The creative team gathered around after lunch, looking all gung-ho about getting down to work. Must be the Goa effect, I mused with a smile. The team outbound programme was an annual event at GF where all the brand teams along with the agency teams went for what was pretty much a paid vacation to some exotic locale in the name of building team spirit. It was not going to be all fun and frolic for my team though, I thought a little regretfully as I looked at Neil and Shubhra; we now had to start work on the next big step of the project: creating the ad film for Bright Biscuits. It was going to be a hectic few weeks ahead and it meant that we would have to clock in a few working hours in Goa as well.

‘Hopefully all this hard work is going to pay off, guys!’ I said cheerfully as Neil, Suketu, Shubhra and Yudi gathered around the conference table and looked at me expectantly. ‘Here’s to the best ad film created on a GF brand ever!’ Neil and Shubhra gave a loud cheer and Suketu thumped the table in accompaniment. On that cheerful note I launched into my presentation. I quickly ran through the key points from the morning’s presentation and our expectations from the new ad film. Finally I came to the last part of my presentation, the one I had spent all night working on. Encouraged by Suketu and the creative team’s response to my inputs, I had worked out some directional ideas for a script that were based on the winning concept I had designed earlier. After much deliberation I had decided to share it with Suketu and the creative team; if they liked it we would work with it and if they didn’t we would trash it. With butterflies in my stomach I clicked on the next slide and, diving into the presentation again, whizzed through my ideas quickly, pausing for breath only when I had finished.

I looked around the room eagerly; Neil and Shubhra were looking at each other, nodding excitedly, Suketu looked thoughtful but he had the faintest trace of a smile hovering around his lips and Yudi… I felt a quiver run up my spine as I locked eyes with Yudi. His eyes were cold slits as he stared back at me and his mouth was set in a stony expression. It was the first time I had seen him look like that. God, he must really hate my ideas!

‘Megha, GREAT stuff!’ Neil’s voice startled me out of my wits and I forced myself to look away from Yudi and focus on Neil. ‘Truly inspiring stuff, Megha, I think we can—’

‘Hang on a minute, Neil,’ Yudi snapped coldly as he stood up and walked around the room to where I stood. ‘Megha, this is not the first time I’ve interacted with brand managers who like to moonlight as creative geniuses. At the risk of being downright rude, however, I’m going to have to ask you to put a lid on it. Creative development is not your job, so leave it to us.’