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“Showtime,” I murmur to Jenna and Toby. Jenna’s tapping left foot tells me she’s amped, too.Nervous,perhaps, just like I am. But we don’t use that word beforehand. I’ve learned that the line between nerves and excitement is a thin one, and if you tell yourself it’s the latter, you can start to believe it.
Andrew shows us into a room. “The executive team will be here in about ten minutes,” he says. “Let me know if you need any help in setting up.”
Computers get plugged in and notes pulled up and I join Toby around the table, distributing the spiral-bound briefs. I breathe in and out, deep, calming breaths, and turn the nerves into excitement.
Just trust me,I think. They need to see the brilliance of this vision.Trust me.
They arrive, one by one, the entire team. The last one to enter is Isaac. He takes a seat at the head of the table and the room steadies with him in it. It quiets, too, the audience awaiting a show. Andrew taps his pen against a notepad twice. “We’re excited to see what you’ve put together for us,” he says.
Isaac nods. “Please go ahead.”
I dive straight in. “We were tasked to deliver a pitch, a vision, for an off-shoot brand from the Winter Corporation. The hotels will be smaller, with a more economically-minded price point, and should be easy to franchise across the country, in smaller cities. This is already a proven model and has worked brilliantly for other large hotel brands. You’ve been very generous, all of you, with your time and access. The keywords you gave us were traditional, comfortable, and luxurious.
“But,” I say, and smile at the group. My stomach is steady now. The nerves have evaporated, replaced with an intense awareness of the moment. “As you may remember, my team and I have also suggested a different direction. Something more modern to set this brand apart from Winter. So we’ve decided to do something a bit unorthodox. We’ll deliver two pitches.”
Isaac’s eyebrows rise. “You could do that?” he says. “Without skimping on the quality of either one?”
“Yes,” Jenna says. “We took the help of in-house talent at Exciteur to get it done for you in time.”
“I see,” he says. “Well, this will be interesting.”
We start with the traditional pitch. Toby leads it, with Jenna and I assisting. Across the screen graphic projections and calculations flash. The traditional version looks like a less luxurious version of the Winter’s core locations in New York and Washington. Fewer columns, perhaps, but with muted gold tones and a logo that strongly resembles the golden W used on the Winter Hotel.
On the last slide, I step up front again. “This is a safe, doable option. It honors the traditional architecture of the Winter and the legacy it represents. It’s a smaller,lesserversion of your flagship hotels.”
“But it’s not something you’d recommend,” Isaac says. His eyes are heavy across the conference room.
“No,” I say, “it’s not. It might seem like a safe option, but I think it’s the opposite. It looks dated, and in locations that aren’t historic, it won’t attract the clientele you’re hoping for. Now, you’ve told us that the Winter Hotel stands for luxury, for comfort, and for tradition. But it started because its founders were willing to take significant risks. The decor in your lobby, and the Art Deco styling around your indoor pool, were at the forefront of architecture when they were built. In my opinion, foresightand risk-taking is the true legacy of the Winter Hotels, and I know it’ll be better honored by a more modern approach.”
There’s silence in the room. This is a gamble. With any other client, and any other company, it might not work. Anticipation hangs thick in the air.
“Well, by all means,” Isaac says, “show us the version you recommend.”
My smile is one of relief. Toby breathes a quiet sigh next to me and moves into position by the computer, ready to keep the slides moving. I launch into the pitch. This is the one I’ve slaved over, the one I believe in. But more than that, I try to tell a story, of modernity and history meeting.
The logo is a W and H interwoven with a pattern that references the Art Deco decor in the New York location. The mock-ups of interiors our architecture team had put together are sleek and stunning, and easily replicable across the country.
Andrew clears his throat. “In that mock-up, is the check-in desk a replica of the one in this hotel?”
“Yes,” I say. “Just smaller, and modernized.”
“It’s stunning,” he says.
We share cost projections, side-by-side mocks of the websites, the pricing structure, the restaurants we’d recommend in each, along with the keywords we’ve chosen for this sub-brand.Upscale. Modern. Sleek. Comfortable.
Toward the end we point out which ten cities we’d recommend they start with for the locations, and finally, side by side, we show the results from the focus group tests.
Seventy-five percent preferred the modern look.
“I understand,” I say, “that going in a direction different than what you already know, and what’s worked for the Winter in the past, is a gamble. But I would argue that a bit of distance between the two brands is great.Both need to stand on their own. Because at the end of the day, you’re catering to two different clienteles with these. Make them too similar, and you’re inviting comparison, and the last thing you want is someone checking into a budget hotel and being disappointed because it’s nothing like the grandness of the Winter New York.”
“Fair point,” Amanda says. As the head of Winter Global, she must have had this thought too, only reversed. Ensuring the international five-star resorts are as similar to the New York as possible so as tonotdisappoint customers.
The screen behind me goes back.
Pitch over, presentation done.
“All the information has been emailed to you,” I say. “Toby has put together USB sticks, too, with the high-definition plans. We’re available for any and all questions, whether you have them now or in a month.”
