Hi all, this is a story requested by a member of this here forum and it ended up being a *tiny* bit longer than expected. To be honest it's pretty much a novel! Guess that's what happens when you're having fun collaborating on something. Anyway I genuinely have no idea how best to post it so thought I'd try putting a couple of chapters at a time up and see how it goes. Last thing I want to do is spam the board! If anyone has any better idea please shout.
*********
Chapter 1
The Pitch
It’s an odd truth but the biggest changes tend to start from the most mundane events. One little decision that we make which pushes our lives down an unexpected road. The choice to go for a drink after work that leads to a whirlwind romance and emigrating halfway round the world. Opting for a quiet night in watching TV only to catch the movie that changes your whole outlook on life. Building a career on a lie of necessity that becomes the truth after years learning on the job. No matter how carefully we plan and manage what we do it’s always the little things that trip us up.
In Kelly’s case it had been the long boredom of a Friday afternoon in February that would lead, just over a year later, to a day like none she’d ever dreamed of. Not that she knew that yet of course. No, right now she was more worried about making another small, yet critical, choice that would play out far faster.
She was standing in the large, walk-in wardrobe of her modest suburban home debating over what to wear for what promised to be one of the biggest paydays of her professional career. Normally that wouldn’t have presented too many difficulties but the requirements were a little different to her normal engagements.
Kelly was widely recognised as one of the most popular experts on skincare and cosmetics and her services these days were in very high demand. She’d built quite the reputation in the last seven years or so, in no small part thanks to recognising the importance of the budding social media revolution and getting ahead of almost all of her peers. She’d quickly built a loyal following thanks to a no-nonsense approach, a determination to do what was right for her viewers and a tendency to give good advice and guidance the vast majority of the time.
It didn’t hurt that she was also drop dead gorgeous, a definite plus in the YouTube generation. Five foot seven with a figure to die for toped off with silky smooth brown hair and smouldering brown eyes it was a certainty that any thumbnail that popped up on the recommended videos list would net her hundreds of new followers. In fairness a thumbnail of her at this precise moment would have likely broken the site as she was also buck naked and holding up a swimsuit in each hand.
The invite had surprised her as normally companies who wanted her services as a reviewer would simply send her the relevant products. She could then test them at home and figure out the review later. It was a good system that ensured impartiality on her part and let her take her time to make sure she didn’t rush to judgement. This year though, things were clearly different and she suspected it all came back to that one day of boredom.
The previous year three companies - Dove, Herbal Essences and Lux - had all sent her their new product line for review on the same day and with no advanced warning. She’d been tired, coming off the back of a two week trip across the country doing some public speaking events, a two day stop at the International Beauty Show in New York where she recorded enough videos to keep her channel going for a fortnight, and somehow two whole days off in the middle for a brief break from the madness. Throughout the trip she’d been filming daily reviews of products designed to travel easily and comply with all rules and regulations for public transport. By the time she’d gotten back home she was mentally and physically drained.
So when the packages all turned up the last thing she’d wanted to do was review yet more products. If they’d been from lesser known or more niche brands she may even have ignored them but these were some of the big players and she’d known her audience would be considering all three on a daily basis. She’d rolled up her sleeves and put everything to the test over the course of a week and had come away very disappointed. In every case the new products seemed worse than the old, usually with a price increase or a size decrease into the bargain.
The reviews had been harsh. Harsher, in truth, than she’d intended though nothing she said was actually inaccurate. It was just the natural result of her doing them when she was tired, fed up and faced with boring products on a boring Friday in a boring month with nothing but boring grey skies out of the windows and she’d thought nothing of it… right until the reps for all three companies called her within an hour of each other the next morning.
To say they hadn’t been happy was an understatement. While they’d all taken different approaches each had harangued her about not being fair or impartial, about not bothering to do her job properly and hinted about the immense damage she could do to the companies by spreading what they’d called blatant falsehoods. They’d just about stopped short of calling her a liar but it had been a very close run thing. Strangely though over the next week each of them had called back and offered her an apology, albeit a slightly grudging one. Kelly had done a little digging via her own contacts in the business and found that the rep from Lux had made her first, angry call in a shared office. At least one of her co-workers had recognised the potential fallout from what had been said and passed it up the management chain leading to a forced apology to mend bridges. Word had clearly spread and the others had received similar treatment from their own employers.
