“Close your eyes until they’re ready. I want you to be properly wow-ed by mybrilliance.”
She lets out agroan.
“I said close your eyes, not rollthem.”
She sighs, but places one hand over her eyes and tells me to hurry up. I grab the first poster by its edges, careful not to get any fingerprints on the front, and move it to a stand before doing the same with the next two. There’s one poster for each of the outfits we used, the images now edited to include the text of ourads.
The first shot captures Christina in the middle of a hair flip, one arm flung up in the air like she’s at a rock concert. A wide smile stretches across her face and her eyes are closed, giving the impression that she’s lost in the music coming out of her headphones. The text of the image reads: ‘Your Favourite band. Your favourite song. Your favourite bra.’ Along the bottom of the picture is the phrase we’ve used on all the ads: ‘Get that #favouritebrafeeling withAllure.’
I’m still staring at the poster when Christina walks up besideme.
“Meu Deus,” shegasps.
I turn my attention to her. She’s looking back and forth between all three ads like she doesn’t know which to focus on. She brings the fingers of one hand up to her cheek. I watch as she steps towards the ad on the far left, a landscape shot of her lying on the couch with a small, lazy grin on her face as she cups her chin in herhands.
We were going for cozy and relaxed, with the text reading, ‘Make time for some me time,’ but it was hard to find a photo from that set which wasn’t crackling with the tension in the room. I managed to find one that wasn’t blatantly sexual, but the pose still comes off as coy and inviting, giving a little more meaning to the phrase ‘me time’ than weintended.
I almost laugh at the thought, but stop when I see that it’s the ad in the middle that’s really drawn Christina’s attention. She stands in front of it, holding a hand just an inch above the surface as if she wants to reach inside the photo. I see her fingersshake.
“Aaron.” Her voice is tiny and soft, not at all how it usually sounds. “How did you dothis?”
My reflex is to make some sarcastic remark about the mechanics of working a camera, but I stayquiet.
“I look...” she murmurs, sounding lost as she searches for words. “In this one, I look...I look like the woman I want tobe.”
Something burns in my chest, setting fire to a part of it I’ve been trying to keep her out of. I step closer, fixing my eyes on the image. The slogan for this one reads, ‘Wake up. Take on the world. Repeat.’ In the photo Christina stands leaning against the windowpane, staring out at the flushed sunlight as she lowers a mug from her lips. She looks poised, in control, ready to start a new day. Everything about her, from the way she holds her head to the curving definition of her abs, speaks of confidence andstrength.
“I take photos of what’s there, Christina, not what isn’t. You look like the woman youare.”
She turns, not expecting me to be so close, and her shoulder bumps against my chest. I catch her eye and for just a moment we’re frozen like that, her arm pressed into me, before we both take a stepback.
“These are—” She swallows and flicks her eyes to the ground. “These are very good. Thank you for all the work you putin.”
“I mean, you basically threatened me with death if I didn’t give this my all. Just looking out formyself.”
“Good.” She gives a back-to-business kind of nod. “Now let’srehearse.”
Forty minutes later we’re facing a standing ovation from Gary and our classmates. The presentation went off without a hitch and I’m pretty sure we’ve guaranteed ourselves a spot in theshowcase.
We started off with the posters covered up, and after giving an anecdote about how the advertising world requires us to be prepared for everything, even model cancellations, we revealed the ads. I was worried no one would take the project seriously after seeing Christina in her underwear, but they seemed as awed by the images as she was. After the grand reveal, we used the Smart Board to explain our digital strategy and the consumer engagement tactics promoted by thehashtag.
We pack up our supplies as Gary walks to the front of the room and tells us we’ve done an excellentjob.
“This has been a great note to start the presentations off on and I’m excited to see what the rest of you have come up with,” he says to the class at large. “So now, let’s listen to the next group wow us with their pierogi marketingstrategies.”
I set the posters down at the back of the room and Christina places the stands beside them. She’s still beaming and I realize that I amtoo.
“Hey Peaches,” I whisper, as the next group starts their presentation, “we really shook them, all nightlong.”
Her smile stays fixed in place as whispers back, “Call me Peaches one more time and I’ll kick you in thenuts.”
