?” asked Ronnie. She didn’t mind bringing her kids here.

“If you want some voices I could have my children come when they get home for the Holidays, and they could could give you some ideas, and I could have them let there friends know.” she spoke hoping this idea was useful. Her children always told her stories about what went on in Hogwarts, and she wanted their voices to be showcased.

She liked her influence being seen.

@Richard Pleasegood @William Pleasegood

Richard nodded in approval.

"Very good. I always wanted to go back there, but I expect we will get some of the copywriters - maybe even the receptionists to hold them from time to time. You never know who teens open up to. Mine hated me and my generation," he said, meaning his children. They were out of their teen years now though. "But I always said - you're not doing it right if your children don't resent you in some way."

He sniggered, and pulled the whiskey bottle away from Ronnie. Slowly and discreetly.

"I can see them opening up more to Miss United States here, rather than us old timers. You might be old, sweetheart, but you look young and that's all what matters to them." He winked at her. "So the focus groups could help us with existing business. As you know we do advertising for Cleansweep. We'd get to know what the kiddies want in their brooms nowadays. But it also could help us out with new business. Who should we be offering our services to next? Sleakeazy? Zonko's? That bowling alley place? You get my gist."

He nodded at his brother.

"Great stuff. Maybe you can tell us more about how it will typically work, these focus groups. Will there be ones sorted to age, gender, mental capability?" He laughed at the last suggestion.

@William Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

He nodded and tried to discreetly twist some wax our of his ear while his twin explained the point of the focus groups ever so eloquently to Veronica; their different experiences from being from different sides of the pond often brewed disagreements within the office, but William was always grateful to have a more feminine perspective when needed.

"Camille Voclain said that the school will be giving the entire student body surveys during a recent social function, so I expect we'll be receiving them via owl within the next couple of business days. From there, we'll figure out core groups to focus on for already-existing products. We can also gather random assortments of students to give them first looks on products yet to hit the market and gather their thoughts. I know one product that'll be given indiscriminate focus will be anything involving communication crystals. It's observable walking outside how much owl correspondence has decreased. How do we take advantage of it? That's just one specific example we can develop and learn from with teenaged input."

@Richard Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

Ronnie examined the talks between the two brothers taking mental notes as she went along, and gave Dick a smile. “I assume the term milf will be brought up quite a bit since everyone loves a hot mom.” laughed Ronnie. She had a sense of admiration for the brothers and their business. “I suppose I’ll be the one conducting the interviews, that’s fine by me. I’d like to talk to them about some color palettes I’d like or what they think would be appealing.” she commented since color was essential to a good ad.

“I’d say Zonkos is a definite, and of course the Bowling Alley. Even the movie theater might be a good one.” she said since she heard from her kids it was a common attraction to say the least. The term mental capacity came up, and Ronnie looked at Dick with a look. “How about we leave mental capacity out of it? Keep the other sorted groups?” she spoke. She didn’t like that word even if she held herself on a huge pedestal right now.

She thought about the crystals, “We could partner with the company, and do ads relating to crystals, or maybe finding different types of stones?” she said to William as she continued to make little mental notes as she went.

@Richard Pleasegood @William Pleasegood

"I had to wonder when these things would be brought up..." he moaned dully, placing his crystal on the table from his pocket. "I don't like anything about them, Willy. That can be your meeting, with the lads that make them. Maybe take the hot Mom with you as well."

He nodded at Veronica, after lightly mocking her own words. He had no idea what a "milf" was though. Sometimes it was like she was talking an entirely different language, despite just being American.

"If you want to do that much, maybe you should go and work for them," he said to Ronnie. Finding new stones, indeed. "We handle the ads, they handle their own research."

He looked back to his brother. "So why else are we focusing on these, other than the fact they're hip and teenage girls can wear them as earrings?" Clearly Dick didn't see the potential of the new technology.

@William Pleasegood @Veronica Plunkett

He listened to them talk and opted to not interject; last thing he wanted to talk about was MILFs. It wasn't like they were promoting a whorehouse down in Knockturn! Why would they taint their clean reputations over such a thing?

Oh, Dick. He was always thinking back to their youth instead of looking towards the now and future. William thought his twin needed to embrace being in the moment; they've been in a period of great change since the end of the war, and it would be unwise to not use it to the business' advantage.

William held up his crystal. "Because these tiny things are the FUTURE of wizarding communication. The youth has latched to it for a reason. Hogwarts have made hotlines with them. The Department of Law Enforcement is working on creating a tipline to make investigations a breeze. Think of all of the lost opportunities if we didn't even entertain the technology." He felt like he was on stage giving a marketing seminar at Niliton or at the Ministry.

"Other than promoting the crystal and its add-ons, we could eventually bring advertising to the crystal. Imagine this: personalized advertisements based on the most-used keywords in messages. It'll allow businesses to flourish as we can use algorithms to target the desired audience based on the identified owner alone."

@Veronica Plunkett @Richard Pleasegood