But it was not to be. At eleven forty-five she was asked to join the team in the main meeting room to discuss pitching for a new client who was in need of rebranding. Nobody knew who the client might be, not until Jason Dawson, the company CEO, clicked the top of his pen – always three times – and began.

‘Topolino,’ he said, ‘originally a predominantly online company specialising in high-end baby and maternity products, but also sold through a number of exclusive outlets such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols. They became more widely known after Meghan and Harry’s first child, Archie, was photographed wearing one of their blue-and-white-striped knitted jackets with the distinctive mouse logo on the collar. Topolino meaning “little mouse” in Italian, in case you didn’t know.’

On the screen behind Jason, a photograph of baby Archie in said jacket appeared.

Murmurs of acknowledgement went around the table.

‘As a result of the patronage, sales for their baby clothes, maternity clothes and accessories skyrocketed,’ continued Jason, ‘and they’ve since opened a number of stores in London, Bath and Cambridge. But here’s the kicker, they recently made the mistake of—’

Staring up at the photograph of the adorable little Archie, Martha knew exactly what the kicker was and couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, ‘They’ve been accused of unethical manufacturing practices.’

Jason turned to stare at her and clicked his pen the statuary three times. ‘Go on,’ he said, his laser-beam attention on her.

Martha knew that Jason liked to have spontaneous input, but she was irritated with herself for displaying that she knew anything about babies when she didn’t have one herself. Not a word had she said to any of her colleagues about wanting a child. Had she done so she was sure she wouldn’t have had the promotion she’d recently been given. The others round the table were either never going to have families, or had their children years ago and were well past the baby and toddler stage.

‘It was alleged they had used child labour in Bangladesh for a new line in maternity wear they were selling,’ Martha said. ‘As soon as the allegations came to light, they stopped using the factory and switched all production to the UK and to an existing factory in the Midlands where they had better controls in place.’

‘Exactly so,’ said Jason with a smile.

‘Presumably by using the factory in Bangladesh production was cheaper for them?’ said Steve, their creative director.

‘And they’ve paid the price since,’ said Jason. ‘So now they feel the need for a rebrand.’

‘Have they actually experienced a loss in popularity and sales?’ asked James, their design consultant. ‘Because often what shoppers say they’ll do while professing outrage is not what they actually do in practice.’

‘A valid point,’ said Jason with three clicks of his pen, ‘and while the drop in sales is minimal, image, or the perception of it, is all. Which means our job is to convince the client that we can put some shine back on what they fear is a tarnished crown.’