In a way Kelly had come to think of it almost as a compliment. Clearly her opinion carried some weight with these huge brands and they’d realised a public row would only hurt them and not her. It also helped that sales for the range had dropped significantly and the videos were some of the most watched on her channel. She’d felt validated and took pride in having done what was right for her viewers but still wished the whole unpleasant mess could have been avoided. In a business so dependent on having the right contacts she was sure it was going to come back to bite at some point.
Which was why she’d been so surprised to receive a call from the Dove rep, Rebecca, a couple of weeks earlier. Out of the three she’d been the least aggressive when it had all happened, in fact she’d seemed more upset than anything else. Kelly was guarded to start with but whatever issues Rebecca once had now seemed long gone. Instead she was eager to get to the point of the call.
“So you know the reviews you did on our range last year?” Rebecca had asked.
“Yes…” Kelly replied, not quite knowing where this was going.
“Well I’ve actually got some good news for you!” Rebecca said and sounded genuinely enthusiastic about it. “What you said got a lot of people thinking and… well, there’s some big changes happening.”
“To your products?”
“Yes, but that’s just the start of it! There’s a whole new program in place to help people test them out, plus management have really committed to not changing something unless it’s an improvement.”
Kelly frowned, looking for the catch. “When you say a new program for testing…?”
Rebecca sighed “Look, I’m not going to lie to you Kelly, some people were really upset about what you said. But it got us thinking about reviews and how these products are tested and marketed. We’d thought about how someone’s mood can affect them but it was always assumed a bad day would be cancelled out by a good one as testing takes a while. You were kind of an object lesson in why that wasn’t always the case.”
Kelly made a noncommittal grunt and waited to see where this was going.
“So, anyway, we’ve put together this program in a whole new facility for anyone to come to and try things out. It’s sort of like… like an intense starter session mixed with a spa trip.”
“Go on…” Kelly had to admit she was curious about the idea and could potentially see the benefits.
“Basically a session lasts for an hour or so and your rep works with you to test a product thoroughly during that time. That way they can make sure you’re using it right, help answer any questions that sort of thing. Of course we give you the usual supply at the end so you can do long term testing too, we’re not trying to replace that.”
“It certainly sounds interesting but it could easily be seen as, uh, trying to influence reviews.” Kelly said, conscious of her own professional standards and reputation.
“We know, that’s why we insist on anyone coming for a session declaring it before their reviews and we don’t pay for travel or any perks. Sorry but this really is about getting the right results not just good PR.”
“Well….” Kelly wavered, running those conditions through her head.
“Oh, one thing I should mention, as we’re testing body washes and the like it’s done in a wet room so you’d need to wear a bathing suit.”
Kelly hadn’t been able to hold back a laugh. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that as a requirement for a review!”
Rebecca had joined in the laughter before dropping a subtle bombshell. “Yeah, I know but it really is a necessity. Heck even us reps have to wear one, there’s just no way to do this and stay out of the line of fire!”
Kelly’s mind suddenly raced at the possibilities. Rebecca was a little taller than her with a fantastic curvy yet toned build that could have been made for the beach. This was too good an opportunity to pass up…
“Okay Rebecca… I’ll do it if you’re there.”
Kelly would swear she heard excited clapping from Rebecca even over the phone. “Oh that’s great, we’ve got a lovely new body wash that you’re going to love! Well, I hope you do anyway! Actually… now that I think about it I guess a bikini might be the best choice for this. A body suit would kinda make testing difficult.”
Kelly hesitated and Rebecca dove in to the silence. “Come on… you’ve certainly got nothing to be embarrassed about if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Okay, Kelly thought, if that’s the way you want to play it… “Tell you what, I will if you will.”
Now it was Rebecca’s turn to hesitate but only for a second or two. “Alright, alright, you’ve got a deal. Make sure it’s a decent fit though, the showers are pretty strong and the last thing you want is to find yourself… uncovered.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone.”
“Oh that’s okay, I wouldn’t be…” The words were innocent enough, if looked at in a certain way, but Kelly had looked at them entirely different and was suddenly glad no-one could see her face.
“Anything else?” She asked, trying to cover her distraction.
“I’ll send the address and time over on email. Uh… actually, there was one other thing that I’ve got to ask you. This is a joint effort between us, Herbal Essences and Lux so their reps asked if I’d extend an offer to test their stuff as well. We could fit it in all on the same day for you and as all three companies are launching new body wash ranges it’d be a rare chance to do some back to back testing.”
“Okay, I’m there anyway so why not?” Kelly asked not realising just how much she’d regret those words.
