Chapter 17

Now I’m not a bad person; well, not that bad. Maybe when it comes to a few things I just want to set things in balance. This new deal with P B & J controlling every Ad budget for Daimler was in the works ever since my bride had lowered the SMART II Budget and it just grew to MB first (Not Paul to take away a client, PB & J was Daimler owned) then all of Daimler. Hey if that budget could get down a bit more maybe we could give Reinhart a small something before he left us.

There was also this family thing now that Erica and Dieter were family, VW was considering SMART II for Central and South America. The idea of a central gatekeeper for all advertising and the wonderful option presented to lower budgets was well received at Wolfsburg. Who better to do that than a former Sorenson.

Was I keen to squeeze some people at Detroit? Maybe, but our job ahead was going to be a big one. The decision we reached, with Reinhart playing referee, was that Dieter would concentrate on Daimler, Erica on MB, Diane on Smart II worldwide and me, I would take on all P B & J and VW Worldwide advertising. The tribe plus one new extra would be a core group each of us could draw from since it was a mini-UN anyway. The added fun seeker was Inga, now taking care of Erica’s dad, Sven. With his divorce almost done, she would work very hard to take care of him. I wondered if,... ‘no, ‘ I answered myself, then got back to business.

That comment about Chile et al and maybe Spain started another escalation procedure in the tribe, and Carmen was soon a candidate, as she spoke both Spanish and Portuguese. If we were adding, then Diane wanted us to consider a Raul to add diversity within the group.

That was not going to happen. She acted like her dog had died when I told her that we were out of rooms at that new house, (We had to have a few spares didn’t we?) so no adding tribe members, right now, sorry. No way, no way in Hell. She sauntered, no, skipped away.

Had I been set up again? I wondered.

I guess that consolidation of Ad budgets was getting expanded, that was not all. Dealer floor planning now no longer would just apply to the ‘SMART Bugs’ (Di liked the name) but every car that MB and even VW made were to be included. We needed someone who knew about money. We got Brenda. Hell Daimler and VW just did not steal people away, they bought Brenda’s banking group and a few others with it.

Mei suggested that Shanghai Bank Number One would be a perfect partner too, and said “money velly cheappe, cheappe” in a phony voice. She was a Harvard MBA, an economist like her Uncle, and became now our jester in-training I guess. We were soon to be our own financial empire and we called it Troika (meaning 3) Global Enterprises. (Old Cyrus would have been proud.) Mei and Nadia would also make certain Brenda Chambers might have a different last name soon, they knew this man in...