That had been two weeks ago and she was now trying to decide between the nice sensible two piece black suit on her left or the far more flirty purple number on her right. She’d almost made up her mind on the black one when an image of Rebecca popped into her mind and she threw caution to the wind. After all, she thought, how often was she going to be lathered up by a gorgeous brunette?
*********
Chapter 1
The Pitch
It’s an odd truth but the biggest changes tend to start from the most mundane events. One little decision that we make which pushes our lives down an unexpected road. The choice to go for a drink after work that leads to a whirlwind romance and emigrating halfway round the world. Opting for a quiet night in watching TV only to catch the movie that changes your whole outlook on life. Building a career on a lie of necessity that becomes the truth after years learning on the job. No matter how carefully we plan and manage what we do it’s always the little things that trip us up.
In Kelly’s case it had been the long boredom of a Friday afternoon in February that would lead, just over a year later, to a day like none she’d ever dreamed of. Not that she knew that yet of course. No, right now she was more worried about making another small, yet critical, choice that would play out far faster.
She was standing in the large, walk-in wardrobe of her modest suburban home debating over what to wear for what promised to be one of the biggest paydays of her professional career. Normally that wouldn’t have presented too many difficulties but the requirements were a little different to her normal engagements.
Kelly was widely recognised as one of the most popular experts on skincare and cosmetics and her services these days were in very high demand. She’d built quite the reputation in the last seven years or so, in no small part thanks to recognising the importance of the budding social media revolution and getting ahead of almost all of her peers. She’d quickly built a loyal following thanks to a no-nonsense approach, a determination to do what was right for her viewers and a tendency to give good advice and guidance the vast majority of the time.
It didn’t hurt that she was also drop dead gorgeous, a definite plus in the YouTube generation. Five foot seven with a figure to die for toped off with silky smooth brown hair and smouldering brown eyes it was a certainty that any thumbnail that popped up on the recommended videos list would net her hundreds of new followers. In fairness a thumbnail of her at this precise moment would have likely broken the site as she was also buck naked and holding up a swimsuit in each hand.
The invite had surprised her as normally companies who wanted her services as a reviewer would simply send her the relevant products. She could then test them at home and figure out the review later. It was a good system that ensured impartiality on her part and let her take her time to make sure she didn’t rush to judgement. This year though, things were clearly different and she suspected it all came back to that one day of boredom.
The previous year three companies - Dove, Herbal Essences and Lux - had all sent her their new product line for review on the same day and with no advanced warning. She’d been tired, coming off the back of a two week trip across the country doing some public speaking events, a two day stop at the International Beauty Show in New York where she recorded enough videos to keep her channel going for a fortnight, and somehow two whole days off in the middle for a brief break from the madness. Throughout the trip she’d been filming daily reviews of products designed to travel easily and comply with all rules and regulations for public transport. By the time she’d gotten back home she was mentally and physically drained.
So when the packages all turned up the last thing she’d wanted to do was review yet more products. If they’d been from lesser known or more niche brands she may even have ignored them but these were some of the big players and she’d known her audience would be considering all three on a daily basis. She’d rolled up her sleeves and put everything to the test over the course of a week and had come away very disappointed. In every case the new products seemed worse than the old, usually with a price increase or a size decrease into the bargain.
The reviews had been harsh. Harsher, in truth, than she’d intended though nothing she said was actually inaccurate. It was just the natural result of her doing them when she was tired, fed up and faced with boring products on a boring Friday in a boring month with nothing but boring grey skies out of the windows and she’d thought nothing of it… right until the reps for all three companies called her within an hour of each other the next morning.
To say they hadn’t been happy was an understatement. While they’d all taken different approaches each had harangued her about not being fair or impartial, about not bothering to do her job properly and hinted about the immense damage she could do to the companies by spreading what they’d called blatant falsehoods. They’d just about stopped short of calling her a liar but it had been a very close run thing. Strangely though over the next week each of them had called back and offered her an apology, albeit a slightly grudging one. Kelly had done a little digging via her own contacts in the business and found that the rep from Lux had made her first, angry call in a shared office. At least one of her co-workers had recognised the potential fallout from what had been said and passed it up the management chain leading to a forced apology to mend bridges. Word had clearly spread and the others had received similar treatment from their own employers.
In a way Kelly had come to think of it almost as a compliment. Clearly her opinion carried some weight with these huge brands and they’d realised a public row would only hurt them and not her. It also helped that sales for the range had dropped significantly and the videos were some of the most watched on her channel. She’d felt validated and took pride in having done what was right for her viewers but still wished the whole unpleasant mess could have been avoided. In a business so dependent on having the right contacts she was sure it was going to come back to bite at some point.
Which was why she’d been so surprised to receive a call from the Dove rep, Rebecca, a couple of weeks earlier. Out of the three she’d been the least aggressive when it had all happened, in fact she’d seemed more upset than anything else. Kelly was guarded to start with but whatever issues Rebecca once had now seemed long gone. Instead she was eager to get to the point of the call.
“So you know the reviews you did on our range last year?” Rebecca had asked.
“Yes…” Kelly replied, not quite knowing where this was going.
“Well I’ve actually got some good news for you!” Rebecca said and sounded genuinely enthusiastic about it. “What you said got a lot of people thinking and… well, there’s some big changes happening.”
“To your products?”
“Yes, but that’s just the start of it! There’s a whole new program in place to help people test them out, plus management have really committed to not changing something unless it’s an improvement.”
Kelly frowned, looking for the catch. “When you say a new program for testing…?”
Rebecca sighed “Look, I’m not going to lie to you Kelly, some people were really upset about what you said. But it got us thinking about reviews and how these products are tested and marketed. We’d thought about how someone’s mood can affect them but it was always assumed a bad day would be cancelled out by a good one as testing takes a while. You were kind of an object lesson in why that wasn’t always the case.”
Kelly made a noncommittal grunt and waited to see where this was going.
“So, anyway, we’ve put together this program in a whole new facility for anyone to come to and try things out. It’s sort of like… like an intense starter session mixed with a spa trip.”
“Go on…” Kelly had to admit she was curious about the idea and could potentially see the benefits.
“Basically a session lasts for an hour or so and your rep works with you to test a product thoroughly during that time. That way they can make sure you’re using it right, help answer any questions that sort of thing. Of course we give you the usual supply at the end so you can do long term testing too, we’re not trying to replace that.”
“It certainly sounds interesting but it could easily be seen as, uh, trying to influence reviews.” Kelly said, conscious of her own professional standards and reputation.
“We know, that’s why we insist on anyone coming for a session declaring it before their reviews and we don’t pay for travel or any perks. Sorry but this really is about getting the right results not just good PR.”
“Well….” Kelly wavered, running those conditions through her head.
“Oh, one thing I should mention, as we’re testing body washes and the like it’s done in a wet room so you’d need to wear a bathing suit.”
Kelly hadn’t been able to hold back a laugh. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that as a requirement for a review!”
Rebecca had joined in the laughter before dropping a subtle bombshell. “Yeah, I know but it really is a necessity. Heck even us reps have to wear one, there’s just no way to do this and stay out of the line of fire!”
Kelly’s mind suddenly raced at the possibilities. Rebecca was a little taller than her with a fantastic curvy yet toned build that could have been made for the beach. This was too good an opportunity to pass up…
“Okay Rebecca… I’ll do it if you’re there.”
Kelly would swear she heard excited clapping from Rebecca even over the phone. “Oh that’s great, we’ve got a lovely new body wash that you’re going to love! Well, I hope you do anyway! Actually… now that I think about it I guess a bikini might be the best choice for this. A body suit would kinda make testing difficult.”
Kelly hesitated and Rebecca dove in to the silence. “Come on… you’ve certainly got nothing to be embarrassed about if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Okay, Kelly thought, if that’s the way you want to play it… “Tell you what, I will if you will.”
Now it was Rebecca’s turn to hesitate but only for a second or two. “Alright, alright, you’ve got a deal. Make sure it’s a decent fit though, the showers are pretty strong and the last thing you want is to find yourself… uncovered.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone.”
“Oh that’s okay, I wouldn’t be…” The words were innocent enough, if looked at in a certain way, but Kelly had looked at them entirely different and was suddenly glad no-one could see her face.
“Anything else?” She asked, trying to cover her distraction.
“I’ll send the address and time over on email. Uh… actually, there was one other thing that I’ve got to ask you. This is a joint effort between us, Herbal Essences and Lux so their reps asked if I’d extend an offer to test their stuff as well. We could fit it in all on the same day for you and as all three companies are launching new body wash ranges it’d be a rare chance to do some back to back testing.”
“Okay, I’m there anyway so why not?” Kelly asked not realising just how much she’d regret those words.
That had been two weeks ago and she was now trying to decide between the nice sensible two piece black suit on her left or the far more flirty purple number on her right. She’d almost made up her mind on the black one when an image of Rebecca popped into her mind and she threw caution to the wind. After all, she thought, how often was she going to be lathered up by a gorgeous brunette?
